Learning networks for school improvement are a powerful structure for educators to expand their knowledge and improve their practice, and when networks include members with diverse experiences and perspectives, the results can be particularly effective. But how can network facilitators ensure that members are learning from each other and…

The pandemic, imperatives for human and civil rights, growing economic challenges, new accountability requirements, and distance-delivered learning technologies are reminders of novel 21st-century needs, problems, challenges, and opportunities. All demand a sense of urgency. Building on selected traditions and achievements, today's futuristic…

As more and more schools implement professional learning communities (PLCs), school librarians often ask: What is the role of school librarians in PLCs? What should they be doing to contribute? What are their colleagues in other schools doing? In this article the authors explore these questions by first describing eight potential roles for school…

The National Association of Schools Psychologists (NASP) Communications Committee highlights the communication and advocacy efforts of the Monongalia County Schools in their purposeful pursuit of comprehensive implementation of the NASP Practice Model. Monongalia County Schools (MCS), located in suburban Morgantown, West Virginia, serves…

A suite of newly published reports supported by The Wallace Foundation reveals the features and outcomes of high-quality principal learning and exposes disparities in principals' access to strong learning opportunities, especially in high-poverty schools. These reports demonstrate how collaborating institutional partners -- universities, school…

Background: Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) of educators represent a promising approach to achieving continuous school improvement. At the same time, a range of studies in this area, including several systematic reviews and meta-analyses, report multiple conceptual and methodological challenges, or, at best, mixed results. Purpose and…

The progression of teacher learning from aspiring educator to accomplished practitioner is multifaceted and complex. Selecting a teacher preparation program is a critical point in this journey, but it is by no means the end. Strengthening teacher pipelines requires aligned systems that not only open diverse entry points and provide initial…

Eight school districts in Rhode Island formed the East Bay Professional Learning Community to launch a joint effort to develop a culture of assessment literacy through ongoing professional learning focused on team-specific action plans tightly aligned to school, district, and state initiatives. To accomplish this, the districts pooled their…

In a professional learning community, adults learn through focused conversations on teaching practices and teacher learning to support student learning. Teachers in a professional learning community push each other's thinking and learning about teaching through questioning. While there are multiple opportunities for this critical thinking to…

Improving services for the youngest deaf and hard of hearing children in Washington State has meant the creation of a professional learning community, or community of practice, for professionals in early intervention for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. In a state that has distinct geographical differences, these highly specialized…

The traditional model of teacher preparation, which focuses on content and methods courses in a college or university, can create a gap between university faculty and school practitioners. This article describes a series of clinical practice workshops as a viable means to bridge the gap between a university and its partner middle schools in the…

This paper reports on the work of a small group of Education academics to build a professional learning community in a regional university in the north of England. Their efforts form part of a "Leading Learning" school-university partnership serving schools in disadvantaged communities in inner city Leeds. This is designed to support…

This article looks at how professional learning communities (PLCs) have become an operational approach for professional development with potential to de-isolate the teaching experience in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The authors offer a short synopsis of the intellectual origins of PLCs, provide multiple…

Building faculty or professional learning communities is an idea that has come of age. This article describes work being done within the Brigham Young University (BYU)-Public School Partnership to form and sustain such communities across higher and public education and in ways consistent with the four aims of the Agenda for Education in a…

It may be hard to imagine teams of high school educators--teachers, counselors, principals, central office leaders, curriculum specialists--working together to overcome the student achievement barriers of poverty, ethnicity, apathy, and inconsistencies in rigor and access to the curriculum in order to pursue the "ought-ness" of a better…