This article describes a professional learning plan created in the Fort Wayne Community Schools (Indiana, USA) for principals working and learning together on the RISE Indiana Teacher Effectiveness Rubric. This training plan ensures that principals are observing instructional practice in the same way and in agreement with the district's instrument…

Through its engagement with grantees on initiatives to improve school leadership, The Wallace Foundation came to recognize the important role that state organizations play in advancing effective leadership in districts and schools as well as the importance of coordination among state- and district-level policies. The authors have recently…

Fort Wayne Community Schools continue to increase student learning and meet state and national standards and expectations annually based on several factors that have made a difference for educators within the system: district and principal leadership, learning teams, effective learning designs, and deep commitment to a culture of learning. Fort…

There is no denying that combining two schools, or even opening a new school, is loaded with challenges and frustrations as well as high expectations. Principal Tracy Shafer saw a rural school consolidation as an opportunity to use professional development to create a community focused on student learning, meeting the need for high-quality…

Presents a set of snapshots of the work of the Staff Development Leadership Councils created by the National Staff Development Council in 1998, offering lessons for others who want to do similar work in their states and provinces. The examples come from Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Kansas, and Indiana. Information on contact people for each project…

The Metropolitan District of Lawrence Township in Indianapolis, Indiana, needs a new model of teaching the latest technologies and strategies to teach kids. This paper presents the districts' implementation of the staff development plan. The plan focuses on enhancing teachers' abilities to teach: (a) basic literacy; (b) technological literacy; (c)…