Revisiting Professional Learning Communities At Work

This 10th-anniversary sequel to the authors’ best-selling book Professional Learning Communities at WorkTM: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement merges research, practice, and passion. The most extensive, practical, and authoritative PLC resource to date, it goes further than ever before into best practices for deep implementation, explores the commitment/consensus issue, and celebrates successes of educators who are making the journey.

Provides specific information on how to transform schools into results-oriented professional learning communities, describing the best practices that have been used by schools nationwide.

"This is the second edition of Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Rebecca DuFour's sequel to their best-selling book Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement (DuFour & Eaker, 1998). A merging of research and practice, it offers leaders and educators specific, practical recommendations for transforming their schools into PLCs so their students learn at higher levels and their profession becomes more rewarding, satisfying, and fulfilling"--

Imagine all professionals in all schools engaged in continuous professional learning! Education experts Shirley M. Hord and William A. Sommers explore the school-based learning opportunities offered to school professionals and the principal's critical role in the creation, development, and support of an effective professional learning community (PLC). This book provides school leaders with readily accessible information to guide them in initiating and developing a PLC that supports teachers and students. Using field-tested examples, the text illustrates how this research-based school improvement model can help educators: Increase leadership capacity Embed professional development into daily work Create a positive school culture Develop accountability Boost student achievement

The purpose of this book is to clearly define an approach to school improvement that uses professional learning community (PLC) practices to achieve school improvement and success for every student. This book offers information, examples and case studies to clarify the concept of a PLC, to respond to critical issues in schools, and to support educational leaders in addressing the important mandates of accountability and school improvement. As school leaders proactively lead efforts to create learning communities, their schools, districts, and staff will incorporate knowledge, skills, and practices that focus on teaching and learning for all. The authors' findings will assist leaders, change agents, policy makers, and university faculty in guiding schools toward creating and maintaining PLCs as they sustain school improvement for student learning.

This expansion of Whatever It Takes sharpens the focus on the pyramid of interventions strategy. The authors examine case studies of schools and districts across North America to illustrate how PLC at WorkTM is a sustainable and transferable process that ensures struggling students get the support they need to achieve. They address how to enrich and extend the learning of proficient students and explain how PLC intervention processes align with RTI legislation.

Get a play-by-play guide to implementing PLC concepts. Each chapter begins with a story focused on a particular challenge. A follow-up analysis of the story identifies the good decisions or common mistakes made in relation to that particular scenario. The authors examine the research behind best practice and wrap up each chapter with recommendations and tools you can use in your school.