Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1- Why Organizational Culture Matters
Chapter 2- A Look at PLOs
Chapter 3- A Look at PLC Teams
Chapter 4- The Power of Informed Oversight and Systemic Governance
Chapter 5- Benefits of Becoming a PLO
Chapter 6- The Role of the Community Engagement Process in a PLO
Chapter 7- Implementation Stages of Becoming a PLO: How to Sustain the PLO Culture
Chapter 8- School Board and Superintendent Leadership is Essential
Chapter 9- The Final Case on Why Districts Should Choose to Become PLOs
Chapter 10- Concluding Thoughts
Glossary
References
About the Author

About the Author

Patrick Rice, PhD, is a Field Services/Equity Director for the Illinois Association of School Boards and is a former teacher, administrator, and professor.

Reviews

Dr. Patrick Rice has risen to become one of education’s most transformative figures by challenging the traditional stakeholder's role and addressing the systemic approach to students’ success through Professional Learning Organizations ... this is a must-read for school administrators and boards looking to go to the next level.
*Jeff Campbell, BS, MPA, PMP, JRC Strategic Planning, Former Board Member, Mt. Vernon SD 80*

Collaborative leadership is essential to student achievement. School districts improve when its governance team understands and supports shared decision-making. When districts realize the value of becoming a PLO (Professional Learning Organization), any goals that are set can be reached. Dr. Rice has done such wonderful work at exhibiting the need for collaborative leadership. Boards that create an environment of collaboration usually experience better academic success for students.
*Elizabeth H. Reynolds, Superintendent, Calumet Public S.D. 132*

Dr. Rice has clearly identified the need for a system of constituent engagement focused on the collaborative development of a quality learning environment for all students. He has emphasized the importance of structuring a systemic opportunity where the representative constituencies can work together in forging a commitment to lead substantive, systemic change within the district to ensure the future viability of the educational system.
*Dr. Nick Osborne, Professor, Department of Educational Leadership, Eastern Illinois University*

Equity, from the Boardroom to the Classroom is a timely work by an innovative and passionate scholar who is making a path for a more collaborative and dynamic approach to board leadership. Equity, from the Boardroom to the Classroom provides the intellectual and organizational framework to engage the entire district and educational community in the process of finding and employing the best approaches to educating children in their district. The scope of Dr. Rice’s work in this book has great potential to be a leading model that school boards follow to improve their school system and better educate their students.
*D’Karla Assagai, Consultant, California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office , Former Governance Consultant, California School Boards Association*

America’s school boards are the engine for democracy in public education. Yet as education has become more and more complex in the modern world of rapidly expanding knowledge and changing technologies and expectations, the capacity of school boards to make wise decisions on behalf of students has been challenged. Dr. Patrick Rice vividly describes how school districts can solve this dilemma – becoming professional learning organizations that can represent a democratic voice and continually improve their capacity to find innovative solutions to the needs of today’s students and schools. Everyone who cares about democratically governed public education should read this book!
*Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Emeritus, Stanford University; President, the Learning Policy Institute*