Howard+Michael+Freund

=**Effective Teams** = This Wiki is designed to be a growing resource for teachers and administrators interested in establishing Professional Learning Communities in their schools. The focus will be on enabling teams to meet and how the teams can best be used to enhance student learning.

Here you will find some great links and other information which can help establishing great PLC's

=Web Resources =

[|All Things PLC]

 * This is an incredible resource** for those interested in all aspects of the PLC. One of the great aspects of this site is the Evidence of Effectiveness section. This tab is found on the home page. Not only does it contain success stories, but it allows the user to input information about their own school and it provides examples of similar schools. This can very helpful in combating "resistors" especially those who may be in a already succesful school. The videos in the getting started section are a great place to start-- in addition to being informative, it gives the viewer an opportunity to see who Dufour and Eaker are as opposed of just constantly reading their materials. There are also very useful downloadable resources including sample PLC meeting agendas. I've spent a great deal of time here, since deciding on my school improvement plan and feel like I've just scratched the surface.

Professional Learning Communities: Communities of Continuous Inquiry and Improvement
[|sedl.org] This site is a comprehensive resource for learning what a PLC is and what it isn't. It goes into detail as to the attributes of Professional Learning Communities, suggestions on how to develop and maintain a PLC, and case studies of five schools that utilize this environment. The site also has a great deal of free resources for educators. Of particular interest is the online school school improvement planning tool found here [|OSIPL]. [|Teacher Learning Team Video] A short you tube video about teacher teams- possible ammunition for use against a resistor.

[|Student Surveys] [|Online School Surveys]
 * School Surveys**

These sites provide surveys for use with students, teachers, parents, and anyone who you feel should be included. There are some sample surveys, existing project surveys, and the ability to design and administer new surveys. A survey can be a great diagnostic tool in determining areas of need, especially when dealing with those aspects of schools that cannot be sufficiently represented by quantitative data. There is also [|survey monkey], which is not specifically for schools, but is very flexible and easy to use. Survey Monkey also has a basic survey available at no charge.


 * Merit Pay and Teams**

Not necessarily useful in designing effective teams and PLCs, but a pretty interesting article dealing confronting the use of merit pay and it's possible effect on the team environment in the schools- [|Merit Pay & Teams]

I've been using this site [|education world] as a reference for all of my graduate classes. It is filled with tested ideas from working and retired educators and administrators. I read through a few articles about effective teaming "What Makes Effective Teaching Teams Tick" is a simple article with great strategies and attainable characteristics of effective teams. The "Use of Teams in Classes" link is a presentation that can be adapted for anyone's use in "selling" the culture change. (It is in ppt form so you may have to come up with your own summaries).
 * Education World**

This link ([|Virtual Workshop]) will bring you to a page that has different links dealing with the research behind PLCs, and setting up and maintaing them. It is organized into:
 * Explore It
 * Use It
 * Learn more about it

Try searching and surfing this site for some more great educational resources.

[|Schools to Watch] is a recognition program for schools that meet the following criteria: (from their site) Besides providing examples of excellent schools, this site contains a __great__ survey that really provides for a complete picture of the staff and community (if desired) perception of the school. A great use for this survey is to determine whether there is a shared vision of what the school is and it's mission. I used this prompts from this survey in my Needs Assessment and it provided my with a very clear understanding of what is happening in the classrooms all around me.
 * Schools to Watch**
 * They are academically excellent – these schools challenge all students to use their minds well.
 * They are developmentally responsive – these schools are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence.
 * They are socially equitable – these schools are democratic and fair, providing every student with high-quality teachers, resources, and supports.

[|Interdisciplinary Research] This link will bring you to a page in the National Middle School Association web site that sums up research that was done on the effectiveness of interdisciplinary teams. The page lays out characteristics of effective teams and discusses the student and staff benefits to this approach. Everything is written in a direct and concise manner. It also has a great annotated references section.


 * Thoughts on Scheduling

[|CES - scheduling resource]** This page on the Coalition for Essential Schools site doesn't directly deal with PLC's, however it focuses on scheduling, which I feel is one of the major structural barriers to establishing effective teams. It provides some thoughts and research on adding flexibility into the rigid schedules that most schools employ. These ideas could be easily incorporated into the structural planning of establishing teams.

[|PLC MIDDLE WIKI] This Wiki is dedicated to the PLC atmosphere at a middle school. It provides specific information as to what the teams are doing in the "meetings" section, and has some useful guidelines for maintaining the PLC. In addition to being a resource for schools looking to incorporate PLCs, the Wiki itself could serve as a model for a useful tool for teams to utilize.
 * Model School WIKI**

[|NSDC] This site has standards and rationals for many staff development areas including learning communities and collaboration. Some example standards are : There is also a long, very detailed annotated reference list.
 * National Staff Development Council**
 * Staff development that improves the learning of all students organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district.
 * Staff development that improves the learning of all students provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate.

The library section of the site also is a great resource. There you can find a tab that says Learning Communities and Team Skills. Whithin this section you will find articles dealing with: [|**Building teamwork skills**] [|**Conflict resolution**] [|**Consensus decision making**] [|**Developing learning communities**] [|**Mission and vision**] [|**Norms**] [|**School culture**] [|**Staff meetings**]

=Books and Articles =

Barth, Roland S. (2006, March). Improving Relationships Within The Schoolhouse. //Educational Leadership, 8-13//

This article discusses the types of relationships that can exist within the schoolhouse. It covers: parallel, adversarial, congenial, and collegial relationships. Collegial relationships are the type needed to develop a PLC. It goes into detail about how a school leader can foster collegial relationships. It defines a collegial relationship as :
 * educators talking to one another about practice
 * educators sharing their craft knowledge
 * educators observing one another
 * educators rooting for each others success

DuFour, Richard. (2004, May). What is a Professional Learning Community. //Educational Leadership, 6-11//

This article goes into detail about what exactly a PLC is. It focuses in the following aspects: The reader comes away with a great idea of what distinguishes a Professional Learning Community from the common practice of teamed teachers.
 * Ensuring that students learn
 * A culture of collaboration
 * A focus on results

DuFour, R. and Eaker, R. (1998). //Professional Learning Communities at Work.// Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree. ISBN 1879639602

This book details every aspect of establishing a Professional Learning Community. It begins with establishing common vision and mission and continues through to the roles that parents, teachers and administrators play in the PLC. Throughout the book, real world examples are given, which provides a meaningful supplement to the theory and process that is discussed.

Fullan, M., & Bertani, A., & Quinn, J (2004, April). New Lessons For Districtwide Reform. //Educational Leadership, 42-46//

This article discusses the ten components that schools must incorporate to bring about meaningful school improvement. The ten components are:
 * A compelling conceptualization
 * Collective moral purpose
 * The right bus (having the right people in the right positions)
 * Capacity building
 * Lateral capacity building
 * Ongoing learning
 * Productive conflict
 * A demanding culture
 * External partners
 * Focused financial investments

Ubben, G.C., Hughes, L.W., & Norris, C.J. (2007). //The Principal// (Sixth Edition). New York: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 020548137

This text is an all encompassing reference on the various aspects of the principal's responsibilities. The book does contain a chapter dealing the specifics of establishing effective teams and a culture of Professional Learning, however it has great information about scheduling and staffing, which is often a barrier to setting up PLC structures. There is also a chapter dedicated to school change. This is a text book and the information is presented in very a clear, direct manner with case studies used often to reinforce the concepts covered within the chapters.