Contributors offer ideas, applications, and resources for helping leaders and educators tackle the challenges of building successful professional learning communities. This wide-ranging text will prove indispensable for any democratically accountable leader committed to organizational change through communities of practice.

Autorentext
CAROL A. MULLEN is a Professor in and Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations at The University of North Carolina in Greensboro, USA.

Inhalt
Introducing Collaborative Communities With Edge and Vitality; C.A.Mullen PART I: ORGANIZATION AND THE LEARNING COMMUNITY Understanding Schools as Organizations: Implications for Realizing Professional Learning Communities; B.L.Johnson, Jr. Forming SchoolUniversity Partnerships to Create Professional Learning Communities That Improve Schools; L.R.Goduto , V.Doolittle & D.Leake Developing Professional Learning Communities in a UniversityPublic School Partnership; R.V.Bullough Jr. & S.C.Baugh Professional Development Schools: Learning Communities for Leaders and Teachers as Change Agents; M.Sudeck , V.Doolittle & P.Rattigan Teacher Education is Everybody's Business: Northern Guilford High School, a Professional Development Community; C.Lashley , J.Cooper , J.McCall , J.Yeager & C.Ricci The University Connection: Transformational Learning That Enhances Professional Learning Communities; S.Harris , V.Farrow and H.Lowery-Moore A Vision for Linking Pre-K and Higher Education Through Learning Communities; J.R.Hoyle & T.M.Kutka PART II: DEMOCRACY AND THE LEARNING COMMUNITY Forming Culturally Responsive Learning Communities in Demographically Changing Schools; C.Wilson Cooper , R.Allen & S.C.Bettez Transforming the Space of Schools Into Learning Communities: Teacher Leadership as Pedagogy of Democratic Place; P.M.Jenlink & K.E.Jenlink Catalysts and Barriers: Practitioner Concepts of Professional Learning Communities as Democracies in Action; C.A.Mullen & S.Harris Faculty of Color Constructing Communities at Predominantly White Institutions; D.L.Roseboro & C.P.Gause Support for Women Leaders: The Visible and the Invisible; J.H.Applegate , P.M.Earley & J.Mattuck Tarule PART III: TECHNOLOGY AND THE LEARNING COMMUNITY Professional Learning Communities and the Culture of Digital Technology: A Philosophic Inquiry; G.M.Hudak Virtual Learning Communities: Encountering Digital Culture, Politics, and Capital; R.A.Carter & L.E.Villaverde Graduate Students' and Preservice Teachers'Electronic Communications in a Community of Practice; J.C.Richards , S.V.Bennett & K.G.Thomas PART IV: MENTORING AND THE LEARNING COMMUNITY Leadership in K12 Learning Communities: Activism and Access Through Inter-Generational Understanding; D.J.Davis , L.Green-Jerry & J.Wells Facilitating Professional Learning Communities Through Mentor Teacher Preparation; S.D.Myers & H.Fives Peer Learning Communities in Action: Coaching to Improve Preservice Teaching; C.R.Pryor & B.D.O'Donnell Conclusion: Community Change Through Activism: Insights and Lessons; C.A.Mullen