Learning Forward Releases New Guide to Help State and District Leaders Evaluate Professional Learning Investments

DALLAS, July 2, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Learning Forward announces the release of a new workbook aimed at helping state education agencies and school system leaders make informed, bold decisions about their current investments in professional learning and repurpose resources to support preparing students for college and careers.

Professional Learning Initiative Analysis: A Workbook for States and Districts is the latest resource to be released as part of the organization's ongoing initiative to develop a comprehensive system of professional learning that spans the distance from the statehouse to the classroom. The initiative, Transforming Professional Learning to Prepare College- and Career-Ready Students: Implementing the Common Core is supported by Sandler Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and MetLife Foundation.

The Professional Learning Initiative Analysis workbook guides state education agencies and school system leaders through a five-step process of understanding what professional learning is available; how it contributes to achieving the system's goals; and what actions leaders might take to increase the overall effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of the professional learning available to them.

The workbook's tools include a wide array of resources, such as recommendations for deciding who should be a member of the Professional Learning Initiative Analysis team, variables to consider for data collection, meeting agendas, protocols, analysis guides, and report outlines with follow-up timelines.

A Professional Learning Initiative Analysis includes the following five steps:

STEP 1: Launching the process includes identifying the team of individuals who will oversee and conduct the analysis as well as organizing the work, timeline, and support needed to accomplish the review.

STEP 2: Discovering professional learning includes identifying what data are most important to collect and the process for collecting the data.

STEP 3: Collecting data includes collecting the data, monitoring the process for accuracy, deciding how to address gaps in data, and preparing the data for analysis.

STEP 4: Analyzing data includes examining the data to make observations and form conclusions as well as to generate recommended actions.

STEP 5: Taking action includes establishing a plan of action, taking action, and refining action based on feedback.

"In order to ensure continuous improvement in systems, educators, and students, we need to establish a rigorous, regular process of analyzing professional learning to give state and school system leaders the essential information they need to make informed decisions about what is appropriate to meet educator and student learning needs. That is what the workbook aims to help our leaders develop," said Learning Forward executive director Stephanie Hirsh.

Access Professional Learning Initiative Analysis: A Workbook for States and Districts at http://www.learningforward.org/docs/default-source/commoncore/professional-learning-initiative-analysis.pdf?sfvrsn=4.

About Learning Forward
Learning Forward is the only association focused solely on the most critical lever in improving schools--building the knowledge and skills of educators. Through the Standards for Professional Learning, Learning Forward leads the field in understanding what links professional learning to improved student achievement. We assist classroom, school, and system leaders in solving their toughest problems of practice. To learn more, visit www.learningforward.org.

SOURCE Learning Forward