On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities is a powerful contribution to the field of educational theory and research.  The contributing authors comprise a Who’s Who of Educational Leaders.  Roland Barth, Rebecca DuFour, Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, Barbara Eason-Watkins, Michael Fullan, Lawrence Lezotte, Douglas Reeves, Jonathan Saphier, Mike Schmoker, Dennis Sparks, and Rick Stiggins share their individual research and collective experiences to allow educators to see how curriculum, instruction, assessment, and student achievement can improve through collaboration and purposeful actions of K-12 educators.

The book is organized into five sections:
   
      I.     Overview of PLCs
      II.    Critical Questions of PLCs
      III.   Creating PLCs
      IV.    Placing PLCs in a Broader Context
       V.    A Call to Action

Schmoker (2005) wrote, professional learning communities begin “with a group of teachers who meet regularly as a team to identify essential and valued student learning, develop common formative assessments, analyze current levels of achievement, set achievement goals, share strategies, and then create lessons to improve upon those levels” (p. xii).  Barth refers to professionals sharing their craft knowledge.  Fullan reminds educators that “each of us is the system” (p.221).  Professional learning communities provide educators with the opportunity to share craft knowledge, reflect on teaching and learning, develop curriculum, and improve the system.  Lezotte, whose name has become synonymous with the Effective Schools movement, wrote “There are only two kinds of schools – improving schools and declining schools” (p. 186).

Richard DuFour outlines three questions which drive the work of a professional learning community:

      1)   What do we want each student to learn?
  
      2)   How will we know when each student has learned it?

      3)   How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in
            learning? (p. 33)

Professional learning communities are a method for ongoing school improvement.  This book allows educators to review the research from multiple educational leaders.  The research is clear that becoming a professional learning community is a method for focusing our efforts.  Teachers have traditionally worked in isolation and results have been between teachers.  The professional learning community concept “is specifically designed to develop the collective capacity of a staff to work together to achieve the fundamental purpose of the school: high levels of learning for all students” (p. 18).  For additional information on professional learning communities, educators are encouraged to visit www.allthingsplc.info.  Please feel free to share your thoughts on On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities.


DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & DuFour, R. (Eds.). (2005). On common ground:
             The power of professional learning communities. Bloomington, IN:
             National Education Service.

 


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