Award-winning educators examine the potential impact of the Every Student Succeeds Act on U.S. education

Bloomington, Indiana, Sept. 26, 2017 -- The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) presents U.S. educators as well as local and state legislators with a rare opportunity: to reconceive schooling to better address students’ needs. In Responding to the Every Student Succeeds Act With the PLC at Work™ Process, published by Solution Tree, authors Richard DuFour, Douglas Reeves and Rebecca DuFour showcase how to make the most of this opportunity by fully committing to the Professional Learning Communities at Work™ (PLC) process.

“We have to be willing to make significant changes to our traditional practice,” said Rebecca DuFour. “Educators have worked in isolation, and we have placed a heavy burden on the backs of individuals within a school to be responsible for the students assigned to them. We disregard this [approach] in the PLC process—we embrace the collaborative culture and, together, we’re going to take collective responsibility for student learning.”

The title explores the history of U.S. education, assesses what roles federal and state governments play in K–12 education with the adoption of ESSA and offers detailed PLC strategies and mindsets teachers, building administrators, district leaders and states should implement to enhance student learning.

The U.S. education system is comprised of 14,000 independent school districts, 150,000 schools and more than 48 million students. The collaborative nature of PLC at Work™ makes it a promising avenue for addressing this complex system. “This book meets a real need for innovation and redefinition of what educational accountability means,” explained Reeves. “It builds on a decades-long foundation of PLC at Work™, which is the best organizing principle for schools in an educational system.”

Award-winning educator and consultant Anthony Muhammad praised the title, stating, “As the dust settles after nearly twenty years of conflict between public policy and education research, this must-read resource offers hope for American children.”

The book includes seven appendices featuring detailed information and data, such as indicators of school-level accountability and system accountability that can help readers identify correlations between teachers’, leaders’ and systems’ actions and their students’ achievement levels.

Responding to the Every Student Succeeds Act With the PLC at Work™ Process is now available to order at SolutionTree.com/RespondingtoESSA. 

About the Authors
Richard DuFour was an award-winning public-school educator, serving as a teacher, principal and superintendent. A prolific author and consultant, he was recognized as one of the leading authorities on helping school practitioners implement the PLC at Work™ process in their schools and districts. Over the course of his career, he was the author of numerous books, including the best-selling Learning by Doing and In Praise of American Educators.

Rebecca DuFour has served as a teacher, school administrator and central office coordinator. As a former elementary principal, she helped her school earn state and national recognition as a model PLC and a National Blue Ribbon School. Serving as an author and consultant for more than 16 years, Rebecca brings over 35 years of professional experience to her work with educators around the world who are implementing the PLC process in their own organizations.

Douglas Reeves, PhD, is the author of more than thirty books and many articles about leadership and organizational effectiveness. He was named the Brock International Laureate for his contributions to education and received the Contribution to the Field Award from the National Staff Development Council.

About Solution Tree
For nearly 20 years, Solution Tree (https://www.solutiontree.com) has worked to transform education worldwide, empowering educators to raise student achievement. With more than 30,000 educators attending professional development events and more than 4,260 professional development days in schools each year, Solution Tree helps teachers and administrators confront essential challenges in schools. Solution Tree has a catalog of 515 titles, hundreds of videos and online courses and is the creator of Global PD, an online tool that facilitates the work of professional learning communities. Follow @SolutionTree on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Solution Tree 
Kelly Rockhill
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