Think fast! Identify three professional development programs that you experienced or even planned that had great starts, but today you wonder what happened to them.

The three I recall from my district days were DuPont Leadership Training, HOTS, and Accelerated Schools. Individually, they were powerful programs that in some places had the impact we hoped to achieve in our school system. Yet, as often happens, they started off with a bang and ended with a whimper. Rather than recognizing and providing the support necessary for these programs to have real impact, we got them under way and then turned our attention to the next important item on our lists. Maybe we assumed people would figure out for themselves how to use the great ideas to which we exposed them. Maybe we weren't sufficiently committed to the new programs. Or maybe we didn't fully understand what it takes to achieve substantive outcomes from professional learning.

We introduced the Implementation standard because too often professional development fails to achieve its intended outcome. While some of the reasons for this failure are obvious, we often still ignore them: great planning with no follow through; no resources to sustain change over time; and lack of recognition of the difficulty of the change process.

In my early years with Learning Forward, I spent considerable time working with educators in the field, and I used two organizers to outline the elements necessary for long-term change. The first was RPTIM: readiness, planning, training, implementation, and maintenance. This offered a logical order for considering the steps necessary to achieve intended outcomes. I recall drawing a vertical line between training and implementation and quoting my colleague Susan Loucks-Horsley, who used to say to her clients that they should prepare to use half their resources on the first three phases and the other half on the last two. If they weren't prepared to do that, there was no reason to initiate the change process. People nodded with understanding, but few took the advice seriously.

Later, I learned about Michael Fullan's three I's for change: initiation, implementation, and institutionalization. Fullan made it clear that educators must attend to all three phases of change to achieve professional development's desired outcomes. Without attending to the later stages of the change process, the best we can accomplish are powerful visions and plans that live in notebooks, rather than transformation of practices for educators and results for all students.

These two organizers cover foundational ideas within the Implementation standard. When we elevate implementation to the level of a standard, we intend that everyone understands that attention and resources devoted to this concept are not a recommendation. Implementation is essential to linking professional learning to changed practices and transformed results.

Stephanie Hirsh
Executive Director, Learning Forward

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Professional learning is essential, but vulnerable. Not enough educators and members of the public understand and value it. Many school boards and the people who elect them have only a tenuous commitment, if that, to professional learning. Even educators have conflicting attitudes about professional learning, depending on how they have experienced it during their careers. We are unlikely ever to see educators carrying protest signs that read, "I demand new learning!" or "My students depend on my professional learning."

Understanding the value of professional learning will not change until system leaders take intentional, thoughtful actions to build constituencies for increasing the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and practices of all stakeholders, from educators to administrators to school board members. This process has to occur within both the school system and the community. In the school system, it begins with leaders significantly improving professional learning and its effects. If leaders don't value professional learning enough to make it a transformative process resulting in more effective practice, why should front-line educators support it? They won't do so unless system and school leaders ensure that educators experience professional learning as responsive and beneficial.

Developing a communitywide constituency is more difficult. If citizens think of professional learning at all, they regard it as an inside game, just one more arcane feature of public education. They believe the only time it affects their lives is when professional learning schedules cause students to be out of school while parents are working. Most families aren't aware of the direct relationship between the quality and amount of professional learning for teachers and the quality of educational experiences for students. Communities can't support what they don't understand.

It is, therefore, the responsibility of school system leaders to engage their communities in understanding and supporting professional learning. Here are examples of steps they can take:

Use focus groups to understand citizens' perceptions of professional learning. Most school systems don't try to learn what citizens know and don't know about increasing the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and practices of current educators. By conducting focus groups composed of representatives of diverse communities, school systems can gain insights into factors that impede community support for professional learning. What a school system learns should result in improvements that respond to community concerns.

Personalize the impact of effective professional learning. In most school systems, there are teachers, principals, or school counselors who can enthusiastically describe how they have improved their instruction, leadership, or family engagement because of professional learning. A school system can arrange for them to make presentations to civic clubs and parent-teacher organizations, and encourage local news media to report on their learning experiences. In all such cases, the emphasis should be on how the new learning has benefited students.

