Download or read book Leading Professional Learning Communities written by Shirley M. Hord and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2008-02-01 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Hord is the originator of the triple-headed concept of professional learning communities. Sommers is an experienced administrator and past president of the National Staff Development Council. With the authors′ extensive backgrounds in educational evaluation and the implementation of school change and development, they are uniquely equipped to delineate and defend a particular vision of professional learning communities that has educational depth, professional richness, and moral integrity." —From the Foreword by Andy Hargreaves "The most important volume available to help principals undertake the challenging yet exhilarating work of building true communities of professional learning." —Joseph Murphy, Professor Vanderbilt University "The book does not gloss over the challenges that leaders will encounter. The authors draw upon rich research evidence and personal experiences and offer many practical, proven change strategies. This is a valuable resource for any educational leader who wishes to become a ′head learner.′" —Arthur L. Costa, Professor Emeritus California State University, Sacramento "Hord and Sommers create a powerful bridge between the research base on PLCs and practitioner knowledge and action. The book′s dual focus on principles and ′rocks in the road′ provide a grounded basis for school leaders. A dog-eared copy should be in every principal′s office and in every professional developer′s tool kit." —Karen Seashore Louis, Rodney S. Wallace Professor University of Minnesota, Minneapolis "The authors′ rationale and suggestions will resonate because they come from experience and great insight. The bottom line remains steadfast for these two distinguished educators: you implement a PLC so that teachers learn and students achieve. This text will help educators reach toward that compelling vision." —Stephanie Hirsh, Executive Director National Staff Development Council Imagine all professionals in all schools engaged in continuous professional learning! Current research shows a strong positive relationship between successful professional learning communities and increased student achievement. In this practical and reader-friendly guide, 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 development of an effective professional learning community (PLC). This book provides school leaders with readily accessible information to guide them in developing a PLC that supports teachers and students. The authors cover building a vision for a PLC, implementing structures, creating policies and procedures, and developing the leadership skills required for initiating and sustaining a learning community. Each chapter includes meaningful quotes from the field, "rocks in the road" and ways to overcome them, examples from real PLCs, and learning activities to reinforce chapter content. 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 Discover how you can grow a vital community of professionals who work together to increase their effectiveness and strengthen the relationship between professional learning and student learning.

Download or read book High impact Educational Practices written by George D. Kuh and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication¿the latest report from AAC&U¿s Liberal Education and America¿s Promise (LEAP) initiative¿defines a set of educational practices that research has demonstrated have a significant impact on student success. Author George Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and explains why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more advantaged peers. The report also presents data that show definitively that underserved students are the least likely students, on average, to have access to these practices.

Download or read book Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning written by Linda Darling-Hammond and published by Harvard Education Press. This book was released on 2021-02-08 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning answers an urgent call for teachers who educate children from diverse backgrounds to meet the demands of a changing world. In today’s knowledge economy, teachers must prioritize problem-solving ability, adaptability, critical thinking, and the development of interpersonal and collaborative skills over rote memorization and the passive transmission of knowledge. Authors Linda Darling-Hammond and Jeannie Oakes and their colleagues examine what this means for teacher preparation and showcase the work of programs that are educating for deeper learning, equity, and social justice. Guided by the growing knowledge base in the science of learning and development, the book examines teacher preparation programs at Alverno College, Bank Street College of Education, High Tech High’s Intern Program, Montclair State University, San Francisco Teacher Residency, Trinity University, and University of Colorado Denver. These seven programs share a common understanding of how people learn that shape similar innovative practices. With vivid examples of teaching for deeper learning in coursework and classrooms; interviews with faculty, school partners, and novice teachers; surveys of teacher candidates and graduates; and analyses of curriculum and practices, Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning depicts transformative forms of teaching and teacher preparation that honor and expand all students’ abilities, knowledges, and experiences, and reaffirm the promise of educating for a better world.

