The Power of Protocols: An Educator's Guide to Better Practice (the series on school reform)

This important professional development tool describes nearly 30 protocols or “scripts” for conducting meetings, conversations, and other learning experiences among educators―in one, easy-to-use resource. For anyone working with collaborative groups of teachers on everything from school improvement to curriculum development, this book features:

• Protocols for working together on problems of practice, for studying together, for organizing many different kinds of meetings, and for looking together at student work.
• A thorough text that describes each protocol, provides a rationale for using them, explains the particular purpose for which each protocol was designed, discusses the value that educators have found in using them, and offers helpful tips for facilitators.
• Valuable appendices that list relevant resources, such as websites, contact addresses, and training opportunities, and a table that lists all of the protocols with suggestions for cross-use.
• A free supplement on the Teachers College Press website with “Abbreviated Protocols” that can be downloaded and customized to suit each facilitator’s needs.

Joseph P. McDonald is professor of Teaching and Learning at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Nancy Mohr is an educational consultant who directs the National School Reform Faculty in New York City and works with the University of Washington’s Center for Reinventing Education. Alan Dichter is the Deputy Superintendent for School Reform and Leadership Development in the Queens High School District of New York City. Elizabeth C. McDonald is a master teacher in the Department of Teaching and Learning at New York University’s Steinhardt School and a former elementary school principal.