Invite community leaders to observe professional learning in action. The old adage that "seeing is believing" may be trite, but it is still true. Most citizens have never seen effective professional learning. School systems can remedy this by providing opportunities for selected community leaders to observe venues where educators are actively engaged in authentic new learning.

Whatever approaches school systems take, the goal should be to cultivate communities as allies for professional learning. Without such affirmative efforts, communities will be fertile ground for those who want to oppose the policies and resources and practices effective professional learning requires.

Hayes Mizell
Distinguished Senior Fellow, Learning Forward

Read columns, articles, speeches, and other pieces by Hayes Mizell in the Learning System newsletter, and on our website.

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Knowing what you know now about our field, if you had the opportunity to begin your career all over again, would you still get into education?

I've pondered that question several times during my time in this profession. As I approach the 25th anniversary of accepting my very first teaching position (a 4th grade classroom at Cascade Elementary School in Elyria, Ohio), I find myself thinking about it once again. So much has changed in the field since I began my career. I've watched movements come and go, and big ideas see their days and then all but vanish. I've watched us blame all of our ills on parents, teachers, administrators, curriculum, tests, and of course students themselves. I've seen both great and not-so-great concepts result in recommendations, guidelines, procedures, policies, and laws. Despite (and because of) all I've seen and experienced, I can answer my original question with an unequivocal and enthusiastic yes!

I started teaching to make a difference in the lives of children. With every job I've had in education, I've been able to connect the dots between my specific work and that purpose. For those of us in the field who share that thinking, I urge you to pause and take the time to connect your own dots.

When I was a teacher, it was easy to make those connections. I was right there in the classroom creating learning opportunities that challenged my students and hopefully gave them a passion for learning.

As an assistant principal, I had the opportunity to nurture and support an environment that was conducive to learning for all students. As a principal, I saw my job as supporting the collective learning of my staff, securing the allocating the necessary resources (people, time, and money) to do what was needed for our students, and making sure every child was given an opportunity to excel.

As the director of a program that trained aspiring principals in Chicago, it was my responsibility to make sure every school leader saw the connections between the work of the building principal and student learning.

At the Wallace Foundation, I was able to take everything the foundation had learned about leadership and help states and districts develop and support principals who focused their efforts on being instructional leaders and supporters of both teacher and student learning.

Finally, at Learning Forward, I find myself in an organization that recognizes that effective teaching and leading at scale doesn't happen by accident. In fact, we know that it requires a thoughtful focus on developing and supporting a standards-based system of professional learning for both teachers and leaders so they are well prepared to meet the learning needs of their students.

So whenever you are feeling either empowered or overwhelmed by all that has changed in this field and wonder if you've made the right professional choices, I suggest you reflect on why you got into education in the first place and find a way to reconnect with those original passions. Take the time identify the links between your specific work and the benefits for students; if the dots can't be easily connected, then it may be time to determine if you've lost touch with your original reasons for getting into education. And instead of waiting for the next big idea or movement in education, follow Gandhi's advice and "be the change you want to see."

Frederick Brown
Director of Strategy and Development, Learning Forward

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As a member of the Learning First Alliance, Learning Forward will write occasional posts on the LFA's Transforming Learning blog. The following excerpt is from Learning Forward Executive Director Stephanie Hirsh's most recent post on LFA's blog.

As a recent article in Education Week makes clear, there are many educators at a range of levels across the country talking about the link between teacher capacity and successful implementation of the Common Core (read Concern Abounds Over Teachers' Preparedness for Standards).

That link between educators and successful implementation is clear to me -- it's high-quality professional learning. And as I attended last week's meeting of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Implementing the Common Core Standards state collaborative, I was delighted to hear that I am not the only one with that belief. CCSSO Executive Director Gene Wilhoit focused his opening comments on the role professional development must play in achieving the vision for the Common Core.

Read the rest of Stephanie Hirsh's post at the Transforming Learning blog.

