The implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) has led to systemwide reform within school districts and campuses regarding how campus leaders support the teachers' collaborative work and continued professional learning. Current research emphasizes the importance of campus administrators cultivating an environment where PLCs can…

To build collective teacher efficacy, teams must agree to (constructively) disagree, say assistant superintendent B.C. Preston and educator-author Jenni Donohoo. Leaders who mindfully organize team actions, alongside the team itself, empower teachers through processes and protocols to confront ineffective instruction and assessment practices--and…

Teacher quality is a perennially fertile field for education reformers. Among teacher quality policies, two of the more highly touted and widely adopted are state-mandated systems of teacher evaluation and formalized models of teacher collaborative teams, often known generally as professional learning communities (PLCs). Indeed, despite a…

Too often at the high school level, teachers work in isolation, without the ability to see other practitioners at work. Team teaching offers an effective antidote: It provides a comfortable environment in which to grow because it enables teachers to learn from another professional on a regular basis. "Teaming," notes the authors,…

Founded in Minneapolis by Angela Jerabek, a former school counselor, Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) is an education model built on research about the importance of prioritizing relationships with the power of data. The implementation of BARR at South Fort Myers High School saw dramatic and measurable changes as well as exponential academic…

In this article, Joseph Vincente, an assistant principal and math and instructional coach at East Side Community High School in New York City, describes East Side's collaborative structures as well as the norms and conditions that support them. Collaboration underpins how the teachers at East Side structure and conduct most of their work, how they…

This case study explored the role of a Professional Learning Team (PLT) in the planning, teaching, and assessment of inquiry-based learning in social studies with a single high school, world history PLT consisting of four teachers. Theories of constructivism and pedagogical content knowledge provided a framework for the study. Data were analyzed…

At Arlington Heights High School, a grassroots effort began in the 2010-2011 school year with the formation of a new committee of teacher leaders on campus, tasked with envisioning and creating campus change hand-in-hand with administration. This committee's membership has continued to evolve over the last five years, and we are now known as the…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the development of co-teaching relationships in a high school setting in a small rural Georgia community. This study also explored how high-school special and general education teachers constructed collective efficacy beliefs that affected the development, implementation, and sustainment of…

Part of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) research series titled "Teachers' Time: Collaborating for Learning, Teaching, and Leading," this case study looks at The International High School (IHS) at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, New York. Located in the borough of Queens, IHS is co-located…

Lesson Study as a growing interest in the education world has attracted educators, experts, and professionals in the area to make use of it in improving the lessons--it also happens in Indonesia. Originally applied in the teaching of mathematics in Japan, now it turns to be used in other fields, and English is one of them. This paper highlights…

Part of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) research series titled "Teachers' Time: Collaborating for Learning, Teaching, and Leading," this case study looks at Hillsdale High School, a large, comprehensive high school located in San Mateo, California, a high-tech enclave of Silicon Valley nestled 23 miles…

The most promising intervention for improving learning and reducing academic gaps in outcomes is present in every classroom: the "teacher". Teachers empowered to create relationship-centric, supportive classroom and school cultures, combined with rigorous academics, produce breakthrough results for their students. Three nonprofits'…

This article presents findings of a longitudinal case study conducted at a Taiwanese high school from 2006 to 2010. This school participated in the 'High Scope Programme' (HSP), which was sponsored by the Taiwanese National Science Council to promote curricular innovation in science education. Utilising interview data with 11 participating…

This article presents findings of a qualitative study on school leadership and professional learning community in two high achieving senior high schools in Northeast China. The findings show that teachers participated in school-based communities of professional learning, such as Teaching and Research Groups, Lesson Preparation Groups, and Grade…