Professional Learning Communities

During her more than 15 years in education, Tina Smith has proudly served Pasadena Independent School District, a Model PLC at Work® district, as a four-year, district-level summer school program manager while working as assistant principal at Nelda Sullivan Middle School, a Model PLC at Work school.

Josh Chastain, EdD, is currently the superintendent of Harrisonville Schools in Missouri. In his 25 years of educational experience, he has served as an elementary school teacher in Springfield, Missouri, a principal at multiple levels, and the director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, professional development, digital learning, and federal programs in Nixa, Missouri.

Ryan Searle is the curriculum director for Carbon County School District #2 in Saratoga, Wyoming. He has served in K–12 administration roles for over 15 years at the elementary and secondary levels, most recently as principal of Rawlins Middle School.

Catherine M. Thompson, EdS, is the principal of Marco Forster Middle School, located in San Juan Capistrano, California. She specializes in the implementation of professional learning communities (PLC) and is a passionate advocate for meeting the diverse learning needs of every student.

Kenneth Christian is an assistant principal at Fern Creek High School in Louisville, Kentucky. His work focuses on ensuring a guaranteed and viable curriculum for all students through the professional learning community process and transforming the work of collaborative teacher teams.

Kara Tidemann has successfully served for over 25 years in education. As a building leader she successfully led an underperforming school to high performance, earning Model PLC at Work® school status for demonstration of exceptional academic achievement over time.

Joshua Ray, EdD, is principal at Greenwood High School in Arkansas. He has served as an administrator at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and is a passionate advocate for adult learning and educator well-being.

Daniel Evans, Jr. currently serves as the principal of Moores Mill Intermediate School, a Model PLC in Alabama. Previously, he served as a high school career technical education teacher and a high school instructional assistant principal.

John D. Ewald, EdD, is a former superintendent, principal, adjunct professor, and teacher. He has been an administrator and teacher at the elementary, middle, high school, and college levels.

Dr. David Chiprany is the former deputy superintendent for the Bartow County School System in Georgia. He specializes in teaching and developing professional learning communities at the system, school, and team levels, and he's a college educational coach and adjunct professor.