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Leading Professional Learning Teams

A Start-Up Guide for Improving Instruction

By: Susan E. Sather

Foreword by Shirley M. Hord

Strengthen teacher expertise and expand instructional leadership through focused professional learning teams!

Developed by Education Northwest (formerly known as the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory) with educators and six high-needs schools, this guide offers a field-tested, data-driven model for implementing professional learning teams (PLTs) that strengthen teacher collaboration, improve instruction, and increase student achievement. Each chapter highlights four important elements to help ensure alignment with your school's objectives:

Action: Steps for starting up a PLT
Voices From the Field: School leaders offering insights from actual PLTs
Tools: Resources with information about PLTs, plus step-by-step road maps for implementation
Leadership Team Discussion: Discussion suggestions for implementation leaders

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12, Elementary, Secondary
ISBN: 9781412965538
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2009
Page Count: 168
Publication date: November 19, 2012

Price: $39.95

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Description

"As a high school principal, it is crucial to have tools and models that have teeth, that will make an impact on student achievement, and also improve collegiality and collaboration among teachers. This is a wonderful faculty book study choice for any school looking to have teams of teachers focused on data and how to incorporate best practices in their classrooms."
—Steve Knobl, Principal
Gulf High School, New Port Richey, FL

Strengthen teacher expertise and expand instructional leadership through focused professional learning teams!

Although a generous amount of research describes professional learning teams (PLTs) as a positive structure for developing a vision of school change through informed, data-based decision making, little guidance exists for schools wanting to create and sustain this type of team initiative.

Leading Professional Learning Teams provides a field-tested model for implementing PLTs that strengthen teacher collaboration in professional learning communities, improve instruction, and increase student achievement. Developed in partnership between educators, Education Northwest (formerly known as the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory), and six high-needs schools, this guide shows a professional learning team in action. Each chapter highlights four important elements to help ensure alignment with educators' objectives:

Action: Steps for starting up a PLT
Voices From the Field: School leaders offering insights from actual PLTs
Tools: Resources with information about PLTs, plus at-a-glance road maps for each step of the implementation process
Leadership Team Discussion: Discussion suggestions for implementation leaders

Written for school leaders who are new to PLTs and those who want to fine-tune their efforts, this resource is an invaluable tool for correlating staff development with your school's improvement goals.

Key features

Four icons designate special features throughout every chapter that are designed to help school leaders getting ready to initiate professional learning teams (PLTs)

Action: actions that leaders should take as they implement PLTs
Voices From the Field: direct quotes that offer insights from leaders of actual PLTs
Tool: resource materials that can be duplicated and used to share information about PLTs
Leadership Team Discussion: suggestions and questions at the end of each chapter to guide discussion among leaders preparing to implement PLTs

Includes numerous samples and tools—handouts, transparencies, or posters—that can be printed and used to organize and introduce information on PLTs
Full-page masters can be found in the resource section at the end of the book and are referenced in the chapters with the Tool icon
Provides a field-tested PLT Inquiry Cycle model that helps teachers and administrators develop a coherent vision of school change as they build a culture that values and uses data to inform decisions

Author(s)

Susan E. Sather

Susan E. Sather is a senior program advisor at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) in Portland, OR. She leads the Laboratory’s professional learning teams (PLT) work, supervising and conducting PLT training in schools around the nation. She also contributes to research on issues such as high school academic rigor. Sather has 38 years of experience in education, 17 as a teacher working with a dropout prevention program and in special education. Prior to joining NWREL, she was western regional manager and a staff developer for a whole-school reform model, Ventures Education Systems. She has conducted research and evaluation through the School of Education and the School of Social Welfare at the University of California Berkeley, and with ARC associates in Oakland, California. At ARC, she was a member of the Leading for Diversity research team and co-author of Leading for Diversity: How School Leaders Promote Positive Interethnic Relations. She has a PhD in educational administration from the University of California Berkeley.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Foreword by Shirley M. Hord

Preface

Acknowledgments

About the Author

1. Understanding Professional Learning Teams

Defining Professional Learning Teams

The Need for PLTs

Other Models for Teacher Collaboration

Key Points for Chapter 1

2. Setting the Stage for Success

Readiness for PLTs

Understanding Change

Building Relationships

Creating Avenues of Communication

Key Points for Chapter 2

3. Laying the Foundation Within the School Community

Advocating for PLTs With Important Stakeholders

Aligning With School Goals

Structures for Working Collaboratively

Providing and Using Data

Providing Additional Resources

Establishing Supportive Accountability

Key Points for Chapter 3

4. What About Leadership?

Administrators as Leaders

Shared and Facilitative Leadership

Teacher Leadership

Sustaining Leadership

Vignette: A Professional Learning Team in Action

Key Points for Chapter 4

5. Supporting the Work of PLTs

Successful PLTs

Reinforcing PLT Strategies and Skills

Ensuring That PLTs Are Teacher Led

Using a Rubric to Encourage Reflection

Anticipating Potential Challenges

Celebrating Success

Key Points for Chapter 5

Resources

A. National Staff Development Council (NSDC) Standards for Staff Development

B. Survey of School Capacity for Continuous Improvement

C. Professional Learning Community (PLC) Survey

D. Finding Time for Professional Learning

E. Resolving Conflict: Key to Collaboration

F. Sample Conflict Scenarios

G. Possible Expectations for PLT Team Leaders and Facilitators

H. Tools

1. Professional Learning Team Inquiry Cycle

2. PLT Inquiry Cycle With Steps Explained

3. Getting Started: Sample Agenda for Workship 1

4. PLT Team Log

5. Sample PLT team Meeting Agenda and Log

6. Defining Team Roles

7. Professional Learning Team: Planning Sheet

8. Five Demensions of Professional Learning Communities

9. Criteria for Quality Team Time

10. Finding Time for Collaboration

11. Factors Supporting the Success of PLTs

12. PLT Implementation Rubric

13. Getting Started Roadmap

Suggested Readings

References

Index

Reviews

"As a high school principal, it is crucial to have tools and models that have teeth, that will make an impact on student achievement, and also improve collegiality and collaboration among teachers. This is a wonderful faculty book study choice for any school looking to have teams of teachers focused on data and how to incorporate best practices in their classrooms. I really like the key points section for an extra-busy administrator or teacher who still wants to get the main ideas."

Steve Knobl, Principal
Gulf High School, New Port Richey, FL

This book comes out of the highly credible stable of NWREL (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory), with the foreword written by Shirley Hord. Typically, the book is about changing practice in schools, and it leads the readers through the change process.
If I had to think of three adjectives to describe this book, they would be: PRACTICAL, PRACTICAL, PRACTICAL. The resources offered include: NSCD standards, continuous improvement capacity survey, PLC survey, very useful strategies for finding time for professional learning, conflict resolution, team expectations, and 13 very useful tools, including road maps.
Change is difficult in schools, but with this support, essential change becomes doable. And, the book will provide the best professional learning that you could buy in setting up professional learning teams.
This book is essential reading for school leadership teams.

Neil MacNeill, Principal
Ellenbrook Primary School, WA, Australia

"This book is packed with insights about creating cultures of inquiry that are focused upon student learning. I found the gritty details of the work of the teams helpful. That alone would convince me to buy the book."

Becky J. Cooke, Principal
Mead School District, Spokane, WA

"A must-read guide for any school principal ready to take the next step forward into professional learning teams to improve instruction and learning in their school. This well-organized guide is both practical and research based."

Mark White, Principal
Hintgen Elementary School, La Crosse, WI

Other Titles in: Professional Learning Communities | Leadership

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Request Review Copy

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