PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design - Softcover

Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy; Almarode, John T.; Flories, Karen T.; Nagel, Dave

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1544361793 ISBN 13: 9781544361796

Publisher: Corwin, 2019

Synopsis

Create strong and effectives PLCs plus―and that plus is YOU 

What makes a powerful and results-driven Professional Learning Community (PLC)? The answer is PLC plus― "plus" being the vital role teachers play in teaching and learning. Grounded in four cross-cutting themes―equity, high expectations, efficacy, and facilitation from discussion to action―the PLC+ framework supports educators in questioning practices, not just outcomes. It broadens the focus on student learning to encompass educational equity and teaching efficacy, and, in doing so, it leads educators to plan and implement PLCs that maximize individual expertise while harnessing the power of collaborative efficacy.
 

About this title

About the Author

Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is Professor of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College. He has served as a teacher, language development specialist, and administrator in public schools and non-profit organizations, including 8 years as the Director of Professional Development for the City Heights Collaborative, a time of increased student achievement in some of San Diego’s urban schools.  Doug has engaged in Professional Learning Communities for several decades, building teams that design and implement systems to impact teaching and learning.  He has published numerous books on teaching and learning, such as Assessment-capable Visible Learners and Engagement by Design.

Nancy Frey, Ph.D., is a Professor in Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. She has been a special education teacher, reading specialist, and administrator in public schools. Nancy has engaged in Professional Learning Communities as a member and in designing schoolwide systems to improve teaching and learning for all students. She has published numerous books, including The Teacher Clarity Playbook and Rigorous Reading. 

Learn more about John Almarode′s PD offerings

Dr. John Almarode has worked with schools, classrooms, and teachers all over the world.  John began his career in Augusta County, Virginia, teaching mathematics and science to a wide-range of students.  Since then, he has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on the application of the science of learning to the classroom, school, and home environments.  He has worked with hundreds of school districts and thousands of teachers across the world.  The work of John and his colleagues has been presented to the United States Congress, The United States Department of Education, as well as the Office of Science and Technology Policy at The White House. John has authored multiple articles, reports, book chapters, and books.  However, what really sustains John, and his greatest accomplishment is his family.  John lives in Waynsboro, Virginia with his wife Danielle, a fellow educator, their two children, Tessa and Jackson, and Labrador retrievers, Angel and Forest.  

John can be reached at www.johnalmarode.com.

Karen T. Flories has 15 years of experience in education including special education and high school English teaching, as well as serving in the role of Literacy Director and Executive Director of Educational Services.  She is currently a full time Professional Learning consultant for Corwin. 

Dave Nagel is an international educational consultant and researcher. His educational career started as a mid­dle school science and high school biology teacher. His administrative experiences involved being a middle school assistant principal, high school associate princi­pal, and director of extended day and credit recovery programs. In his former district, Dave was instrumental in implementing power standards and performance assessments. He was honored numerous times as a “Senior Choice” winner, with graduating seniors selecting him as someone who dramatically affected their life in a positive way.

His efforts in augmenting and implementing a multifaceted credit recovery model transformed Ben Davis High School (enrollment 3,400, Grades 10–12) from a middle-of-the-road high school in terms of diplo­mas awarded into a graduation factory. By focusing on differentiated goals for students based on specific proficiency measures, Ben Davis was able to improve its graduation rate 14% in just over 4 years.

Dave has been a national and international presenter and consultant to schools for over 10 years. Using his experience and expertise, he has presented and helped schools, from pre-K through Grade 12, implement effective practices leading to gains in student achievement. His main focus when working with schools has revolved around assessment, instruction, leadership, and effective collaboration. He has worked specifically with schools in implementing the following topics: prioritizing standards, com­mon formative assessments, building authentic performance tasks, effec­tive use of scoring guides, data teams, rigorous curriculum design, and effective grading practices.

In the past few years, Dave has done extensive work with teachers and leaders across the country assisting schools and entire districts through a proven process to identify essential Common Core State Standards and their relationship with state and local assessment results.

Dave has also done extensive work around helping school teams work on critical aspects of effective collaboration. This has significantly impacted student achievement through focusing on intentional adult actions.

Published multiple times in various publications such as Principal Leadership and Educational Leadership, Dave has also presented at various national conferences such as those hosted by the Association for Supervi­sion and Curriculum Development, National Staff Development Council, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and National School Boards Association.

Dave stays very busy with his beautiful and supportive wife, Kristen, and three boys (ages 10, 5, and 3). Kristen works full time and does most of the raising of the children, and he is extremely grateful for her every day. He acknowledges every day that the Lord guides his actions and is the driving force in his life.

Edition details

• Publisher: Corwin
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1544361793
• ISBN 13: 9781544361796
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216