Shared Resources and Interesting Reading from 2025

This is a list of the resources, articles, and books on professional learning, coaching, and education compiled by the Learning Forward Texas staff. These were shared in the Straightforward Newsletters sent out in 2025.

January 2025

•  Poll finds student success is top of mind for professional learning leaders - Learning Forward - Ensuring educator learning leads to better teaching and more student learning is top of mind for professional development leaders from across the U.S. and beyond, according to a recent poll conducted by Learning Forward. During our organization's annual conference in December 2024, more than 500 learning leaders responded to an online survey about their work and its results. Read more

• How to Integrate AI Policies Into Professional Development Programs - Tech & Learning - Callie Salaymeh, Instructional Technology Coach and Biology teacher at Lyons Township High School and Head of Community for Enlightened AI, discusses how her district implemented a successful professional development plan that integrates AI guidelines to help students effectively navigate AI use personally and professionally. Read more

•  Purpose-Driven Teacher Induction: A Systemic Teacher Induction Framework to Help New Teachers Thrive! - Dr. Chris Summers - LFTX Board Member Chris Summers has written a book to help leaders support new teachers, reduce burnout, and elevate the teaching profession. The book uses the Systemic Teacher Induction (STI) Framework to help leaders support new teachers and add value to maximize what matters most in the classroom. Read More

February 2024

• Free tool: Effort-to-impact matrix - Learning Forward - For those who support teachers, it can feel like there are myriad urgent needs. The effort-to-impact matrix is a simple but valuable tool that can help instructional coaches, teacher teams, administrators, and other change agents prioritize their efforts and strategically choose which steps to take and when. The tool was first published in The Learning Professional, accompanying a story by Sharron Helmke. Access the tool. 

• Free Resource page on The Main Idea - The Main Idea - Jenn David-Lang founded THE MAIN IDEA in 2007 because she found many school leaders were too overwhelmed with their day-to-day responsibilities to find time for their professional learning. So, she created THE MAIN IDEA to give education leaders easy access to the most current and powerful ideas in education to help them better serve as strong instructional leaders. On the Free Resource page, you can find useful 1-page readings on topics like supporting teachers, managing conflict, improving supervision and coaching, and more. Read more

•  A coaching approach to leadership - Principal Magazine - One of the most important ways to help educators improve is coaching, wrote Jim Knight. "Leaders who understand and apply a coaching approach to leadership will be more effective because they will be better able to tailor their interactions to meet the unique strengths and needs of teachers and students," Knight wrote. "We like to define coaching as a one-to-one, goal-directed, managed conversation designed to unlock potential and build capacity through partnership."  Read More

March 2025

• AI Resources for District Leaders - Tech & Learning - To set in motion your global domination plans–er, I mean, to harness the transformative power of generative AI in education, district leaders must navigate a landscape rich with tools and opportunities.. Read more​

April 2025

• How understanding the brain improves educator learning - The Learning Professional - Teaching can improve when the cognitive science of how we learn aligns with educational practice. Read more

• GPT-4.5: What Educators Need To Know About The New ChatGPT Model - Tech & Learning - OpenAI recently released GPT-4.5 to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, and educator Erik Ofgang began exploring its educational uses. “To be sure, it’s a technological wonder that would have been gasp-inducing a few years ago,” he writes. “However, today OpenAI is something of a victim of its own success, and the latest and supposedly greatest GPT model is arguably outperformed by OpenAI and its competitors.” Read more.

• Frederick Brown featured on Coaching Conversations podcast - Coaching Conversations Podcast - Frederick Brown, Learning Forward president and chief executive officer, spoke with Jim Knight, co-founder of the Instructional Coaching Group, to discuss the growth of and increased interest in coaching and also to explore Learning Forward’s evolution throughout its 50+-year history. Listen now

May 2025

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