Book Description
Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities answers the question most often asked by schools that are seeking to transform themselves into professional learning communities: "Where do we begin?" The authors focus on the cultural shifts that must take place as schools move from more traditional ways of doing things to functioning as professional learning communities. They offer suggestions for finishing the time for transformation, a case study on how one school made the transition in one year with dramatic results, and a special question-and-answer section.


About the Author
Dr. Robert Eaker is the former Dean of the College of Education at Middle Tennessee State University and a former Fellow with the National Center for Effective Schools Research and Development. Dr. Eaker has written widely on the issues of effective teaching, effective schools, helping teachers use research findings, and high expectations and student achievement. He and Dr. Richard DuFour co-authored Professional Learning Communities at Work. He has spoken at numerous national meetings held by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the National Center for Effective Schools, among others. Dr. Eaker was chosen by Phi Delta Kappa for the "People in Educational Evaluation and Research" interview series that appeared in the October 1986 issue of the Phi Delta Kappan. He regularly consults with school districts throughout the nation regarding school improvement issues. Richard DuFour is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on applying the principles of Professional Learning Communities in the real world of schools. His leadership of Adlai Stevenson High School over two decades helped Stevenson garner national recognition. The United States Department of Education has described Stevenson as one of the most recognized and celebrated schools in America – a four-time recipient of the USDE’s Blue Ribbon Award, one of the first comprehensive high schools presented with USDE’s New American High School award, and one of the top schools in North America in the Advanced Placement Program. Dr. DuFour has received his state’s highest award as both a principal and superintendent and has authored books, videos, featured columns, and over forty articles on practical strategies to improve schools. As the principal of Boones Mill Elementary School in Franklin County, Virginia, Rebecca DuFour helped her school win the Governors Award of Excellence and recognition as a model professional learning community—despite the fact that per pupil expenditures in her county ranked in the bottom ten percent of the state. Rebecca is one of the featured principals in two Video Journal programs: Effective Leadership in an Era of High Standards and Elementary Principals as Leaders of Learning. She is co-author of Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities and has presented at national conferences and for school districts, universities, and state departments of education throughout North America. She was selected by that National Association of Elementary School Principals to develop and conduct its summer institute program to train principals to lead learning communities.