"Roberts and Pruitt offer practical advice to educators who seek to address one of the greatest obstacles to creating effective schools: how to get school staff to collaborate and learn from each other. Their insights and suggestions are smart, useful, and demonstrate a genuine understanding of how schools work."
-Pedro A. Noguera, Executive Director
Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, New York University
Your one-stop sourcebook for building a professional learning community in your school! More and more educational leaders are turning to the collaborative learning community model to create school change and improvement. This practical resource offers research-based activities and strategies for providing professional learning opportunities that lead to the building of community in schools as well as improved learning outcomes for both teachers and students.
Ideal for school leaders and staff developers, this updated bestseller examines the knowledge and skills needed to become a successful leader of learners and provides helpful tips, real-life classroom vignettes, and insights into effective teamwork. The authors help administrators lead staff in:
- Learning through study groups, shared leadership, and professional portfolios
- Performing collaborative student assessments and classroom observation
- Reexamining their beliefs and assumptions through reflective activities
With the latest information on e-portfolios, coaching, emotional intelligence, and more, this proven professional development approach gives leaders the tools they need to implement a culture of collaboration that can transform entire schools!
Industry Reviews
"Brings a completely different philosophy of schools to the forefront and provides specific strategies and activities that promote the school as a learning community with student learning as a focus." -- Sharon Neff, Technology and Literacy Specialist "An excellent resource for teacher leaders, administrators, or mentors as a tool for establishing useful collaboration. There are specific examples and tips that can be applied to collaborative groups." -- Kandace Klenz, Literacy Teacher "Roberts and Pruitt offer practical advice to educators who seek to address one of the greatest obstacles to creating effective schools: how to get school staff to collaborate and learn from each other. Their insights and suggestions are smart, useful, and demonstrate a genuine understanding of how schools work." -- Pedro A. Noguera, Executive Director "The wealth of ideas and information leads readers to make their own deductions and formulate their own vision and mission. This is an important step toward school improvement. The book is also very practical and has excellent examples." -- Lyndon Oswald, Principal "The case studies, examples, and references to additional sources of information such as Web sites make this an excellent study guide and reference work for leaders who are engaged in the difficult task of building learning communities." -- Max Skidmore, Academic Professional "Provides aspiring educational leaders with the tools they need to build learning communities among school teachers. The activities are not only creative but allow for the development of complex skills critical to leading and transforming contemporary schools. This is a must-read book for those looking for school-based professional development activities and for those preparing leaders to be change agents in the 21st century." -- Hazel M. Carter, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership "Roberts and Pruitt have created a guidebook that those in leadership positions can use to successfully implement the learning community model. The activities included skillfully address the issues that teachers and leaders face as they strive to transform their schools into places where learning opportunities for all can be maximized. This book is a storehouse of information with many practical applications and ideas that can be used by those who are engaged in the school improvement process." -- Linnea Weiland, Department Chair and Associate Professor
