Learning by Doing

A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work™

Through continuous work with educators, the authors have created a more powerful, practical tool for moving forward in the PLC process. Like the first edition, the second edition of Learning by Doing is an action guide for closing the knowing-doing gap and transforming schools into PLCs. This book also includes seven major additions:

1. A Focused Exploration of Reciprocal Accountability—This edition is specifically intended to equip school and district leaders with the knowledge and tools to model effective reciprocal accountability in their own settings.
2. An Examination of How the Central Office Can Facilitate the PLC—The authors consider some of the common challenges leaders at this level will face and strategies and tools for overcoming those challenges.
3. Explicit Advice on Dangerous Detours and Seductive Shortcuts—The authors are very specific regarding the work that must be done, and in each chapter, they alert readers to the tempting shortcuts that are often taken to avoid doing the work.
4. Specific Protocols for Team Analysis of Student Achievement Data—This edition offers several protocols to help teams engaged in this aspect of the PLC process focus their collective inquiry on the right questions.
5. A Revised Continuum of Progress on the PLC Journey—The four-step continuum has been revised with new descriptions and a fifth level added to the chart to meet all educators’ needs.
6. An Updated Research Base—Several important studies have been done, inside and outside of education, that further support the big ideas of the PLC process. This edition provides the most current research.
7. Online Delivery of the Team Tools—Instead of including a CD with this edition, many of the tools and templates are online so they can be revised, updated, and added to on an ongoing basis. Educators are also invited to share materials they have created to help them in their work.