Experts Detail How to Coach to Amplify the Power of PLC Teams in New Release

Bloomington, Ind., Jan. 30, 2018 -- In Amplify Your Impact, published by Solution Tree, authors Thomas W. Many, Michael J. Maffoni, Susan K. Sparks and Tesha Ferriby Thomas present K–12 educators with a clear path for improving collaboration in their professional learning communities (PLCs).

The authors share best practices and processes specifically designed to empower coaches and teams to focus on the right work in a cycle of continuous improvement. “Improvement doesn’t happen by chance,” explained Maffoni. “Just saying to teams, ‘Here’s the PLC process; go forth and collaborate’ is not a strategy. Teams need to be supported in a partnership to improve—and that support has to be really intentional in how it’s offered and how it’s coached.”

The authors have combined the latest research on coaching and collaboration to offer a coaching framework that improves the effectiveness of collaborative teams in diverse school settings. The three cornerstone concepts of the coaching framework described in the book include (1) clarity, (2) feedback and (3) support. The resource is divided into three parts. Part I (chapters 1–3) covers the basics of coaching collaborative teams, while Part II (chapters 4–7) illustrates how to amplify the impact coaching collaborative teams has on clarity, feedback and support. Finally, part III (chapters 8–9) focuses on putting research and practice together in coaching collaborative teams.

“So many teams are engaged in ‘PLC lite’—and they’re not going to get to ‘PLC right’ without some intentional, purposeful support,” explained Many. “That’s where the coaching comes in. We’ve seen that when teams are coached, schools get better, teachers feel a greater sense of efficacy and student achievement improves.”
Joseph Powell, an instructional coach at James Bowie High School in Austin, Texas, highly recommends the book, stating, “Growing and supporting teams in a PLC is a rather large task. This book will increase the impact of leaders in a PLC who need to move their teams in the right direction.”

Amplify Your Impact is now available to order at SolutionTree.com.

About the Authors
Thomas W. Many, EdD, works with teachers, administrators, school boards, parents and other education stakeholders on organizational leadership, implementation and change and PLC at Work™ strategies and concepts.

Susan K. Sparks has served as a teacher, staff developer and executive director. Her areas of expertise include consensus building, decision making, contract negotiations, conflict resolution, strategic planning and professional learning communities.
Michael J. Maffoni, an educator since 1987, has a diverse background that includes experience as a teacher, principal and district administrator. He also teaches courses in educational leadership as an affiliate faculty member at Regis University.

Tesha Ferriby Thomas, EdS, is a school improvement and English language arts consultant at the Macomb Intermediate School District in Clinton Township, Michigan, where she works with struggling districts to improve systems that lead to increased student achievement.

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
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