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Last week 2010 National Teacher of the Year Sarah Brown Wessling addressed the Implementing Common Core Standards Network of the Council of Chief State School Officers. In her remarks, Wessling described how she is altering her classroom curriculum and instructional practices to implement the English/Language Arts Common Core.

Wessling made a number of very important points in her remarks. Among the many profound comments she shared was one that requires thoughtful consideration and immediate action by state and district leaders responsible for Common Core. "If teachers are not a part of the conversations," she said, "we cannot construct our own learning that enables us to do our work."

This statement makes a number of significant points. First is her use of the term conversations. Many conversations are underway as states and districts prepare for full implementation, but sadly too many of them are without teacher representation. These conversations focus on topics such as implementation plans and timelines, preparation for teachers and principals, communication to multiple audiences, resource acquisition, community engagement, new assessments, changes in curriculum and instruction, and ongoing support for implementation. Engaging teachers in these conversations provides leaders with essential data about what teachers want for successful implementation. Without these data, states and districts may miss vital actions or waste efforts and resources on unnecessary ones.

Second, Wessling underscores the importance of teachers taking an active role as collaborators in efforts related to the implementation of Common Core. If implementation efforts place teachers in the role of passive recipients of actions determined by others, they will miss opportunities to consider the shifts necessary for content and instruction aligned with Common Core. Teachers who actively assess their current practices and build an awareness of the expectations related to Common Core are better able to articulate their needs and to shape their own learning experiences--the learning experiences necessary to contribute to deeper understanding of content and pedagogical shifts, acquisition of pedagogical practices, application of research-based instruction, and continuous improvement driven by data and reflection on their own and students' work.

Finally, inherent in Wessling's message is the challenge to district and state leaders to engage teachers in both state and local decisions related to all aspects of Common Core implementation. Too often decisions inadequately include input from teachers, the primary implementers of Common Core. When teachers are not invited to participate, or representation of teachers is narrow, the genuine needs of teachers remain unknown. Using an excuse that teachers don't know what they don't know as a way to proceed with crucial decisions teachers will be responsible for implementing is an affront to their professionalism.

Successful state and district implementation of Common Core requires substantive engagement of teachers who have the primary responsibility for preparing all students for college and careers.

Joellen Killion
Senior Advisor, Learning Forward

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Learning Forward has partnered with Fierce, Inc. to publish exclusive posts on Fierce's blog throughout the year. Here's an excerpt from Stephanie Hirsh's post appearing on Fierce's blog today:

During my first year on the job (at Learning Forward) I facilitated many strategic plans for school improvement and/or professional development. The two and half day process always began with a grueling discussion of school beliefs. What were the beliefs to which we could all agree?

We were convinced it was important for each school team to have conversations about the underlying beliefs everyone had in common. We spent hours debating phrasing, like "all vs. each," "each vs. every," "learning vs. success," and "achievement vs. learning."

Years later I wrote a book on planning that also recommended beginning the process by detailing beliefs. I recalled the strategies we used to ensure we arrived at a consensus set of beliefs -- because we were determined to settle on a list before we moved forward with action.

And yet over the years, I have found myself questioning the importance of this amount of time dedicated to an exercise that meant so much too so few.

When I compare all the belief statements I facilitated over the last two decades, I wonder if any school today could even locate their original beliefs that we developed together.

Read the rest of this post at The Fierce Blog.

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"Be patient." "Trust the process." "Stick to it." "Everything works out in due time." I heard all these responses from my mother back when I whined about how long the vacation drive was going to take or how many days were left until school was out.

These are the same phrases Learning School Alliance facilitators offer their LSA teams while encouraging them along the path of continuous improvement. After visiting Birmingham Elementary School in Wylie, Texas a few days ago, it turns out mom, and the LSA Facilitators, were right.

Birmingham Elementary joined LSA in 2009 in hopes the newly launched Learning Forward program would be a catalyst for coalescing their disparate PLCs. As we walked through school halls wall-papered in student writing samples, principal Sherry Betts described the transformation the staff experienced over their two years in LSA.

