Key features

• •Build a shared knowledge of critical vocabulary and the concepts underlying the PLC process.
• •Equip yourself with the knowledge and tools necessary to model effective reciprocal accountability and collective teacher efficacy.
• •Make honest assessments of your school and teaching methods by examining conventional practices from a fresh, critical perspective.
• •Take immediate and specific steps to close the knowing-doing gap.
• •Move beyond creating an action plan for school improvement, and start doing.
• •Two new chapters: One on team-developed common formative assessment strategies and the second on hiring, orienting, and retaining staff members for your PLC
• •A stronger focus on districtwide PLC implementation and avoiding common mistakes related to the PLC process
• •New insight into clarifying the essential standards necessary in a guaranteed and viable curriculum by establishing a collective understanding of best practices in teaching
• •Suggestions for incorporating a focus on learning and deeper knowledge, as opposed to simple recall of information, into curriculum development and teacher-made assessments
• •A deeper and more thorough examination of RTI (MTSS) interventions by coauthor Mike Mattos, a leading expert on intervention
• •Explicit PLC tools and templates that high-performing districts have used
• •An updated research base, including more than one hundred new references and professional learning community examples
• •A shift in focus from why educators should implement the PLC process to steps to take immediately in the implementation process