Learning communities - Letters - Letter to the Editor

School Administrator, Sept, 2003

The full array of articles on professional learning communities in your May 2003 issue could not have come at a better time.

I am a superintendent for a school system of 40,000 students and 50 schools that is embarking on an initiative to change the culture in our schools to that of professional learning communities. We have been working with our staff throughout the past year. I wondered if Richard DuFour and the other contributors have conducted any surveys, questionnaires or interviews before beginning such an initiative as a means of doing a readiness assessment.

Readers may want to become familiar with the work of Victoria Boyd, who developed a set of indicators that are descriptive of a context ready for change. I ran across her indicators in Gene Hall and Shirley Hord's most recent book, Implementing Change: Patterns, Principles, and Potholes. We have begun to collect some focus group data on the perspectives of various groups and their understanding at this point of the revised roles of people who will be involved in this change initiative. Now we would like to gather some' readiness data from teachers and school-based administrators. I also would like to hear from readers who have used data on personal readiness or school readiness.

JACQUELINE C. HAAS

Superintendent,

Harford County Public Schools,

Bel Air, Md.

I thoroughly enjoyed Richard DuFour's article ("Building a Professional Learning Community") in the May issue. He articulates the concept and describes the picture better than anyone I have read to date. I have been a student of the concept of professional learning communities for many years and have worked in different capacities to bring this is vision into reality.

Of course transforming a culture of isolation and self-employment is quite an undertaking but must be done if our institution is to survive.

JAKE BURKS

Superintendent,

Rockbridge County Public Schools,

Lexington, Va.