Shirley M. Hord

Shirley M. Hord (Ph.D., Boerne, TX, shirley.hord@learningforward.org) is Scholar Laureate, in association with Learning Forward (previously named the National Staff Development Council), following her retirement as the first Scholar Emerita at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, Austin, Texas. Prior to this work, she served on the faculty in the College of Education, Science Education Center, University of Texas, Austin; she was engaged in research on school change and improvement for 10 years in the federally funded R&D Center for Teacher Education, University of Texas at Austin. She authors articles, chapters, and books on school-based professional development, leadership, school change and improvement, and professional learning communities. In addition to her work with Gene Hall on the third edition of Implementing Change: Patterns, Principles, and Potholes (2011); her current book publications include Learning Together, Leading Together: Changing Schools Through Professional Learning Communities (Teachers College Press, 2004, with Patricia Roy); Moving NSDC’s Staff Development Standards Into Practice: Innovation Configurations (National Staff Development Council, 2003); Leading Professional Learning Communities: Voices from Research and Practice (2008); and Guiding Professional Learning Communities: Inspiration, Challenge, Surprise, and Meaning (2010). She monitors the Leadership for Change Networks, supports applications of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, and designs and delivers professional development focused on educational change, school improvement, and school leadership. In addition to working with educators at all levels across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, she makes presentations and consults in Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa.