Building School-Based Teacher Learning Communities

Building on extensive evidence that school-based teacher learning communities improve student outcomes, this book lays out an agenda to develop and sustain collaborative professional cultures. McLaughlin and Talbert—foremost scholars of school change and teaching contexts—provide an inside look at the processes, resources, and system strategies that are necessary to build vibrant school-based teacher learning communities.

Offering a compelling, straightforward blueprint for action, this book:

• Takes a comprehensive look at the problem of improving the quality of teaching across the United States, based on evidence and examples from the authors’ nearly two decades of research.
• Demonstrates how and why school-based teacher learning communities are bottom-line requirements for improved instruction.
• Outlines the resources and supports needed to build and sustain a long-term school-based teacher professional community.
• Discusses the nature of high-quality professional development to support learning and changes in teaching.
• Details the roles and responsibilities of policymakers at all levels of the school system.

Milbrey W. McLaughlin is the David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy at Stanford University, Co‑director of the Center for Research on the Context of Teaching (CRC), and Executive Director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities. Joan E. Talbert is Senior Research Scholar and Co-director of the Center for Research on the Context of Teaching in the Stanford University School of Education.

“This book offers vivid examples of how teacher learning communities are formed and sustained. A must-read for educators at all levels who are serious about enacting change.”
Amy M. Hightower, Assistant Director, American Federation of Teachers