Aligning School Districts as PLCs

by Mark Van Clay (Author), Perry Soldwedel (Author), Thomas W. Many (Author),

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ISBN-13: 978-1935543398

ISBN-10: 1935543393

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In order for a learning community to best deliver upon its full potential, all levels and all roles districtwide need to become aligned around the three big ideas of a PLC: ensuring a focus on learning, building a collaborative culture, and establishing a results orientation. For each of these big ideas, there are certain non-negotiables things around which there must be common agreement and expectations. For the first big idea, ensuring a focus on learning, there are three non-negotiables: a guaranteed and viable curriculum, a balanced and coherent system of assessment, and a schoolwide pyramid of interventions. For building a collaborative culture, the non-negotiables are a shared mission, vision, values, and goals; high-performing collaborative teams, and intentional collaboration. And for the third big idea, a results orientation, the non-negotiables are establshing a data mindset; data management, collection, and analysis; and data-based action to improve results. In aligning around the non-negotiables, there are four essential elements to consider the definition of district roles (strategic, tactical, and operational), communication using data, loose and tight leadership, and the so-called alignment constants. The alignment constants are certain non-negotiables that are identical for each big idea (policies, practices, and procedures; appraisal systems; resources and training, and monitoring and reporting). Professional learning communities have shown clear and demonstrated success. Now the challenge is to replicate those successes on a larger scale in many school districts and across multiple schools. This approach of bringing the non-negotiables of the three big ideas into alignment across all three roles districtwide with respect to the essential elements has the potential to deliver PLCs on that larger scale.

Richard DuFour
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About the Author

Mark Van Clay is a consultant in the areas of collaborative leadership, performance scorecards and dashboards, systems and role alignment, strategic visioning, continuous improvement models and strategies, reporting through data, shared revenue models and collective bargaining contracts, student management as a behavior curriculum, and the application of instructional theory to classroom practice. He also consults on continuous organizational improvement through the Consortium for Educational Change. Mark is coauthor of The School Board Fieldbook: Leading With Vision (2009) and has published multiple articles in state and national professional journals. A twenty-two-year superintendent whose leadership experiences include wealthy, financially challenged, and ethnically diverse school districts, Mark is also a former principal, elementary teacher, and gifted writing instructor for schools in suburban Chicago. As a superintendent and principal, Mark s leadership led to U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School Awards for two schools, one in a wealthy suburban district and the other in a school with a high ethnic student population. Mark holds doctorate, masters, and bachelors degrees from Northern Illinois University, Purdue University Calumet, and DePauw University, respectively. Perry Soldwedel is the Director of Continuous Improvement for the Consortium of Educational Change. CEC is a not-for-profit consortium of some eighty Illinois school districts who work together to accelerate behaviors and actions leading to organizational growth and improvement. His expertise is in the areas of shared leadership, system assessment, strategic visioning, data collection and measurement, information/analysis, accountability, and the alignment of standards, assessments, and instruction. Perry is a former school district superintendent, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, technology director, principal, assistant principal, and elementary and middle school teacher, all in the state of Illinois. His district received two Blue Ribbon School awards and was the recipient of a $3.5 million U. S. Department of Education Technology Challenge Grant. The district also received a Lincoln/Baldrige award. He has taught continuing education classes for the University of Illinois. He is coauthor of The School Board Fieldbook: Leading With Vision (2009). Perry received his three degrees from the University of Illinois, Bradley University, and Western Illinois University. Thomas W. Many, former superintendent of Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96 in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, keeps a sharp focus on school improvement issues. He uses the tenets of professional learning communities (PLC) to ensure that all students are able to reach their maximum potential. Student achievement in District 96 has improved every year for twelve consecutive years. More than 95 percent of all students now meet or exceed state standards. The district has been especially effective in helping students with special needs improve their academic performance. Under Tom s leadership, District 96 has become recognized as one of the premier elementary school districts in the nation. Tom s long and distinguished career includes twenty years of experience as a superintendent. He has also served as a classroom teacher, learning center director, curriculum supervisor, principal, and assistant superintendent. A dedicated PLC practitioner, Tom is a compelling and sought-after speaker and coauthor of Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at WorkTM (2006, 2010) with Rick DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, and Robert Eaker.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Solution Tree (May 31, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Perfect Paperback ‏ : ‎ 152 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1935543393
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1935543398
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.3 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 0.45 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,050,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,149 in Education Administration (Books)
- #8,618 in Educational Certification & Development

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Mark Van Clay
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Mark Van Clay, EdD, is a consultant who specializes in aligning school systems for continuous improvement. His educational work is based on a systems approach to the professional learning communities framework and his noneducational work (nonprofit and governmental organizations) is based on a Baldrige framework. Dr. Van Clay also works with the Consortium for Educational Change, an Illinois-based network of school districts working together for continuous organizational improvement. He has 30 years of teaching and administrative experience in public schools.
Dr. Van Clay has served as superintendent in affluent, financially challenged, and ethnically diverse school districts. He is a former principal, elementary teacher, and gifted writing instructor for schools in suburban Chicago. In addition, he created and taught The Science of Teaching, an 18-hour graduate course sequence based on the theories of Madeline Hunter, for Governors State University.
As superintendent and principal, his leadership led to US Department of Education Blue Ribbon School awards for two schools, one in a wealthy suburban district and the other a school with a 70 percent ethnic minority student population. Dr. Van Clay has presented at a variety of national conferences.
Dr. Van Clay specializes in strategic (boards of education, superintendents) and tactical (superintendents, district office staff, principals, teacher-leaders) role-based leadership; aligned role-based collaboration; aligned reporting (performance scorecards for schools and districts) and accountability (appraisal systems) for common district goals, commitments, and results; aligned budget priorities with district strategic priorities; and continuous improvement frameworks (Baldrige, PLCs).
He holds degrees from Northern Illinois University, Purdue University Calumet, and DePauw University.
He is a coauthor of Aligning School District as PLCs and The School Board Fieldbook. Dr. Van Clay's work can be further explored at solution-tree.com
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Perry Soldwedel
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Perry Soldwedel is a consultant for the Consortium of Educational Change (a nonprofit association of school districts, mostly in the Chicago area). He specializes in training, facilitating, and coaching district and school leaders as they strive to improve their organization, team, and personal performance results. Perry has been a grant projects coach for the Wallace, Joyce, and the GE foundations.
He also leads external review teams at the district and building levels to provide feedback related to continuous improvement frameworks. His expertise is in the areas of systems thinking; shared leadership; strategic planning; data collection, measurement, information, and analysis; customer service; and aligning school districts as professional learning communities.
Perry is a former school district superintendent, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, technology director, principal, assistant principal, and elementary and middle school teacher. He is an adjunct professor for the University of Illinois, teaching Quality Improvement in Education. His leadership as superintendent of Pekin Public School District 108 earned the district two US Department of Education Blue Ribbon School awards, USDE Technology Challenge Grant Award, and the National School Boards Association’s Institute for the Transfer of Technology National Technology School District of the Year Award.
Perry is former Illinois representative for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development national board of directors; a member and past chairman of the national advisory board for the American Society for Quality; and a member of the Illinois Education Advisory Committee, Illinois Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence.
Perry holds degrees from the University of Illinois, Bradley University, and Western Illinois University.
He is a coauthor of Aligning School Districts as Professional Learning Communities, and The School Board Fieldbook. His work can be further explored at solution-tree.com
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