The 2026 Call for Proposals will close at noon Eastern on January 30, 2026. If you submitted a proposal for the 2026 Annual Conference, you will be notified of the status of your application by May 2026.
Instructions
Prior to beginning the proposal submission process:
Once you begin the proposal submission process:
- Read through the proposal form and draft your proposal in Word. That way you will have a copy if your submission fails for any reason.
- Complete the online proposal.
- Make a copy of your proposal and save the confirmation receipt from Learning Forward.
- IMPORTANT: Once you "COMPLETE" and "SUBMIT" your proposal, no corrections will be accepted. However, you can read your final proposal after you submit it and print a PDF copy.
For additional information and helpful tips for writing a proposal, please click here.
If you submit a proposal for the 2026 Annual Conference, you will be notified of the status of your application in May 2026.
Thank you, and good luck!
Session Types
Accepting proposals for the following sessions:
- 2-hour Concurrent Sessions: These 2-hour sessions feature school and system leaders, professional learning practitioners, authors, and external providers highlighting practical strategies that improve educator learning and student success. Each session is aligned with the Standards for Professional Learning and highlights research-based strategies that attendees can take back to their schools and systems immediately. Learn what works and how you can apply practical strategies, resources, and new skills in your school, system, state, or organization!
- Table Talks: Table Talk sessions are 45-minute presentations with an additional 15 minutes for Q&A. They are excellent venues for giving and receiving feedback, engaging in in-depth discussions, and meeting colleagues with similar interests. Table Talks take place in a designated banquet room, with up to 15 sessions happening simultaneously. Each Table Talk is limited to 14 participants seated at one or two tables. Please note that AV equipment - including speakers and projectors - is not provided for these sessions.
Additional learning experiences that are invited or sponsored include:
- 4-hour Concurrent Sessions: These 4-hour sessions feature invited school and system leaders, professional learning practitioners, authors, and external providers highlighting practical strategies that improve educator learning and student success. Each session is aligned to the Standards for Professional Learning and highlights research-based strategies that attendees can take back to their schools and systems immediately. Learn what works and how you can apply practical strategies, resources and/or new skills in your school, system, state, or organization!
- Preconference Sessions: Preconference sessions are invited full-day Sunday sessions that feature national and international experts in the field of professional learning. Preconference session participants benefit from a full day of working together to deeply explore key professional learning topics that promote systemwide change.
- Keynote Speakers: Keynote speakers are invited to motivate, inform, and engage attendees during General Sessions.
- Thought Leader Lectures: Thought Leader lectures and panel discussions feature education researchers and selected leaders in professional learning, school improvement, and other areas of interest.
- Sponsor Sessions: Sponsor sessions are 1-hour sessions that feature publishers, advocacy organizations, and technology partners. Hear from our conference sponsors about new ideas, innovative solutions, and their work in schools and systems to promote professional learning as a key lever for change.
If you want to submit information for an invited or sponsor session, please contact conferenceinfo@learningforward.org.
Submission Tips
- Prepare a draft of your responses to the questions in the proposal form and save them as a Word file. When you are ready, cut and paste your responses into the final proposal form. Please note that ASCII symbols (i.e., trademark, copyright, superscript, etc.) may not appear in the form as they do in Word.
- Sessions that include school district/division employees are given priority. Those working with schools are encouraged to co-present presentations with practitioners.
- Sessions that include diverse presentation teams are also a priority in terms of selection for the program. The selection committees value diversity of presentation teams in terms of race, culture, gender, level of experience, or areas of educational expertise.
- Sessions that provide evidence and/or data that illustrates the impact this work has had in a school, district, or other setting.
- Conference sessions are 2 hours, and Table Talks are 45 minutes plus 15 minutes for an informal discussion. Sessions should be designed to engage participants. To ensure a high level of engagement, the session process outlined in the proposal is given greater weight than other criteria in the review process.
- The intent of our conference is to foster the vision and beliefs of the organization. All sessions should be designed from a professional learning perspective and align with Learning Forward's Standards for Professional Learning and Learning Forward's vision: Every educator engages in exemplary professional learning so every student excels.
Review Process
Proposals are reviewed by Learning Forward staff, the Host Committee, and other volunteers. Reviewers use the proposal scoring criteria on the next tab as the basis for scoring proposals and evaluating them. Every effort is made to have each proposal scored by a minimum of three reviewers. If you wish to be part of this review process, either remotely or in the host city, contact conferenceinfo@learningforward.org .
Scoring Criteria
- To what degree does the proposal address the Learning Forward vision and standards?
- To what degree does the proposal address how professional learning advances school or district/division improvement, student achievement, and educator performance?
- To what degree does the session proposal outline a process that models the best in adult learning, participant engagement, and clearly delineated session outcomes?
- To what degree does the proposal provide a unique, creative, or innovative solution to Learning Forward members and conference attendees?
- To what degree is the proposal informed by research and/or evidence-based practice?
- To what degree does the impact statement in the proposal demonstrate the effect of professional learning on student achievement, educator performance, and school or district/division improvement. If the professional learning has been implemented 3 or more years, please include impact data. If less than 3 years, include emerging data.
- Presentation teams that include school district/division employee(s) will be awarded additional points.
Selection Criteria
In addition to the scores awarded a proposal by reviewers, criteria that can be used to determine the selection of a proposal for the program include:
- The number of submissions for an alignment to standards or topics addressed;
- The number of hours requested in a proposal;
- The composition of the presentation team;
- Geographic location of the presentation team; and
- Presentation history with Learning Forward.
Presenter Requirements
Proposal Submissions
A presenter may submit or appear as a presenter/co-presenter on two proposals only.
Registration
Learning Forward values presenters' participation throughout the conference. Lead presenters and co-presenters are required to register for the conference, at least for the day of their session, and pay any fees that are required. Early registration and member discounts are available. All presenters are required to register by September 30, 2026.
Audiovisual Equipment
All preconference and concurrent session meeting rooms are set in rounds or pods of 8-10. These rooms will be set with AV within an hour before the session’s start time.
Learning Forward will provide all preconference and concurrent session rooms with a screen, LCD projector, and wireless internet connectivity.
- For sessions with less than 45 participants, presenters need to bring a speaker for sound if sharing video(s) or music. A microphone is not provided.
- For sessions with 45 to 80, presenters will receive an audio patch for their computer and one wired microphone.
- For sessions with 81 or more participants, presenters will receive an audio patch for their computer and two wired microphones.
Please ensure you can connect your laptop to an HDMI or USB (C) connection. Some laptops, such as Macs, require an adapter, and we cannot guarantee that we will have enough.
Additional AV equipment must be ordered through the conference AV provider. The presenter is responsible for associated costs. More information is coming soon!
Experience has taught us that WIFI can be uncertain when sharing livestream videos. Presenters need to download videos to their laptops for sharing purposes to prevent any issues during your session. Please do not rely on the internet to livestream during the annual conference.
Handouts or Other Materials
We will share handouts digitally with conference participants. Presenters are strongly encouraged to make handouts available online through Learning Forward for conference attendees. Presenters who prefer printed handouts are responsible for reproducing and providing all handouts for participants. All appropriate sources must be cited and permission, where required, must be obtained with regard to the materials used in the session.
Non-Commercial Policy
Learning Forward policy prohibits the sale of products and services during conference presentations. Presenters may not display or distribute brochures or order forms, talk about their services, promote themselves, or sell their publications. Referencing or citing a presenter's own publications is acceptable.
Alignment to Standards
Rigorous Content for Each Learner
Standards within the Rigorous Content for Each Learner frame describes the essential content of adult learning that leads to improved student outcomes.
Learning Practices
Educators understand their students' historical and societal contexts, embrace student assets through instruction, and foster relationships with students, families, and communities.
Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction
Educators prioritize high-quality curriculum and instructional materials for students, assess student learning, and understand curriculum and implement through instruction.
Professional Expertise
Educators apply standards and research to their work, develop the expertise essential to their roles, and prioritize coherence and alignment in their learning.
Transformational Processes
Standards within the Transformational Processes frame describe process elements of professional learning, explaining how educators learn in ways that sustain significant changes in their knowledge, skills, practices, and mindsets.
Learning Drivers
Educators identify and address their own perspectives and beliefs, collaborate with colleagues who hold various perspectives, and prioritize the learning needs of all students and educators.
Evidence
Educators create expectations and build capacity for use of evidence, leverage evidence, data, and research from multiple sources to plan educator learning, and measure and report the impact of professional learning.
Learning Designs
Educators set relevant and contextualized learning goals, ground their work in research and theories about learning, and implement evidence-based learning designs.
Implementation
Educators understand and apply research on change management, engage in feedback processes, and implement and sustain professional learning.
Conditions for Success
Standards within the Conditions for Success frame describe aspects of the professional learning context, structures, and cultures that undergird high-quality professional learning.
Learning Foundations
Educators establish expectations for everyone's learning, create structures to ensure access to learning opportunities, and sustain a culture of support for all staff.
Culture of Collaborative Inquiry
Educators engage in continuous improvement, build collaboration skills and capacity, and share responsibility for improving learning for all students.
Leadership
Educators establish a compelling and inclusive vision for professional learning, sustain coherent support to build educator capacity, and advocate for professional learning by sharing the importance and evidence of impact of professional learning.
Resources
Educators allocate resources for professional learning, prioritize all learners' needs in their resource decisions, and monitor the use and impact of resource investments.
Topics
Select no more than 3 topics addressed in your session.
Comprehensive System Improvement/Reform
- Change Theory/Management
- Creating a shared PL vision
- Partnerships to increase school and system effectiveness
- Professional learning policies
- Retention, Recruitment & Pipeline Development
- Rural Issues and Settings
- School and System Reform
- Standards for Professional Learning
- Teacher Choice/Teacher Driven Professional Learning
- Teacher Pathways/Pipeline
- Transforming School Culture and Climate
- Urban Issues and Settings
Content Instruction
- Brain science/science of learning
- Classroom Management/Classroom Support
- Curriculum-based Professional Learning
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Science
Differentiated Learning
- Design Thinking/Human-Centered Design
- Personalized learning
- Special education
- UDL - Universal Design for Learning
Reaching All Learners
- Belonging and dignity for all students
- Community/Family Engagement
- English Learners / Linguistic Diversity / Multilingual Learners
- Ensuring Students' Access to Learning Opportunities
- High-Quality Tier One Instruction / MTSS
- Learning for all
- Serving the needs of all students
Leadership
- Advocacy for Professional Learning
- Distributed/Shared Leadership/Leadership Teams
- Instructional Leadership and Supervision
- Leadership Development and Coaching
- Leadership Pathways & Pipelines
- Teacher Leadership
Professional Learning Structures
- Continuous Improvement Cycles
- Facilitation
- Feedback and Observations
- Induction and Mentoring
- Instructional Coaching
- Learning Networks
- Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
Technology and Professional Learning
- AI - Artificial Intelligence and professional learning
- Blended and online models of Professional Learning
- Technology for Professional Learning
- Technology to Enhance Student Learning
Understanding Assessment, Evaluation, and Impact
- Data Collection
- Data-Driven Decision Making
- Evaluation of Professional Learning
- Measuring the Return on Investment
- Practical Measures
- Professional Learning Research Studies
- Teacher Leadership and Efficacy
Wellbeing
- Learner Voice (Student & Educator)/Agency
- Managing Conflict/Challenging Conversations
- Serving the needs of all students
- Transforming School Culture and Climate
- Wellbeing for all learners
