Leaders Of Learning: How District, School, And Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement (Bringing The Professional Learning Community Process To Life)

Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement (Bringing the Professional Learning Community Process to Life)

Product Description Finalist-Association of Educational Publishers 2012 Distinguished Achievement Award For many years, the authors have been fellow travelers on the journey to help educators improve their schools. Their first coauthored book focuses on district leadership, principal leadership, and team leadership and addresses how individual teachers can be most effective in leading students by learning with colleagues how to implement the most promising pedagogy in their classrooms. Benefits: Explore the authors' expertise and many years of experience in one comprehensive volume on leadership. Gain proven strategies for school improvement based on the most up-to-date research. Focus on how district and school leaders create the conditions to support the collaborative culture of a professional learning community (PLC). Examine the specific work that teachers undertake as members of PLCs. Contents: Chapter 1: School Improvement Means People Improvement Chapter 2: The District's Role in Supporting the PLC Process Chapter 3: The Principal's Role in Leading a Professional Learning Community Chapter 4: Creating the Collaborative Culture of a Professional Learning Community Chapter 5: Developing a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum Chapter 6: Ongoing Monitoring of Student Learning Chapter 7: Ensuring Effective Instruction Chapter 8: Responding When Kids Don't Learn Chapter 9: Leadership Is an Affair of the Heart Review "Great new insights from two experts committed to making moral purpose come alive in practice. DuFour and Marzano are deep, practical, and thorough. They call for collaboration that is not optional; rather, leaders are compelled to learn and be successful. Classroom, school, district, and state leaders now have the insights and tools to work effectively together on an agenda that gets more urgent every day. A great book." --Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto; Special Advisor to the Premier and Minister of Education in Ontario "Finally we have a book that gives strategic thinkers the blueprint for implementing PLCs up and down the levels of authority and levels of influence in a whole school system. Sustainable change requires pressing the key levers of influence at the same time, and knowing how they interact with one another. This book gives crystal clarity to what PLCs really are and how to get them; but on the way, it becomes a brilliant tract and hands-on guide for systemic change and the subtleties of leadership." --Jonathon Saphier, founder and chairman emeritus of Teachers21, founder and president of Research for Better Teaching "If you would like to influence the next generation of teachers, leaders, and students, then prepare to study, debate, and reflect on every sentence in this book. Whether you are a policymaker, superintendent, principal, or teacher-leader, turn each page preparing to be challenged by this compelling leadership manifesto. With ample evidence and decades of personal experience, the authors will challenge you to avoid pointless debates, confront essential challenges, and take bold risks. This book does not provide a 'feel good' prescription, but rather challenges every leader, parent, teacher, and student. We can either settle for mediocrity or follow the evidence and reach for the stars." --Douglas B. Reeves, founder of The Leadership and Learning Center About the Author Richard DuFour, EdD, was a public-school educator for 34 years, 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