Game Plan. Hector Garcia
expectations and collaboration has resulted in marked improvement in various schools. He has also worked with educational leaders to make curricula more relevant to minority students as well as countless teachers to raise the academic achievement for all students at both the local and national level. Héctor has presented throughout the United States on topics ranging from PLC implementation to developing a more effective school culture. In recent years, he has been a part of numerous PLC Institutes around the country and has taught graduate courses for three Chicago-area universities.
Héctor received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a master’s degree in education from Northern Illinois University, and a doctorate in education leadership and policy studies from Loyola University.
Katherine McCluskey is currently the director of bilingual, foreign language, and English as a second language (ESL) programming for a suburban school district in Illinois that serves grades preK to 8. As a former teacher in K–12 settings, Katherine has worked with students of diverse socioeconomic status in districts of various sizes. She has also trained, coached, and led staff with a wide range of professional experience. As a district administrator, she has led such key initiatives as a K–8 dual language program, foreign language programming for elementary school, and ESL and bilingual programming for preschool through twelfth grade. She has also led districtwide curriculum writing efforts, developed response to intervention protocols, and established professional learning communities in preK–12 settings that have resulted in academic success for students. Katherine has presented at local and state conferences, contributed to the All Things PLC site, published research with the Center for Applied Linguistics, and been recognized for her work with English learner students. Katherine’s passion and commitment to student achievement, in particular the achievement of minority and low-income students, has contributed to her ability to establish highly effective and collaborative cultures focused on the success of all students. Katherine earned a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and received her master’s degree in administration from Governor’s State University. She is currently completing her doctoral work in educational leadership at Aurora University.
Shelley Taylor is a director at the Consortium for Educational Change (CEC) in Illinois, a nonprofit organization that works with teachers, school and district administrators, school boards, and unions to improve student learning and achievement. As the Core Service Director for Teacher Effectiveness, Shelley supports CEC’s work through design, development and consulting training around teacher evaluation, new teacher induction and mentoring, and co-teaching and inclusion practices. Shelley supports CEC member and nonmember school districts with facilitation and professional development training. Recently, Shelley was a remediation specialist assisting districts with the Growth Through Learning teacher evaluation performance training required for prequalification to meet the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) mandates as a qualified professional practice evaluator in Illinois.
Shelley has sixteen years of diverse experience in K–12 public schools as a teacher, instructional coach, and district administrator. In these roles, she was successful in creating and implementing staff development and mentoring in the areas of RTI, PLCs, instructional coaching, common assessments, balanced literacy, and co-teaching. She specifically focused on developing long-term solutions for growth and improvement in these areas. Working to improve the capacity of teachers and school leaders, Shelley has designed tools for implementing the Danielson Framework for Teaching that help support teacher growth and student success. Shelley also has extensive experience in managing grants including the NCLB Consolidated Federal grant.
Shelley received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from National-Louis University and a master’s degree in teaching from the University of St. Mary. She also holds an educational leadership endorsement from DePaul University and is a National Board Certified Teacher and Exceptional Needs Specialist for ages birth to young adult.
To book Héctor García, Katherine McCluskey, or Shelley Taylor for professional development, contact [email protected].
Preface
Game planning has always been associated with sports, yet today the phrase has become ubiquitous with being well prepared and having a strategic plan for success. In every level of athletic competition, highly effective coaches synthesize their philosophy and expectations into a game plan. In essence, they solidify the most critical components into something tangible and easy to follow. Just as with any sports team, a winning season for schools also starts with the development of a game plan and a playbook.
Many leaders ponder the question of what holds teams back, and, as a Professional Learning Communities (PLC) at Work™ consultant who speaks across the country and has been a part of nationally recognized schools, Héctor García has found an interesting pattern. The schools that struggle to move forward are unable to translate their enthusiasm into a systematic plan of action with a process for monitoring their progress along the journey, and they quickly become distracted by a new initiative or concept. Schools that consistently make progress are not only enthusiastic about the work but are also methodical about developing a game plan, ensuring that it is deeply embedded in the culture and behaviors of the staff, and guaranteeing that everyone has the necessary guidance to implement the new vision.
The concept of winning is pervasive and highly celebrated both in sports and in a PLC culture. To further illustrate our position, we provide the following brief examples of how the characteristics and actions of successful sports teams are similarly aligned to those of PLCs.
• In sports, like in education, individuals can operate in quasi-isolation pursuing different goals, or they can work interdependently and focus on a compelling task or vision. The teams that are purposeful and deliberate about establishing and executing a plan of action seem to win much more often than those who believe in stumbling upon success.
• Focusing on developing and coaching all players results in higher achievements than investing only in star players or waiting until the top recruits come to campus all at once.
• While individual superstars on a team have tried many times to win championships, few success stories come to mind. Yet, there is a litany of average players who have come together and won championships even against overwhelming odds.
• A clear commitment to collaboration, respect, and hard work will start to produce the sort of culture that is needed to become a champion.
• Coaching requires insightful and deliberate leadership, not just an expectation that great players will intuitively know how to become a championship team.
• Game plans are never developed overnight or quickly put together. A winning strategy must evolve from guided discussions, various perspectives, deliberate action, and most importantly a guiding coalition.
It is our hope that this book will help leadership teams at both ends of the spectrum prepare a game plan to develop the level of clarity and focus that is essential in schools, whether their schools are well organized and poised to become elite educational systems with one or two additional elements of effectiveness or just starting the journey of becoming a professional learning community and need a more comprehensive approach. We know that some readers will utilize the resources we have provided simply as they are presented, while more seasoned veterans might use them to challenge their current practices and assumptions. In either case, the book is meant to offer guidance and spur meaningful discussions on the journey to success.
We look forward to contributing to your game plan for success!
Foreword
By Richard DuFour
Early in my career as a high school principal, I was often struck by the very different ways in which the same person would approach his or her coaching versus teaching