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Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement
by
For many years, coauthors Rick DuFour and Bob Marzano have been co-travelers on the journey to help educators improve their schools. As Rick has focused on bringing the professional learning community process to life in schools, he has relied heavily on Bob's vast research on effective teaching and effective leadership. Bob has come to the conclusion that the best environm
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Paperback, 231 pages
Published
June 7th 2011
by Solution Tree
(first published 2011)
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Start your review of Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement

Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement focuses on Professional Learning Community (PLCs), common planning, building teacher capacity and the role of school-site administrators. If you are aspiring to be a school-site administrator or truly want to make a difference in student achievement using PLCs, common planning and teacher-centered assessment, then this book is for you.

The first four chapters can easily be skipped, unless you're a principal, or you need convincing.
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"The key to leadership is developing the capacity of others to accomplish a collective endeavor, not doing it all yourself. . . To be the best leader you can be, don't hoard power; give it away. Don't view yourself as the heroic individual who will single-handedly improve your district, school, or classroom; view yourself as a hero-maker who develops the leadership potential of those you serve." (207)
In my time as a teacher, I've become introduced to the richness of leaders like Richard DuFour a ...more
In my time as a teacher, I've become introduced to the richness of leaders like Richard DuFour a ...more

A few good nuggets, but mostly common sense...
- "Every person who enters the field of education has both an opportunity and an obligation to be a leader."
- "Someone is looking to you right now for leadership."
- School reform is about changing people.
- Peers need to support and pressure each other to do better.
- The best leaders are in love with the work they do, their purpose, and with those they lead and serve. They view their position as a calling.
- Leadership is about love.
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- "Every person who enters the field of education has both an opportunity and an obligation to be a leader."
- "Someone is looking to you right now for leadership."
- School reform is about changing people.
- Peers need to support and pressure each other to do better.
- The best leaders are in love with the work they do, their purpose, and with those they lead and serve. They view their position as a calling.
- Leadership is about love.
...more

This book espouses the Professional Learning Community concept as a more viable route to leadership. "It is time to let go of the myth of the charismatic individual leader who has it all figured out...Effective leaders recognize that they cannot accomplish great things alone...leadership capacity is broadly distributed in the population and is accessible to anyone who has passion and purpose to change things as they are."
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Marzano and DuFour put together an easy to follow recipe for education leaders in order to bring out the best in students, teachers, and school leaders. The PLC time is incredibly important and integral to student learning. Leadership can be found at all levels and teachers who help others are among the most successful. I’ve highlighted so many great ideas to try from this book!

DuFour, as the earliest proponent and instigator of the PLC process, has a lot invested in its success. It's refreshing how dismissive of previous reform movements he is, drawing the ultimate conclusion that successful teachers are successful collaborators, and that a school that follows the PLC process with fidelity will see large gains in student achievement.
While I generally agree with these conclusions, they are just a piece in the puzzle. Often times what ends up happening is that good tea ...more
While I generally agree with these conclusions, they are just a piece in the puzzle. Often times what ends up happening is that good tea ...more

It's truly the Daily Double when you tag-team Richard DuFour and Robert Marzano (kingpins of the "Cartel," as they call it). And you can always count on good, solid, and sober stuff when you read them, even combined. Exciting? Hardly. "You've got to read this!" caliber? Not nearly. But a few nuggets may be ingested. For me, the best part is the opening pitch about every single one of us (in education) being a leader. Their singing my song when they riff on that note.
If your school is heavy into ...more
If your school is heavy into ...more

Jan 23, 2013
Laurie
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
have-to-teach,
work-related
A great overview of the big ideas, concepts, and misconceptions. I also just spent three days at a conference hearing people speak about this. I feel a little brainwashed and overwhelmed.
Also, it makes a subtle (although at times, not so) case for the ineffectiveness of other reform efforts, all while speaking in general terms and citing themselves as evidence from their research. It's hard at times to to feel like these men got together from a PLC circle jerk.
In the end I am convinced this wou ...more
Also, it makes a subtle (although at times, not so) case for the ineffectiveness of other reform efforts, all while speaking in general terms and citing themselves as evidence from their research. It's hard at times to to feel like these men got together from a PLC circle jerk.
In the end I am convinced this wou ...more

This book really nails what it takes to turn schools in to true learning communities--and it is also brutally honest about the work involved. Leaders who are "dipping" into professional learning communities need to use this book as a thermometer--are they really leading this movement or simply mandating superficial things? Read to understand District, Principal, team leader and teacher responsibilities that need to be covered for true collaboration...
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This was a good book that provides a good overview of the Professional Learning Communities that the authors propose as the best way to improve student achievement. This book does a great job of making real life applications of their strategies.
I would recommend this book to non educators if you wanted to get a good overview of the latest reform efforts that are working to improve student achievement.
I would recommend this book to non educators if you wanted to get a good overview of the latest reform efforts that are working to improve student achievement.

Started strong making a great case for PLCs and the value that they can bring to a campus professional development environment. However, they lost me when they talked about implementation and a total revamp of how curriculum is written and how tests are graded. I understand it was only an example, but they left me with little when it comes to actual implementation strategies that will work well on campuses that have only one teacher teaching every subject.

I wish this had been my 1st DuFour book. Since it was my 3rd, it just reiterated what his workshops & other published works teach about PLC's.
I recommend reading it if you're starting to learn about how to implement PLC's, but consider it a quick skim if you're already familiar with the DuFours. ...more
I recommend reading it if you're starting to learn about how to implement PLC's, but consider it a quick skim if you're already familiar with the DuFours. ...more

This book is GOLD for any school, department, or grade-level leader trying to implement PLCs as a means of improving student achievement. The chapters on guaranteed curriculums, monitoring student learning, and responding when students don't learn were among my favorites in this book.
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Oct 26, 2012
Hanrong Tham
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
education-and-teaching
A must read for a school leaders who are leading PLCs. It highlights many misconceptions of PLCs and what pitfalls to avoid when leading PLCs.

Read this book for a master's class on becoming a principal. Pretty easy to follow and a relatable guy. I enjoyed it.
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