Download or read book Professional Learning Communities for Science Teaching written by Susan Mundry and published by NSTA Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What would it take to move your school closer toward a culture that supports and sustains professional learning communities (PLCs)? This thought-provoking collection of stories will inspire you to find answers to this question and others. It begins with the argument that in a PLC environment, teachers receive continuous professional development. Later chapters recount the origins of schools as professional learning communities, define the characteristics of professional learning communities, and review research on the subject.

Download or read book Classrooms as Learning Communities written by Chris Watkins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-05-27 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents the practice and vision of classrooms that operate as learning communities.

Download or read book Action Research Communities written by Craig A. Mertler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Action Research Communities presents a new perspective on two current and proven educational practices: classroom-/school-based action research and professional learning communities. Implementation of one or the other of these practices often results in a variety of possible benefits for the teaching–learning process, for student achievement, and for overall school improvement. While these might seem to be separate, isolated practices, the author has taken the beneficial aspects of each practice and merged them into a cohesive and potentially powerful concept, coined "action research communities." Each of the two concepts or approaches (action research and professional learning communities) is presented and discussed in detail. Because they both focus on local-level improvement of educational practice and share several overlapping features, the two concepts are then merged into a single entity—action research communities, or ARCs. These professional learning communities, with action research at their core, hold an immense amount of power and potential when it comes to enhanced professional growth and development for educators, increased student achievement, school improvement, and educator empowerment. ARCs essentially capitalize on all the individualized benefits and strengths of action research and of professional learning communities, and merge them into a single educational concept and practice. ARCs have the potential to help educators everywhere experience: •a common and collective focus and vision; • sustained collaborative inquiry; •individualized, customizable—and meaningful—professional growth; and •true empowerment that comes with this form of collaborative, inquiry-based, and reflective practice. Practical guidance for the development and implementation of ARCs is also provided, by focusing on ways in which professional educators (teachers, administrators, support staff, etc.) can implement, sustain, and extend the impact of their respective action research communities. Specific roles for district administrators, building administrators, and teachers are presented and discussed in depth, as are ways that ARCs can be used both to deepen professional learning for educators and to improve student learning.

Download or read book Collaborative Learning Communities in Middle School Literacy Education written by Jolene T. Malavasic and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering research on afterschool literacy programs designed around teacher-student collaborative inquiry groups, this book demonstrates how adolescent learning is uniquely successful when grounded in dialogic conversation. By providing a robust theoretical framework for this approach in the middle school, Malavasic showcases how developing a learning community which focuses on mutual respect and attention to students’ personal academic literacy histories can become the catalyst for the overall success of teaching and learning in the classroom. Centered on building quality teacher-student relationships and creating a classroom learning community, this book highlights essential topics such as: The impact of talk-based critical thinking The augmentation on students’ motivation, engagement, and identity construction Research, theory, and pedagogy Celebrating literacy learning Collaborative Learning Communities in Middle School Literacy Education is the perfect addition for researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of literacy and those on Teacher Education programs. This volume positions collaborative inquiry learning as an effective way forward for teaching and learning in the middle school and is essential for those wanting to explore this further.

Download or read book Learning Together Leading Together written by Shirley M. Hord and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2004-01-05 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasingly the education world is recognizing that the development of learning communities is an effective means for improving schools without increasing the budget or adding new programs. This indispensible volume offers practical advice gathered from 22 schools (elementary, middle, and high schools) that have successfully modeled or are creating professional learning communities.

Download or read book Shaping Higher Education with Students written by Vincent C. H. Tong and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forging closer links between university research and teaching has become an important way to enhance the quality of higher education across the world. As student engagement takes centre stage in academic life, how can academics and university leaders engage with their students to connect research and teaching more effectively? In this highly accessible book, the contributors show how students and academics can work in partnership to shape research-based education. Featuring student perspectives, it offers academics and university leaders practical suggestions and inspiring ideas on higher education pedagogy, including principles of working with students as partners in higher education, connecting students with real-world outputs, transcending disciplinary boundaries in student research activities, connecting students with the workplace, and innovative assessment and teaching practices. Written and edited in full collaboration with students and leading educator-researchers from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines, this book poses fundamental questions about learning and learning communities in contemporary higher education.

