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From the Learning Organization to Learning Communities Toward a Learning Society
Communities that Learn, Lead, and Last
Author: Giselle O. Martin-Kniep
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2007-12-04
Total Pages: 245
ISBN-13: 0787985139
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Communities That Learn, Lead, and Last offers a fresh and compelling perspective while providing practical guidance for schools and districts on how to develop "professional learning communities" that serve to instill educational ideals, share wisdom, improve practice, and enhance capacity across the system. Comprised of any combination of teachers, school leaders, staff developers, district personnel, and even students, professional learning communities, as described in this book, break new ground and challenge the status quo by focusing on the reconciliation of individual and organizational expertise, vision, and needs through a variety of collaborations, activities and projects?ranging from classroom-related work to broader issues of policy, leadership, and organizational improvement. Depending on their needs, maturity, purpose, and membership, professional learning communities can be centered on learning, leading, or lasting. Showing how such communities can become the means for improving teaching and learning, as well as promote and sustain educational innovations, the book maps out the community-building essentials, providing guidance, tools, and carefully crafted rubrics.
Reculturing Schools as Professional Learning Communities
Author: Jane Bumpers Huffman
Publisher: R&L Education
Published: 2003-10-22
Total Pages: 194
ISBN-13: 1578860539
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This important work documents and examines evidence of efforts taking place in rural, urban, and suburban Pre-K-12 schools that are actively engaged in creating professional learning communities (PLCs). Literature is reviewed that defines and identifies the distinguishing dimensions of PLCs. A five-year, federally funded research study is explained including the methodology and demographics of the six study schools and a synthesis of the 64 interviews. A PLC organizer (PLCO) is introduced, which realigns with Shirley Hord's original 1997 research. The organizer provides the framework to explain the five PLC dimensions and related critical attributes. The PLCO also merges Fullan's model, Phases of Change (1985), which includes initiation, implementation, and institutionalization. The authors provide extensive evidence of the progressive development of a PLC from initiation to implementation using exemplars and non-exemplars from interviews that either hinder or facilitate creating and sustaining PLCs. A new assessment tool, the Professional Learning Community Assessment (PLCA), is also presented and can be used for diagnosis and evaluation of schools as they work toward school reform efforts. Readers are also presented with information that connects professional learning community work to a new approach to school improvement. Five case studies are included that can be used in schools and university classrooms for the purpose of engaging educators in reflection, open dialogue, problem finding, and problem solving. This first-hand documented information provides readers with unique issues as they wrestle with the challenges of transforming schools into organizations that meet diverse students needs. Lessons learned from this problem-based learning can easily transfer to the readers' own experiences and schools. The authors conclude by highlighting significant findings, reviewing the most recent related research that addresses sustaining such efforts, and offering suggestions for school leaders to
Demystifying Professional Learning Communities
Author: Kristine Kiefer Hipp
Publisher: R&L Education
Published: 2010-02-16
Total Pages: 176
ISBN-13: 1607090511
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The purpose of this book is to clearly define an approach to school improvement that uses professional learning community (PLC) practices to achieve school improvement and success for every student. This book offers information, examples and case studies to clarify the concept of a PLC, to respond to critical issues in schools, and to support educational leaders in addressing the important mandates of accountability and school improvement. As school leaders proactively lead efforts to create learning communities, their schools, districts, and staff will incorporate knowledge, skills, and practices that focus on teaching and learning for all. The authors' findings will assist leaders, change agents, policy makers, and university faculty in guiding schools toward creating and maintaining PLCs as they sustain school improvement for student learning.
