This book demonstrates how a professional learning community can increase teacher growth and student achievement. The authors provide detailed examples along with innovation maps to help school leaders implement the eight key elements of an effective PLC.

This work aims to deepen conceptions and understanding of professional learning communities, as well as highlighting frequently neglected complexities and challenges. It is for 'thinking' professionals internationally, be they practitioners (within and supporting schools), policymakers, academics or research students.

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

This research-based sequel to Leading Professional Learning Communities focuses on the practical process of implementing, improving, and sustaining PLCs. Appropriate for groups at all stages of PLC development, this field book helps educators improve PLC operations by facilitating individual and group development and growth. The authors provide learning opportunities that generate conversations about adult learning and contribute to supportive conditions that strengthen teacher quality and raise student outcomes.

A Professional Learning Community is undeniably one of the most effective processes out there for improving student achievement, as well a school's overarching culture and climate. With such widespread notoriety, though, there has been a dilution of the true essence of the term. Understanding of what a Professional Learning Community is varies from one district to another, from one school to another, even from one educator to another. It's about time for a resurrection. Reviving Professional Learning Communities does exactly that through the lens of a simple framework called, the 4S Approach. This new development helps practitioners build thriving learning communities through: (1) recognition and validation of each staff member's unique points of view, (2) natural conflict that accompanies the assorted viewpoints, (3) healthy teamwork, and (4) effective systems. Sprinkled throughout the book are also 32 practical, high-leverage strategies that are easy to understand and simple to put into practice right away. This book will most certainly help answer the perennial question: How do we achieve a genuine Professional Learning Community?

If you are looking for an organic approach to purpose-driven professional learning, this is the book for you. Award-winning educator Lois Brown Easton's latest work provides a compelling case study in narrative form, a chronological PLC planning outline, and first-hand "lessons learned" about how PLCs develop, mature, and sustain themselves. You will not receive a PLC "prescription," but you will find inspiration, wisdom, discussion questions, and a companion CD.

This book discusses distinctive features of the professional learning community concept, practices and processes across six different education systems in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and the United States. It provides a platform for an exchange of different perspectives and offers alternative possibilities of theorizing professional learning communities across different socio-cultural contexts. Contributors provide valuable insights for policy makers, education researchers and educators in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere to deal with critical questions about the improvement of teaching and learning and school improvement in a globalizing world. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Education.

Featuring contributions from top educators, the third volume of The Soul of Educational Leadership series examines leadership and moral choices and offers strategies for supporting professional learning communities.

"Clearly shows the success that can occur when a staff learns together. I highly recommend this book to aspiring and beginning principals, as well as those with years of experience." —Paul Young, Executive Director, West After School Center Former President, National Association of Elementary School Principals Foster schoolwide professional learning through a collaborative action research model! Action research is a popular method for individual educators to examine their practices and grow in their profession. In this how-to guide, readers will learn how Whole-Faculty Study Groups (WFSGs) use action research to involve an entire school in advancing staff learning and school performance. The WFSG model is a type of professional learning community (PLC) that catalyzes school change with schoolwide action research as a central component. With over 20 years of experience, the authors draw from hundreds of examples and case studies to describe how implementing WFSGs can help students, teachers, administrators, and other staff members work collaboratively to improve teacher practice and student learning. The authors′ empirical data and comprehensive approach help deepen educators′ understanding of how to use meaningful action research to strengthen teamwork and realize school reform. Additionally, readers will learn how: The WFSG system compares with other approaches to action research The schoolwide action research process can be applied in a wide variety of school reform efforts Study groups can move from discussion to action Principals and district leaders can support schoolwide action research Discover the ways WFSGs can enhance student learning and result in real school improvement in this highly relevant, must-have guide.

The book investigates how Chinese professional learning communities (PLCs) shape the professional practice of teachers and their psychological well-being. Adopting a mixed research approach, the author explores the influence of PLCs on teachers’ self-efficacy, commitment and job satisfaction in a number of schools in Shanghai, China. The study contributes to our understanding of PLC outcomes from the Chinese perspective, enriches our knowledge of how PLCs promote teachers’ psychological well-being, and also sheds light on how the practices of PLCs can be influenced by various institutional and socio-cultural forces. The book will be of interest to academics and students studying professional learning communities, teacher professional learning and professional development, school effectiveness and school improvement, and Chinese schooling.