On Common
Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities.
Richard
DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Rebecca DuFour, eds. Bloomington, IN: National Educational
Service, 2005. Pp. 272. $29.95, hardcover. ISBN: 1-932127-42-9. TEL: 800-733-6786
o FAX: 812-336-7790 o website: www.nesonline.com
Richard
and Rebecca DuFour did a workshop for staff members in my school system earlier
this year. They make a very compelling case for creating professional learning
communities in schools—schools where teachers work in collaborative
teams and where the emphasis is not on what teachers teach, but on what students
learn.
As Mike Schmoker says in the foreword to this collection of 12 essays, "…
what if there was, right now, a fairly straightforward, well-established way
to appreciably improve both teaching quality and levels of learning? What
if evidence from numerous schools and the research community points to proven
structures and practices that (1) stand to make an immediate difference in
achievement and (2) require reasonable amounts of time and resources? The
fact is that such structure and practice [the professional learning community]
do exist and there is no reason to delay their implementation.
"… It starts with a group of teachers who meet regularly as a team
to identify essential and valued student learning, develop common formative
assessments, analyze current levels of achievement, set achievement goals,
share strategies, and then create lessons to improve upon those levels. Picture
these teams of teachers implementing these new lessons, continuously assessing
their results, and then adjusting their lessons in light of those results."
"If there is anything that the research community agrees on, it is this:
The right kind of continuous, structured teacher collaboration improves the
quality of teaching and pays big, often immediate, dividends in student learning
and professional morale in virtually any setting. Our experience with schools
across the nation bears this out unequivocally."
The authors here are a who’s who of proponents of professional learning
communities: Roland Barth, Rebecca DuFour, Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, Barbara
Eason-Watkins, Michael Fullan, Lawerence Lezotte, Douglas Reeves, Jonathan
Saphier, Mike Schmoker, Dennis Sparks, and Rick Stiggins.
In section 1, "Overview of PLCs," Rick DuFour tells what a professional
community is. In section 2, "Critical Questions," the authors explore
the questions driving the work of educators in learning communities. In section
3, "Creating PLCs," the authors discuss how traditional schools,
where teachers work in isolation, can be transformed into collaborative teaching
communities.
Section 4, "Placing PLCs in a Broader Context," has a chapter by
Barbara Eason-Watkins, chief educational officer of the Chicago Public Schools.
She explores frankly the challenges of trying to promote PLC in schools throughout
a large urban district and describes how the Chicago public school system
is working to meet them. Michael Fullan also has a chapter here exploring
a systems approach for improvement that includes schools, districts, and entire
states or provinces.
Section 5, "A Call to Action," concludes by examining some of the
reasons schools fail to implement this "best practice," with ways
to overcome those barriers with specific, concrete actions.
After the DuFours’ workshop at my school, many teachers and administrators
were convinced of the value and efficacy of PLCs and ready to do the groundwork
to so transform our schools but didn’t know how to start. I’d
say, start with this book, a primer on the philosophical underpinnings of
professional learning communities and on the practical steps schools needs
to take to create them.
Click below to buy this book
