Breaking Through to Effective Teaching

School leaders search for effective and practical ways to live out what research tells us makes a difference in student learning. Research literature is easy to embrace theoretically, but it is much more difficult to turn research into compelling collective action. How do we create the climate where the trusting members of a 'professional learning community' improve the results of their practice? What does it take to be the 'small learning community' that includes students and parents as well as professional educators? What will we do to harness the positive power of 'community' to transform the learning and achievement of all students? This walk-through protocol provides both a process and a tool for inquiry-based professional development, community engagement, and ultimately, student self-direction. It starts with a school's commitment to build an inquiry model that assumes the capacity for extraordinary learning on the part of students, teachers, administrators, and families. The protocol can be employed narrowly_to guide the improving practice of a couple of teachers with a passion for biology, for example_or more broadly. Many of the improving schools highlighted in the chapters of this book chose the walk-through protocol as a frame for school-wide professional development that led to exceptional growth in learning and student achievement. This process allows schools to create a community where all members approach learning as an inquiry and are proactive designers of their success.