Professional development (PD) for teachers is a ubiquitous feature of the American educational landscape. Yet we know little about how districts navigate the variation in teacher learning needs when designing and implementing district-wide PD programs. In this paper, we describe how the District of Columbia Public Schools implemented an ambitious…

The purpose of this study was to determine the structures and support systems implemented to foster a district educational equity and culturally responsive professional development series. In this qualitative study, an action research design team implemented a four-part professional learning series to describe the impact of an educational equity…

Professional learning has been a cornerstone of Long Beach Unified School District's approach to comprehensive reform since the early 1990s. The myPD Unplugged podcast series is just one of the ways it is expanding professional learning content and access for educators in the district and beyond. The Learning Professional's editor, Suzanne…

Purpose: This study examines a university-based professional learning program, the University School Systems Program (USSP), designed to strengthen district- and school-level leadership for improvement. The program has a record of success in improving student outcomes in participating schools, yet little is known about how the program design may…

Microcredentials create opportunities for continuing growth of all teachers based on specific needs. They provide ways for teachers to lead their own learning while allowing administrators to identify and address teachers' needs as well as the expertise teachers have to share with their colleagues. Microcredentials are different from traditional…

The teaching profession requires continuous learning, and in 2014, a new model of professional learning was introduced in California by the Instructional Leadership Corps (ILC), a group of expert teachers who organize local professional development to spark iterative changes in practice. In the four years following its launch, the ILC connected…

Teacher leadership is increasingly recognized as a promising strategy to improve the quality of instruction in U.S. schools. Despite the rising number of teacher leadership programs in the country, there is a paucity of knowledge about the work that teacher leaders (TLs) engage in, how educators experience teacher leadership and the impacts of…

The American Rescue Plan Act has made funds available to states and districts to speed up recovery from the effects of COVID-19, including addressing learning loss. The Wallace Foundation has distilled evidence from its work that may be helpful in informing choices about how to spend those funds, as well as how to implement key strategies. Summer…

School districts across the nation are grappling with the issue of high principal turnover coupled with a decrease in number of experienced applicants to fill vacancies (Guterman, 2007; Hall, 2008; Johnson, 2005; United States Department of Education, 2010; Villani, 2008). In addition, college preparation programs are being called into question as…

How do educators at a systems level know that professional learning is impacting teacher practice in a way that leads to improved student outcomes? California's Long Beach Unified School District, a member of Learning Forward's Redesign PD Community of Practice, partnered with other districts from across the country to answer that question. As…

In Fall 2016, bilingual specialists were hired in the Austin Independent School District to provide support to campuses implementing the re-designed dual language program. This report summarizes the services provided by these specialists to administrators, campus staff, and teachers in Fall 2016.

The primary task of the educational leader is to assure high quality learning environments for all students. Research (Gordon, 2004; Sparks, 2007) supports the proposition that effective professional development contributes to instructional improvement by building educator capacity. Much of the research on professional development focuses in…

With research indicating substantial differences among teachers in terms of their effectiveness (Nye, Konstantopoulous, & Hedges, 2004), a major focus of recent research in education has been on improving teacher quality through professional development (Desimone, 2009; Institute of Educations Sciences [IES], 2012; Measures of Effective…

The 21st century learner resides in an advanced global society that is led by the waves of the economy, advances in the technological world, concern around our safety and security, as well as demographical changes (Carver & Markatos-Soriano, 2007). The trends suggest education needs to equip students with the attitudes that promote respect for…

The purpose of the evaluation was to evaluate two alternative programs in a North Carolina (NC) and South Carolina (SC) public school district to determine if they are effective in delivering constructive interventions that modify student behavior once students have left the programs and have returned to their regular learning environments. This…