We are so excited to share with you a copy of RPPL's new brief, Building Better PL: How to Strengthen Teacher Learning by senior researchers Heather Hill and John Papay. The brief was featured in Ed Week this morning. This is the second piece in RPPL’s research series, following our brief from earlier this year, Dispelling the Myths: What the Research Says About Teacher Professional Learning. 

Please help us in sharing this brief with the PL community, including PL providers and researchers. We also invite you to join us, Heather, and John for a free online event Nov. 16 where we will dig deeper into this research and share important updates on our other work and studies. Let us know what you think about the findings outlined in this brief, and what you think we should examine next. If you're interested in providing partnership or funding related to next steps identified in the brief, please reach out to us.

John B. Diamond, professor of sociology and education policy in Brown University’s department of sociology and Annenberg Institute for School Reform, has been selected by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) to present the 2022 Brown Lecture in Education Research. The public lecture will take place virtually on Thursday, November 3, 6:00–7:30 p.m. ET. Diamond is a leading scholar in the study of race in education and how it shapes instruction and learning in U.S. schools and school systems. His research focuses on the relationship between social inequality and educational opportunity, examining how leadership, policies, and practices shape students' educational opportunities and outcomes. Diamond is an advisory board member of the American Sociological Association (ASA)’s Sociology Action Network and a national planning team member of the URBAN Research Network. He is an AERA Fellow and served as chair of the AERA Minority Dissertation Fellowship in Education Selection Committee. “Dr. Diamond’s substantial contributions to the field are demonstrated by his dedication to narrowing the opportunity gap for underrepresented and underresourced students by identifying and removing systematic barriers,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “His work on equity-centered school leadership supports the Brown Lecture’s purpose as a reminder of how research helps us understand and address equity and equality in education.” ... Click here to read full article.

In January, Florida's Department of Education rejected an Advanced Placement course in African American studies. Governor Ron Desantis called the course curricula indoctrination. This move is in line with the state’s politics/2022/06/16/desantis-florida-stop-woke-act-challenged-universities-free-speech/7630033001/">Stop Woke Act of 2022, which assumes that Critical Race Theory is running rampant throughout politics and education, that programs focused on race and diversity are discriminatory, and that strictly limits how topics like racism in American history can be discussed in Florida classrooms.  We speak with John Diamond, Professor of Sociology and Education Policy at Brown University and author of “Despite the Best Intentions: How Inequality Thrives in Good Schools, about the importance of Black studies.