She admitted that at first she and the staff didn't quite get what LSA was all about, but they knew their efforts to improve student performance through teacher collaboration wasn't getting results, particularly in the area of writing. After analyzing their writing scores, staff recognized immediately if they didn't do something soon, those scores would be in an unstoppable downward spiral. They also agreed their PLCs had to stop operating as independent, competitive teams and unite as collectively to improve both teacher and student learning.

One of the requirements of LSA is that each school team writes a schoolwide professional learning plan, including an adult focus for learning or problem of practice. Sherry and her team took the assignment seriously and targeted writing as the content their PLCs would tackle at every grade level. During year one in LSA, they showed modest improvement in both their collaborative PLC work and in student scores. During their second year and after winning a $10,000 grant from the Learning Forward Foundation, they decided as a staff to hire a writing coach to develop all teachers' skills in teaching writing. That's when things really took off, and as Assistant Principal Vanessa Stuart describes it, "the light switch flipped."

Based on their LSA plan, Birmingham teachers now meet regularly in their PLCs to coach one another, plan classroom visitations, review common assessments, and learn together. In addition, the writing coach does demonstration lessons, meets with grade-level PLCs to de-brief lessons she's observed, teaches skills, and does classroom walk throughs. Through peer and coach support, teachers now are more confident in their own ability to teach writing regardless of their content area. Fourth grade writing scores went from 88% to 95% passing in two years.

So mom was right. Having patience, trusting the process, and persevering pays off. Just ask the folks at Birmingham Elementary.

Carol Francois
Director of Learning, Learning Forward

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"I wish I could (exercise more/read more/devote more time to learning), but I just don't have time for that."

How many times do we say something like that? And how many times do we hear it? No one has enough time to do everything he or she wants to do. Even when we know there are certain actions we should make a regular part of our lives - for our long- and short-term health, for our careers, for the people we care about - making a choice to change how we spend time isn't easy. Many of us can't see a pathway to make a different choice; some don't recognize that there's a choice at all.

That same holds true for how we spend money. "I can't afford it" is a common refrain, both in times of economic strain and in rosier conditions.

When we do ultimately find a way to change how we spend our time and money, we've either had a dramatic shift in circumstances or we've followed a more difficult route. We've carefully examined exactly what our resources are, outlined our highest priorities, and determined how the resources can best be used to support our priorities.

According to the Resources standard, professional learning that achieves its intended outcomes requires educators to follow that more difficult route. The examination of how resources are spent isn't just internal to the school or system; communities and policymakers are intensely interested in that discussion as well.

Making the case to shift resources to prioritize professional learning isn't easy when the stakeholders involved in such a shift don't recognize the value of professional learning, or worse yet, have experienced examples of professional development that would make them believe it should never be a priority. It's difficult to counter the idea of an educator's time with students might be less important than something else, if that other use of time can't be directly connected to a better learning experience for students.

Fortunately, there are many examples of schools and systems that have undertaken the difficult task of examining how resources are spent relative to priorities and found it worthwhile to devote both time and money to professional learning.

• A school in Texas, recognizing its dwindling funds for professional learning, envisions a technology solution that embeds external expertise into internal processes for educator support.


• A burgeoning teacher leader propels his mathematics professional learning community forward through leadership and skilled facilitation.


• A district in Washington state examines each priority for the district and devotes time and money to building educator capacity to support those priorities.


• A network of schools creates or finds time in the work week for collaborative learning.

Tracy Crow
Director of Publications, Learning Forward

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On March 29, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the Rebuild America Act, a bill "designed to help restore America's middle class." The bill addresses a wide range of subjects, including education. It offers another good indication that our vision, standards, and definition of professional learning continue to resonate with policy makers as well as educators.

In its analysis of the bill, the Center for American Progress writes:

The Rebuild America Act would make a major and timely investment in the teacher workforce of our nation's schools. In today's world, students must not only graduate from high school but also graduate with increasingly complex knowledge and skills needed to succeed in college and the workforce. Currently, 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted and are in various stages of rolling out the Common Core state-defined college- and career-ready standards. These standards require more of students than existing standards, and they will require more of teachers to teach them. This represents a new challenge for educators nationally.

