Concise Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Professional Learning Communities at Work(TM) (Stronger Relationships for Better Education Leadership)

Get all of your PLC questions answered. Designed as a companion resource to Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (3rd ed.), this powerful quick-reference guidebook is a must-have for teachers and administrators working to build and sustain a PLC. Packed with strategies for building a positive learning environment, you and your team will turn to this invaluable reference tool again and again as questions and complications arise along your PLC journey.

Benefits:

• Receive concise answers to frequently asked questions about becoming a PLC.
• Address the four critical questions that guide teacher collaboration through the PLC process.
• Review essential PLC vocabulary.
• Understand the qualities educators need to cultivate in order to harness a collaborative culture.
• Outline what students need to learn, and ascertain how to react when students either do or do not learn it.
• Gain tips on additional PLC books to read to dig deeper into the topics covered in this book.

Contents:
Introduction
1. Laying the Foundation: Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals
2. Building a Collaborative Culture
3. What Do We Want Our Students to Learn?
4. How Will We Know When Our Students Have Learned It?
5. How Will We Respond When Some Students Don't Learn and When Some Do?
6. The District's Role in the PLC Process
7. Consensus and Conflict in a PLC
Afterword: It s a Journey, Not a Destination

Mike Mattos is an internationally recognized author, presenter, and practitioner who specializes in uniting teachers, administrators, and support staff to transform schools by implementing the response to intervention (RTI) and PLC processes. Mike co-created the RTI at Work™ model, which builds on the foundation of the PLC at Work process to successfully create systematic, multitiered systems of support to ensure high levels of learning for all students.

He is former principal of Marjorie Veeh Elementary School and Pioneer Middle School in California. At both schools, Mike helped create powerful PLCs, improving learning for all students. In 2004, Marjorie Veeh, an elementary school with a large population of youth at risk, won the California Distinguished School and National Title I Achieving School awards.

Richard DuFour, EdD, in a distinguished career spanning four decades, was a public-school educator, serving as a teacher, principal, and superintendent. A prolific author and consultant, he was recognized as one of the leading authorities on helping school practitioners implement the Professional Learning Communities at Work™ process in their schools and districts. Over the course of his career, he was the author of numerous books, including the best-selling Professional Learning Communities at Work™, Learning by Doing, and In Praise of American Educators.

During his 19-year tenure as a leader at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, Stevenson was one of only three schools in the nation to win the United States Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award on four occasions and the first comprehensive high school designated a New American High School as a model of successful school reform.

Rebecca DuFour brought over thirty-six years of professional experience to her work as an educational consultant, having served as a teacher, school administrator, and central office coordinator. She co-authored twelve books and numerous articles on the topic of Professional Learning Communities at Work™.

Robert Eaker, EdD, is professor emeritus at Middle Tennessee State University, where he also served as dean of the College of Education and interim vice president and provost. Dr. Eaker is a former fellow with the National Center for Effective Schools Research and Development. He has written widely on the issues of effective teaching, effective schools, helping teachers use research findings, and high expectations for student achievement. Dr. Eaker was instrumental in the founding of the Tennessee Teachers Hall of Fame and was a regular contributor to the Effective Schools Research Abstracts series.

Thomas W. Many, EdD, works with teachers, administrators, school boards, parents, and other education stakeholders on organizational leadership, implementation and change, and PLC at Work strategies and concepts.

Dr. Many's long and distinguished career includes twenty years of experience as a superintendent. He has also served as a classroom teacher, learning center director, curriculum supervisor, principal, and assistant superintendent.