Professional Learning Communities

Adam R. Hill is an assistant superintendent overseeing 13 middle schools in a large metropolitan school district in Georgia.

Dr. Loni Fife currently serves as the director of curriculum and instruction for the Littleton Elementary School District in Arizona. She has worked to bring greater awareness to the power of educator collaboration to enhance student learning.

Laura Conwell is the principal of Longfellow Elementary in Bozeman, Montana. She has nearly 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher and principal.

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.

Heather K. Dillard, EdD, is an associate professor of education at Middle Tennessee State University. She has authored and coauthored book chapters, research articles, and magazine articles, primarily about Professional Learning Communities at Work®.

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.

When teams commit to collaborating to ensure high levels of learning for ALL students, a key critical step is to examine personal and systemic beliefs, policies, and practices to build a school and district culture where systems align. Focused on closing the gaps for students with identified needs, this session, designed for leaders of both general and special educators, provides an overview of the core concepts and associated practices to collaboratively support all learners and bring this vision to life.