Sen. Harkin's legislation would build state-and-local capacity to train and support teachers in helping students master college- and career-ready standards. It would provide a critical bridge between the aspirations of the standards and the realities of teachers and school leaders who must translate them into effective teaching and learning. This investment is necessary to ensure our teaching force and school leaders are equipped to address this new challenge.

The College and Career Readiness Classrooms Act--the education portion of Sen. Harkin's overarching bill--requires that federal funds support effective models of professional development that are goal-driven and focused on college- and career-readiness for students, increase teacher expertise in subject areas, are embedded in the work of the classroom teacher and the school, are sustained, and are conceived and implemented through collaboration with teachers and teacher organizations.

These requirements are among the best practices for effective professional development.

Learning Forward fully supports this legislation. In a letter to Sen. Harkin, we stated: "The CCRA is just what is needed to ensure that the historic movement toward college- and career-ready standards produces results for students. The Act will strengthen the capacity of state and local education agencies to provide professional development that is aligned with college- and career-ready standards and increases the effectiveness of all educators... The Act offers a clear vision of effective professional development that is school-based, spurs collaboration among teams of educators, focuses on achieving student and educator learning goals, and rigorously evaluates for impact on teaching and student learning."

While reauthorization is probably still a long way off, it is reassuring to see that at the federal level professional development is being positioned as key to ensuring all students are able to meet career and college ready standards.

Now it is our responsibility to ensure that the systems and processes we are putting in place represent the best of what we know. This is not a time to skimp on what is most important -- building systems to ensure every educator engages in effective professional learning every day so every student achieves.

Stephanie Hirsh
Executive Director, Learning Forward

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The following guest blog is the latest in Learning Forward's partnership with Fierce, Inc. that explores aspects of communication that encourage meaningful collaboration. To read all of Fierce, Inc.'s blog posts, go to http://www.fierceinc.com/blog/.

I'm a very competitive person, and have been from a young age. In school I would stress out before tests and presentations, wanting to make sure that I was the best. The way the education system was designed only helped fuel my desire to be this model student. Good test scores and grades were rewarded, and I wanted those rewards.

My father recognized this trait in me early on. One night, when I was in the fourth grade stressing over the details of a project about the Oregon Trail, he asked me a profound question.

"Why do you want to learn this?"

I remember looking up at him, with my miniature covered wagon almost complete and the neatly written report ready to go, and being totally dumbfounded.

What kind of question was that?

I was learning this because my teacher told me I had to. It was a graded assignment, and not only that, the best miniature scene got the coveted role of being displayed at the parent/teacher conference at the end of the month.

When I told my father this he simply nodded his head. He then asked me if I had ever thought about how learning could feed my soul.

Being nine, I was put off by the choice of words, and yet more than a little curious about what he meant.

My father and I then proceeded to have one of the fiercest and most transformative conversations I've ever had. The fact that I was only nine meant nothing. In that conversation, my father and I explored the idea of what it meant to learn. He opened my eyes to what an education can do for a person's soul and, more importantly, their outlook on life.

Focusing on achieving the best grade or becoming the best student can only take you so far. It limits your thinking, and trains you to take only the steps necessary to achieve the minimum required of you.

Learning to better yourself, to teach others, and contribute to society expands your view to a bigger, global picture. It's that magical space where innovation lives, where creativity breathes.

That simple shift in my context didn't deter me from still wanting to excel, if anything it only amplified my motivation. The difference is how big I dared to dream with the knowledge I learned.

Educators, parents, and we at Fierce in the Schools cannot underestimate the power any single conversation can have on a child. Imagine a generation of students who have the mindset that they should take control of their learning, to not only better themselves, but the world around them. Imagine you as an educator being able to shift their context through not only a conversation, but also by exemplifying a commitment to continuous learning in your own work. You would be a game changer.

Jaime Navarro
Account Executive, Fierce in the Schools

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