The Whole-Faculty Study Group (WFSG) System is a student-centered, teacher-driven process for facilitating major staff development and schoolwide change. When applied properly, it has produced extraordinary results for thousands of educators and students in schools and school districts across the country. The Whole-Faculty Study Groups Fieldbook is a comprehensive guide to applying the WFSG process. Edited by Dale Lick and Carlene Murphy, this practical manual provides concrete strategies for implementing and sustaining a school improvement process in any environment. Offering extensive experience, each contributor explores a different aspect of Whole-Faculty Study Groups and supplies lessons learned and many first-hand examples of successful school reform and student performance enhancement. Written to complement existing resources or serve as a stand-alone guide, this book will: (1) Demonstrate how concepts can be applied in a variety of school improvement efforts; (2) Present relevant strategies and activities; (3) Illustrate how to use suggestions in real-world situations; (4) Highlight critical concepts through extensive case examples; (5) Provide helpful tips and lessons learned; and (6) Explain how findings can be applied to professional learning communities. Offering numerous illustrations of the WFSG System in action and a comprehensive collection of tools for initiating and sustaining successful improvement programs, this fieldbook is an essential resource for K-12 administrators, staff developers, and teachers involved with any type of school transformation effort. Following a Foreword by Harold M. Brewer, Preface, Acknowledgments, About the Contributors and About the Editors, this book is divided into eight parts: Part I: Getting Started, introduces the first three chapters: (1) Introducing Whole-Faculty Study Groups (Carlene U. Murphy and Dale W. Lick); (2) Applying the Whole-Faculty Study Groups Framework in Schools (Ann Proctor); and (3) Aligning Whole-Faculty Study Groups With Staff Development Standards (Michael Murphy). Part II: Leadership and Sponsorship, continues with the next three chapters: (4) Enhancing the Principal's Instructional Leadership Role (J. Patrick Mahon); (5) Strengthening School Improvement Plans Through District Sponsorship (Anita Kissinger); and (6) Partnering With Teacher Unions for School Improvement (Adam Urbanski and Xochitl Perez Castillo). Part III: Study Groups and Learning Communities; presents the following three chapters: (7) Answering the Question: Do Professional Learning Communities Really Work? (Andrew E. Koenigs); (8) Establishing Student Study Groups (Robin P. Cooper and Gwendolyn Bagge); and (9) Implementing Study Groups for Principals (Emily Weiskopf). Part IV: Key Success Elements, provides: (10) The Whole-Faculty Study Groups Rubric: Defining Context, Process, and Content (Carlene U. Murphy); (11) Building Commitment (Kenneth Sherman and Kim Reynolds- Manglitz); (12) Using Study Groups for Cultural Change in Schools (Michael L. Rothman and Ronald D. Walker); (13) Changing School Culture (Jill Potts and Jeff Zoul); (14) Using Data to Improve Achievement in Mathematics (Teri Roberts); and (15) Making Data-Based Decisions for School Success (Karl H. Clauset, Sherman H. Parker, and Marcia R. Whitney). Part V: Instructional Strategies offers: (16) Improving the Quality of Student Performance (Steve Keyes); (17) Implementing Instructional Strategies (Terri L. Jenkins and Lynn K. Baber); (18) Implementing Reading and Mathematics Programs ( Julie J. Nall); (19) Enhancing Performance in the English Language Arts ( Charlotte Ann Buisson); (20) Raising Student Achievement in Reading and Mathematics (Lisa S. Smith); and (21) Improving Reading in Primary Grades (Angela S. Dillon). Part VI: Perspectives for Teachers and Teaching, continues with: (22) Increasing Teacher Learning to Improve Student Learning (Beverly S. Strickland); (23) Changing Teachers' Beliefs About Students and Learning ( Danette R. Smith); (24) Creating School Successes: A Teacher's Point-of-View (Beverly A. Gross); (25) Planning and Implementing Strategies for School Improvement (Emily Weiskopf); and (26) Activating a Professional Teacher Evaluation Model (Jill Potts and Jeff Zoul). Part VII: State and National Initiatives, contains: (27) Going Statewide With Whole-Faculty Study Groups in Louisiana (Teri Roberts); (28) Developing and Supporting Leaders: A New Day, A New Way With New Results (Deb Page and Gale Hulme); (29) Improving Schools Through Statewide Collaboration (Stephen M. Preston); and (30) Establishing a Support Network: The National Whole-Faculty Study Groups Center (Carlene U. Murphy). Part VIII: An Overview of School Reform, contains the final chapter: (31) Improving Schools: Seeing the Big Picture (Dale W. Lick and Carlene U. Murphy). This book concludes with References, Action Research--Related Sources and an Index.