Building and Connecting Learning Communities: The Power of Networks for School Improvement

"Taking your school from great to greater—this compelling book gives you tools to use with staff for reflecting on and refining professional practices. You and your team will find tools for taking learners to the next level of improvement!" —Lynn A. Kaszynski, Principal Harrison Street Elementary School, Sunbury, OH Networked learning communities: A powerful school improvement strategy for school leaders! Ideal for school leaders and superintendents leading change efforts, this book describes how separate professional learning communities can be linked across schools by common instructional and learning issues to create dynamic networked learning communities (NLCs). Drawing on their work with schools throughout North America and England, Steven Katz, Lorna M. Earl, and Sonia Ben Jaafar show how participants in NLCs can share professional knowledge that ultimately improves performance at the school and district level. Through a sample school narrative, the book illustrates how NLCs can significantly enhance instruction, increase student performance, and empower local professional learning communities. This resource examines: Collaborative inquiry as a process that challenges teachers' thinking, generates new learning, and fosters trusting relationships The development of formal and informal leadership roles in NLCs How NLCs support systematic data analysis and accountability Demonstrating how NLCs—small or large, local or statewide—can promote critical reforms while strengthening the work of individual professional learning communities, this invaluable resource reveals how educators can join forces across school and district boundaries to generate deep, meaningful, and sustainable change.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments About the Authors 1. Why Networks? Why Now? It’s About Learning Networks: A Powerful Organizational Tool Time for Reflection 2. How Networked Learning Communities Work What Are Networked Learning Communities? How NLCs Work: The Theory of Action Using NLCs to Focus Local PLCs The Anatomy of a NLC: A Refined Theory of Action Time for Reflection 3. Establishing a Clear and Defensible Focus Focus Foremost Evidence-Based Focus From a School Focus to a Network Focus Time for Reflection 4. Collaborative Inquiry to Challenge Thinking and Practice The Importance of Relationships From Inquiry to an Inquiry Habit of Mind From Relationships to Deep Collaboration Getting to Powerful Collaborative Inquiry Time for Reflection 5. Leadership in Networked Professional Learning Communities Roles of Formal Leaders Roles of Informal Leaders Time for Reflection 6. From Student Learning to Teacher Learning Towards Focused Collaborative Inquiry Collaborative Inquiry for Teacher Leaders Within-School Focused Professional Learning: Collaborative Inquiry for Teachers Time for Reflection 7. Using the Network to Support Professional Learning for Leaders Collaborative Inquiry and Focused Learning for Leaders Using Critical Friends to Promote Inquiry and Focus Efforts From Collaborative Inquiry to Instructional Leadership Actions Time for Reflection 8. Sustaining Networked Learning Communities Sustaining Collective Understanding Sustaining Professional Learning Sustaining and Broadening Leadership Sustaining Powerful Networked Learning Communities Time for Reflection References Index