Download or read book Whole Faculty Study Groups written by Carlene U. Murphy and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Used by hundreds of schools and school districts across the country, the Whole-Faculty Study Group (WFSG) System is a student-driven, holistic process for facilitating major staff development and schoolwide change. While providing a step-by-step methodology for the development and implementation of successful WFSGs, this newest edition of Murphy and Lick's groundbreaking bestseller incorporates the most current theoretical concepts on change, the latest refinements to change management procedures, and a wealth of new experiences from more than two thousand individual study groups. Other significant revisions to this edition include: Three additional chapters: the research foundation for WFSGs, how to recognize and understand school culture, and fourteen key findings A reorganization of chapters to make the book even more reader-friendly New material on timely topics such as "learning communities" and "learning teams" An increased focus on assessment of student results Updated sets of resources and illustrations in the appendix WFSGs are a proven way to successfully reform, improve, and transition schools to meet tomorrow's needs. Filled with real-world examples and illustrative cases, this book provides both the practical knowledge and the theoretical foundation necessary to negotiate the societal, organizational, and cultural barriers affecting education. This new edition is essential for administrators, teachers, and staff in K-12 schools, as well as district level administrators, teachers of education, and anyone interested in increasing student learning.

Download or read book Excellence for All written by Jack Schneider and published by Vanderbilt University Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the early twenty-first century, a startling consensus had emerged about the overall aim of American school reform. In an era of political discord, and in a field historically known for contentiousness, the notion of promoting educational excellence for all students was a distinct point of bipartisan agreement. Shaped by a corps of entrepreneurial reformers intent on finding "what works" and taking it to scale, this hybrid vision won over the nation's most ambitious and well-resourced policy leaders at foundations and nonprofits, in state and federal government, and in urban school districts from coast to coast. "Excellence for all" might, at first glance, appear to be nothing more than a rhetorical flourish. Who, after all, would oppose the idea of a great education for every student? Yet it is hardly a throwaway phrase. Rather, it represents a surprising fusion of educational policy approaches that had been in tense opposition throughout the twentieth century--those on the right favoring social efficiency, and those on the left supporting social justice. This book seeks to understand why the "excellence for all" vision took hold at the time it did, unpacks the particular beliefs and assumptions embedded in it, and details the often informal coalition building that produced this period of consensus. Examining the nation's largest urban school districts (Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York), the author details three major reform efforts in chapters titled "The Right Space: The Small Schools Movement"; "The Right Teachers: Teach for America"; and "The Right Curriculum: Expanding Advanced Placement."

Download or read book Handbook of Research on Student Engagement written by Amy L. Reschly and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-10-19 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of the handbook reflects the expanding growth and sophistication in research on student engagement. Editorial scope and coverage are significantly expanded in the new edition, including numerous new chapters that address such topics as child and adolescent well-being, resilience, and social-emotional learning as well as extending student engagement into the realm of college attendance and persistence. In addition to its enhanced focus on student engagement as a means for promoting positive youth development, all original chapters have been extensively revised and updated, including those focusing on such foundational topics related to student engagement as motivation, measurement, high school dropout, school reform, and families. Key areas of coverage include: Demography and structural barriers to student engagement. Developmental and social contexts of student engagement. Student engagement and resilience. Engaging students through effective academic instruction and classroom management. Social-emotional learning and student mental health and physical well-being. Student engagement across the globe, languages, and cultures. The second edition of the Handbook of Research on Student Engagement is the definitive resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners and clinicians as well as graduate students in such varied fields as clinical child and school psychology, social work, public health, educational psychology, teaching and teacher education, educational policy, and all interrelated disciplines.

