In a conversation with author John Franklin, Richard DuFour discusses professional learning communities. He explains a multilayered prevention approach for students who are having difficulty in his school district, Adlai Stevenson in Lincolnshire, Illinois. DuFour states effort and perseverance are very important for those seeking to start professional learning communities.
Becky Burnette discusses how her elementary school in rural Virginia used professional learning communities to sustain an already high achieving school. She developed characteristics in her school including common purpose, collective commitments, and measurable goals. She describes the steps taken in her school to achieve these characteristics common in learning communities.
This book edited by Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Deborah DuFour brings the ideas and recommendations of many of North America’s educational leaders into one resource for educators working to help their students achieve at ever-higher levels. Each chapter contributes to a sound conceptual framework and specific, practical strategies for developing professional learning communities.
The role of a principal is to facilitate change according to this article by Richard DuFour and Timothy Berkey. They offer ten suggestions for principals to promote organizational development with a focus on staff development. Ways to lead a learning community are also explored in this work.
This work, through the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, focuses on the combination of building professional learning communities and instructional coaching. Professional learning community is defined and an idea of what they can look like is provided. Also given is research to support the effectiveness of thesecommunities in areas such as change and leadership. Four areas for supporting communities of practice are also outlined and explained.
The three elements necessary in a professional learning community are discussed in this article by the Mid-continent for Education and Learning. Also presented is a chart of the three elements on a continuum of least to most effective strategies for sustaining a professional learning community. A description of Professional Development Strands, which is used at a ---middle school in Missouri, is also discussed.
This site allows navigation through a work by Dr. Shirley Hord which offers a comprehensive overview of learning communities. Attributes, outcomes, and the process for developing learning communities are all widely discussed. Resources for developing other configurations of learning communities are also provided.
The benefits of site-based management and teacher empowerment have been widely touted, but the reality does not always live up to the promise. Nancy Mohr and Alan Dichter talk about the purpose of shared decision making and about what they now know about helping a faculty become a learning organization; it is a developmental process, with identifiable stages. Mohr and Dichter use their own experiences to illustrate how the process plays out and what is required at each stage along the way.
This article summarizes the five claims of effective successful leadership at the secondary school level. Highlighted are the effects on student learning, leadership in schools, basics of school leadership, context of accountability, and educating diverse groups of students. Efforts to improve educational leadership should build upon the foundation which is already well-documented.
This article describes the “dangers” and difficulties of leadership. It also summarizes five suggestions for success in exercising political thinking which is necessary in adaptive change. At the conclusion of the article, the authors express a need for adaptive leadership at all levels of education.