Powerful Learning Communities
Author: Oscar T. Lenning
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2023-07-03
Total Pages: 357
ISBN-13: 1000980529
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Learning communities have been demonstrated to dramatically improve student outcomes by engaging students in their learning.This book constitutes a comprehensive guide for readers who want a broad strategic view of learning communities, enabling them to identify which type of LC best meets the learning needs of their students, and the context and mission of their institution. It also provides the tools for planning, designing and implementing what the authors define as “powerful” LCs, and for understanding the assessment implications of their decisions.The potential power of LCs is realized through effective facilitation, appropriate team-building activities, linkages, planning, and active collaboration that promotes learning of the group and the individual group members – all of which topics are covered in this volume.This book is organized around the three themes of setting the stage, designing an LC, and building or enhancing a powerful LC, and covers three types of learning communities – student, professional (faculty, staff), and institutional LCs concerned with student learning – providing a range of tools and forms to facilitate planning. The authors also address designing and maintaining hybrid and virtual LCs. This book is intended as a practical resource for anyone at any level in higher education who wants to champion, develop or redesign student or professional LCs, or even explore broader initiatives to develop their institution into a “learning organization”. Administrators in academic and student affairs will find guidance for setting appropriate policies and allocating resources. The book may also serve as a textbook for graduate courses in institutional leadership and policy studies, curriculum and instruction, student affairs, or assessment/evaluation.
Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community
Author: Geoffrey Caine
Publisher: ASCD
Published: 2012-05-29
Total Pages: 219
ISBN-13: 1416612718
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →How can educators create a collective method of professional development that results in the genuine, sustained teacher learning essential to improving student achievement? That question is at the heart of this comprehensive and practical guide to process learning circles, a unique and powerful way to develop, strengthen, and enrich professional learning communities. Authors Geoffrey and Renate N. Caine have dedicated more than 20 years to researching how people learn naturally. From this foundation, they describe in detail how process learning circles work, and they provide readers with a clear understanding of how powerful and successful this approach to professional learning can be. Along the way, they explore * The three critical elements of great professional development * How to create a field of listening * The logistics and phases of process learning circles * Tips for success as a process leader * The effects of individual differences and group dynamics * Principles for developing a process that works Examples from schools that have implemented process learning circles provide evidence of the method's success, and the authors also include an explanation of 12 underlying brain/mind learning principles, guidelines for using online tools, and broader suggestions for how to move from teaching for memorization to teaching for understanding. Written with both teachers and administrators in mind, Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community: The Art of Learning Together is an essential guide to professional learning and development that works.
Professional Learning Communities
Author: Louise Stoll
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
Published: 2007-03-16
Total Pages: 232
ISBN-13: 0335230253
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →“All who are interested and concerned about educational reform and the improvement of schools will find this book a must read. It stimulates, it challenges, and it informs, such that the reader is most surely enriched by its plenitude.” Dr Shirley Hord, Scholar Emerita “At last we have a book of international cases to add to the literature on networks! Policymakers and practitioners alike will find the reasons why networks are fast becoming the reform organizations of choice. The book elevates network understanding to a new level.” Ann Lieberman, Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundationfor the Advancement of Teaching What is a professional learning community? What are the key challenges facing these communities and how might they be resolved? Is it time to extend our thinking about professional learning communities? There is great interest internationally in the potential of professional learning communities for enhancing educational reform efforts and sustaining improvement. This international collection expands perceptions and understanding of professional learning communities, as well as highlighting frequently neglected complexities and challenges. Drawing on research, each chapter offers a deeper understanding of topics such as distributed leadership, dialogue, organisational memory, trust, self-assessment and inquiry, and purpose linked to learning. The last section of the book focuses upon three of the most challenging dilemmas that face developing professional learning communities - developing professional learning communities in secondary school, building social capital, and sustaining professional learning communities. The authors provide pointers on why these challenges exist, offering rays of hope for ways forward. Professional Learning Communities is key international reading for education professionals, school practitioners, policymakers, academics and research students. It is a must-read for anyone interested in building capacity for sustainable learning and the ability to harness your community as a resource for change.
Profound Improvement
Author: Coral Mitchell
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2011-03-21
Total Pages: 201
ISBN-13: 1136791221
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The book focuses on the life of educators as it relates to professional learning and growth. It is concerned with human growth and development, human cognition and affect and human interactions and actions in the context of a school community.
Leading Professional Learning Communities
Author: Shirley M. Hord
Publisher: Corwin Press
Published: 2008-02-01
Total Pages: 185
ISBN-13: 1452207887
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →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