Download or read book What Americans Build and Why written by Ann Sloan Devlin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-05-31 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines five areas of Americans' built environment and looks at the relationships of size and scale to the way Americans live their lives.

Download or read book On Common Ground written by Richard DuFour and published by Solution Tree Press. This book was released on 2009-04-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology presents the recommendations of education leaders, and each chapter contributes to a sound conceptual framework and offers specific strategies for developing PLCs. These leaders have found common ground in expressing their belief in the power of PLCs although clear differences emerge regarding their perspectives on the most effective strategy for making PLCs the norm in North America.

Download or read book Guiding Professional Learning Communities written by Shirley M. Hord and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research-based sequel to Leading Professional Learning Communities focuses on the practical process of implementing, improving, and sustaining PLCs. Appropriate for groups at all stages of PLC development, this field book helps educators improve PLC operations by facilitating individual and group development and growth. The authors provide learning opportunities that generate conversations about adult learning and contribute to supportive conditions that strengthen teacher quality and raise student outcomes.

Download or read book How Learning Works written by Susan A. Ambrose and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-04-16 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for How Learning Works "How Learning Works is the perfect title for this excellent book. Drawing upon new research in psychology, education, and cognitive science, the authors have demystified a complex topic into clear explanations of seven powerful learning principles. Full of great ideas and practical suggestions, all based on solid research evidence, this book is essential reading for instructors at all levels who wish to improve their students' learning." —Barbara Gross Davis, assistant vice chancellor for educational development, University of California, Berkeley, and author, Tools for Teaching "This book is a must-read for every instructor, new or experienced. Although I have been teaching for almost thirty years, as I read this book I found myself resonating with many of its ideas, and I discovered new ways of thinking about teaching." —Eugenia T. Paulus, professor of chemistry, North Hennepin Community College, and 2008 U.S. Community Colleges Professor of the Year from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education "Thank you Carnegie Mellon for making accessible what has previously been inaccessible to those of us who are not learning scientists. Your focus on the essence of learning combined with concrete examples of the daily challenges of teaching and clear tactical strategies for faculty to consider is a welcome work. I will recommend this book to all my colleagues." —Catherine M. Casserly, senior partner, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching "As you read about each of the seven basic learning principles in this book, you will find advice that is grounded in learning theory, based on research evidence, relevant to college teaching, and easy to understand. The authors have extensive knowledge and experience in applying the science of learning to college teaching, and they graciously share it with you in this organized and readable book." —From the Foreword by Richard E. Mayer, professor of psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara; coauthor, e-Learning and the Science of Instruction; and author, Multimedia Learning

Download or read book The Power of Place written by Tom Vander Ark and published by ASCD. This book was released on 2020-03-09 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Place: it's where we're from; it's where we're going. . . . It asks for our attention and care. If we pay attention, place has much to teach us." With this belief as a foundation, The Power of Place offers a comprehensive and compelling case for making communities the locus of learning for students of all ages and backgrounds. Dispelling the notion that place-based education is an approach limited to those who can afford it, the authors describe how schools in diverse contexts—urban and rural, public and private—have adopted place-based programs as a way to better engage students and attain three important goals of education: student agency, equity, and community. This book identifies six defining principles of place-based education. Namely, it 1. Embeds learning everywhere and views the community as a classroom. 2. Is centered on individual learners. 3. Is inquiry based to help students develop an understanding of their place in the world. 4. Incorporates local and global thinking and investigations. 5. Requires design thinking to find solutions to authentic problems. 6. Is interdisciplinary. For each principle, the authors share stories of students whose lives were transformed by their experiences in place-based programs, elaborate on what the principle means, demonstrate what it looks like in practice by presenting case studies from schools throughout the United States, and offer action steps for implementation. Aimed at educators from preK through high school, The Power of Place is a definitive guide to developing programs that will lead to successful outcomes for students, more fulfilling careers for teachers, and lasting benefits for communities.