To ensure that all students learn at high levels, teachers must collaborate with colleagues to examine student achievement data, plan or adjust instruction, and track student progress. By meeting in professional learning communities, teachers continually examine instructional strategies and improve student learning. This school-based,…

For educators to be successful in ensuring that students are college-and career-ready, they must have high-quality professional learning. This article describes how the foundation and guidance for evaluating the impact of professional learning can be enhanced with the "Standards for Professional Learning Tool" (Learning Forward, 2011).…

Fort Wayne Community Schools continue to increase student learning and meet state and national standards and expectations annually based on several factors that have made a difference for educators within the system: district and principal leadership, learning teams, effective learning designs, and deep commitment to a culture of learning. Fort…

The experiences in the school districts highlighted in this article clarify a set of broad goals that all professional learning communities can use to assess their effectiveness: (1) Culture; (2) Knowledge; (3) Practice; and (4) Achievement. These schools and districts have an ongoing commitment to all four goals. All of them have instituted…

In 2010, district leaders of Douglas County Public Schools, Douglasville, Georgia, launched an ambitious initiative to ensure that teachers set goals that focus on increasing their effectiveness and show student growth. To achieve this goal, the district leadership team focused on common district assessments to establish common learning…

Consider for a moment how launching a professional learning community is similar to starting a race. Athletes know the danger of false starts--moving before the starting signal. Until recently, a false start meant that all racers returned to the blocks to begin again, their adrenalin gone, their concentration broken. Because these effects could…

Facing a superintendent change in 2006-2007, Decatur Public School District 61 in Illinois was already confronting the major challenges of a widening student achievement gap, increasing dropout rate, and schools not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). From the beginning, Superintendent Gloria J. Davis professed several simple beliefs that…

This article discusses the (National Staff Development Council's (NSDC) 12 Under 12 project and how it helps the participating schools in closing the academic achievement gap. NSDC embarked on the 12 Under 12 project as a way of prodding schools into moving more quickly than the federal government's requirement that every student meet or exceed…

Finding time for teams to work in schools is both a necessity and a responsibility. If educators are sincere about efforts to improve student learning, leaders must take responsibility for providing team time for teachers and a structure in which they are able to work collaboratively. The Papillion-La Vista (Nebraska) Public Schools took to heart…

Sustaining improvement and building capacity for ongoing learning is a key challenge for schools, particularly high-performing schools facing increasing pressures from the No Child Left Behind Act. This paper presents a discussion on how goal setting with students increases the academic student achievement in Burleigh Elementary School. Teachers…