This book is designed to assist individual teachers, groups of teachers, and school leaders who work with professional learning community (PLC) teams to become disciplined and deliberative with data as they design and implement program improvements to enhance student learning. The evidence suggests that when constant, high-quality collaborative inquiry becomes the norm in a PLC, not only do students prosper but the school culture becomes enriched and teachers enjoy greater professional satisfaction.

In dysfunctional organizations, norms and habits of behavior work counter to goals. In contrast, a PLC has a tight functional culture. Its members are bound by a commitment to shared norms, values, and behaviors. One nurtures a functional culture by reinforcing those habitual behaviors or norms. This book discusses five habits of inquiry that contribute to successful professional learning and provides detailed steps for developing each of them.