Professional Learning Video Series · Inspired to Learn: Kansas Stories
Video 1: Why Professional Learning Matters ● Video 2: What Is Professional Learning?
Video 3: HOW 1 - Learning and Leading Together ● Video 4: How 2 - Better Together
● Video 5: How 3 - Learning Leaders
Professional Learning Video Series · Inspired to Learn: Kansas Stories
Video 1: Why Professional Learning Matters
Video 2: What Is Professional Learning?
Video 3: HOW 1 - Learning and Leading Together
Video 4: How 2 - Better Together
Video 5: How 3 - Learning Leaders

A Message from the LFKS President

Change and Redesign, two words we hear that cause feelings of excitement or fear. Both concepts are often hard for most people and don't come easily. The definition of change is, "the act or instance of making or becoming different." The definition of redesign is, "the action or process of redesigning something." Change and Redesign require us to do something different than what we have already been doing. This task doesn't usually happen with a snap of the fingers. Change and redesign in education take time, research and planning. In fact, our Kansans Can Redesign Project allows schools one year to develop a shared vision, organize a redesign team, set goal areas, design and implement professional learning, communicate with stakeholders, pilot prototypes, collect data and build a comprehensive redesign plan before launching their change efforts.
This is a time to be proud as an educator! Our school buildings were closed and with the support of KSDE and the Continuous Learning Plan, we had a week to change and redesign to accommodate continual learning for our students outside of the school building and we did it. I love seeing the positive consequences. Call me crazy or Pollyanna, but I'm seeing it and feeling it first-hand. The closing of school doors has challenged us to look at student learning differently and to initiate change and redesign in a week's time. Within each district, administration and teacher leaders worked quickly to develop a professional learning plan and a framework for teachers. The teachers quickly collaborated and put together a Continual Learning Plan of essential skills that could be accessed by students...read more
Series Premiere! Inspired to Learn: Kansas Stories
By Vicki Bechard, LFKS Secretary and Dayna Richardson, LFKS Executive Director
Learning Forward Kansas is proud to announce that the complete professional learning series: Inspired to Learn: Kansas Stories is available on the LFKS website for immediate use by all Kansas educators. This free, five video resource is accompanied by a facilitation guide for each video to create the most beneficial experience for users seeking to achieve effective professional learning in their school or district. Facilitation guides offer resources and strategies to enhance the video experience, modeling collaborative ...read more
Professional Learning in the News
Celebrating Our Public Schools
Public Schools Week is February 24-28, 2020! This is a great opportunity to showcase all we do to support Kansas kids! The national Learning First Alliance (LFA) organization, which includes Learning Forward, has organized many celebrations for the week. It's a week for school board members, educators, and parents across the U.S. to highlight the importance of public education in their communities and with lawmakers. Nine out of 10 students in the United States - and Kansas - attend public schools.
How might your district/organization celebrate? ...read more

Connections in Kansas
News Release from KLFA
•October 15, 2020•
The Kansas Learning First Alliance (KLFA) held the second meeting of the academic year on October 15, 2020 virtually, due to restrictions on gatherings in Topeka. Laurie Curtis, KLFA Chair, welcomed representatives of over 25 educational organizations in support of strong public education in our state.
A panel of educators provided KLFA members with guidance and resources…
Read MoreAnnouncements
Learning Forward Kansas (LFKS) wants to convey our thanks and heartfelt appreciation to you for your leadership and hard work this spring as you reshaped the learning for our Kansas kids during this pandemic.
Connections with Learning Forward

Learning Forward Annual Conference
•December 7-11, 2019•
Marie Henderson and I represented our Learning Forward Kansas team at the National Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. This year marked Learning Forward’s 50th birthday, and we celebrated with Learning Forward folks from across the United States and around the world. The Sunday evening birthday party was electric and energetic.
Difficult as it was to select from so many sessions to attend, Marie Henderson and I both landed in a personalized professional development session focused on awarding badges to educators. During this work session, the participants shared the work their respective school districts were doing.
Filled with educators from the classroom to the district office, the participants appeared hungry for ideas and learning. During the sharing session, Marie shared the work she and Kyle Carlin were doing with learning badges to support teachers on their professional learning journey. Their badging system was by far the most advanced. Several educators asked Marie for more information on FLEX, the program she is pioneering for her school district’s professional learning.
Many of the participants from larger schools lamented about the difficulty in changing the professional learning status quo.
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~New! KESA Facilitation Guide PDF
Learning Forward Kansas has developed a Facilitation Guide to promote dialogue that increases understanding of KESA and the rubrics.
This resource is full of strategies (also known as protocols) to organize and facilitate professional learning discussions with educators and stakeholders that lead to success for all.