Product Review

Finalist-Association of Educational Publishers 2012 Distinguished Achievement Award

For many years, Dr. Richard DuFour and Dr. Robert J. Marzano have been cotravelers on the journey to help educators improve their schools.

In their first book together, Dr. DuFour and Dr. Marzano have combined their passions to articulate how effective leaders foster continuous improvement at the district, school, and classroom levels. The book focuses on district leadership, principal leadership, and team leadership, and addresses how individual teachers can be most effective in leading students--by learning with colleagues how to implement the most promising pedagogy in their classrooms. The authors argue that no single person has all the knowledge, skills, and talent to lead a district, improve a school, or meet all the needs of every child in his or her classroom. Instead, it will take a collaborative effort and widely dispersed leadership to meet the challenges confronting schools.

Benefits

* Combines the authors' expertise and many years of experience into one comprehensive volume on leadership

* Provides proven strategies for school improvement based on the most up-to-date research

* Focuses on how district and school leaders create the conditions to support the collaborative culture of a PLC

* Examines the specific work that teachers undertake as members of PLCs

Contents:
1. School Improvement Means People Improvement
2. The District s Role in Supporting the PLC Process
3. The Principal s Role in Leading a Professional Learning Community
4. Creating the Collaborative Culture of a Professional Learning Community
5. Developing a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
6. Ongoing Monitoring of Student Learning
7. Ensuring Effective Instruction
8. Responding When Kids Don t Learn
9. Leadership Is an Affair of the Heart