Professional Development | News

Learning Forward Launches Free Online Principal PD Resources

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 05/06/14

Learning Forward has launched a collection of free online professional development resources for principals and aspiring K-12 school leaders.

The Principal Story Learning Guide, based on the PBS documentary The Principal Story, features Web-based lessons and activities "and incorporates knowledge from 13 years of work with school districts and from research on education leadership funded by The Wallace Foundation," according to a news release.

The Learning Guide's five units, which include more than 25 activities, are designed for instructors and facilitators in principal preparation and professional development programs, but can also be used by individuals or small teams. Units can be imported into existing lessons or used as the basis for entire lessons or workshops.

Using scenes from the film for demonstration purposes and as jumping-off points for exploration, the five units cover:

• Shaping a vision of academic success for all students;
• Creating a climate hospitable to education;
• Cultivating leadership in others;
• Improving instruction; and
• Managing people, data and processes to foster school improvement.

"Learning Forward has developed a flexible and widely accessible set of resources that can augment pre-service and in-service principal education," said Jessica Schwartz, senior communications officer at The Wallace Foundation, in a prepared statement. "The compelling use of film, along with research-grounded text and activities, has the potential to enliven instruction for experienced, novice and aspiring school leaders." 

More information is available at learningforward.org.