Professional+Learning+Communities

Principals, We are off to a wonderful start in Distributed Leadership with the session by Jim Spillane on Distributed Leadership. Hopefully you will get to read the Cliff Notes on his book and then start the texts themselves. You will get some good ideas on how to implement new routines in your school and start Distributed Leadership.

One of the routines Jim mentioned but did not go into detail about was called the video club. I have attached some interesting articles on this topic. Some of the previous Philadelphia school district DL schools implemented this in their goal of instructional improvement. Please share these articles with your DL team members.

By next week you will be contacted by your Distributed Leadership coach. The coach will meet with you and assist you in getting your team organized for the Distributed Leadership initiative. John and I know there is a learning curve that you are on, and we realize the growth takes time. So be relaxed and watch the dynamics as you move on the DL continuum.

Both John and I are available to assist and answer any questions you may have. We will be in contact with each of you and visiting your teams at your schools.

You will also shortly receive an electronic magazine called the Marshall Memo. This magazine “summarizes” articles in important educational publications and will keep you updated with your readings. We know you are busy educators. Your team members will also receive this and the Marshall Memo contains good topic to discuss in your professional learning communities. Yes, professional learning communities are the next topic you will receive training on. We at the Penn Center for Educational Leadership are on top of our game and do things early. J

Have a wonderful day, and it was great to meet all of you last weekend. Jim

Jim O'Toole, Ed.D. University of Pennsylvania Penn Center for Educational Leadership