Building and Connecting Learning Communities

Networked learning communities: A powerful school improvement strategy for school leaders!Drawing on their work with schools throughout North America and England, the authors demonstrate how professional learning communities can link to create and share knowledge within Networked Learning Communities (NLCs). Through a sample school narrative, the book illustrates how NLCs can significantly improve instruction, increase student performance, and promote deep and sustained changes schoolwide. 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-based analysis and accountability

Preface	p. vii
The Rationale	p. vii
Our Approach	p. viii
Organization	p. viii
Reading and Using This Book	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
About the Authors	p. xiii
Why Networks? Why Now?	p. 1
It's About Learning	p. 2
Networks: A Powerful Organizational Tool	p. 3
Time for Reflection	p. 5
How Networked Learning Communities Work	p. 7
What Are Networked Learning Communities?	p. 7
How NLCs Work: The Theory of Action	p. 9
Purpose and Focus	p. 12
Relationships	p. 12
Collaboration	p. 13
Inquiry	p. 13
Leadership	p. 14
Accountability	p. 14
Building Capacity and Support	p. 15
Using NLCs to Focus, Local PLCs	p. 15
The Anatomy of an NLC: A Refined Theory of Action	p. 19
Key Enablers: Focus, Collaborative Inquiry, and Leadership	p. 19
Focused Professional Learning in Schools	p. 21
Time for Reflection	p. 21
Establishing a Clear and Defensible Focus	p. 23
Focus Foremost	p. 24
Evidence-Based Focus	p. 27
From a School Focus to a Network Focus	p. 34
Time for Reflection	p. 37
Collaborative Inquiry to Challenge Thinking and Practice	p. 39
The Importance of Relationships	p. 39
From Inquiry to an Inquiry Habit of Mind	p. 43
From Relationships to Deep Collaboration	p. 44
Getting to Powerful Collaborative Inquiry	p. 46
Time for Reflection	p. 49
Leadership in Networked Professional Learning Communities	p. 51
Roles of Formal Leaders	p. 51
Encouraging and Motivating Others	p. 53
Setting and Monitoring the Agenda	p. 54
Sharing Leadership	p. 57
Building Capacity and Providing Support	p. 58
Roles of Informal Leaders	p. 59
What Is Informal Leadership?	p. 61
The Interdependence of Informal and Formal Leadership	p. 62
Time for Reflection	p. 64
From Student Learning to Teacher Learning	p. 65
Towards Focused Collaborative Inquiry	p. 68
Collaborative Inquiry for Teacher Leaders	p. 74
Within-School Focused Professional Learning: Collaborative Inquiry for Teachers	p. 80
Time for Reflection	p. 84
Using the Network to Support Professional Learning for Leaders	p. 85
Collaborative Inquiry and Focused Learning for Leaders	p. 85
Using Critical Friends to Promote Inquiry and Focus Efforts	p. 90
From Collaborative Inquiry to Instructional Leadership Actions	p. 99
Time for Reflection	p. 101
Sustaining Networked Learning Communities	p. 103
Sustaining Collective Understanding	p. 105
Sustaining Professional Learning	p. 106
Sustaining and Broadening Leadership	p. 106
Sustaning Powerful NLCs	p. 107
Time for Reflection	p. 109
References	p. 111
Index	p. 115
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Building and Connecting Learning Communities : The Power of Networks for School Improvement

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