Professional Learning Communities

Jerrod Dastrup is the principal at Snow Canyon Middle School in Saint George, Utah. He is passionate about the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) at Work® process and specializes in motivating and supporting teachers and administrators in the areas of PLC, response to intervention (RTI), school culture, and data analysis.

Theodore Goergen, EdD, is the director of student activities at the award-winning Adlai E. Stevenson High School. A practitioner for nearly 20 years, he has served as a middle school and high school science teacher as well as a curriculum team leader.

Karly Ward serves as principal of Rendezvous Elementary School in central Wyoming. With more than 14 years of experience, she specializes in visionary leadership, creating and maintaining a healthy school culture, and promoting system fidelity.

Beth Houf is principal of Fulton Middle School in central Missouri. Under her leadership, Fulton was recognized in 2019 as a Missouri Exemplary Professional Learning Community and a Model PLC.

Karen Johnson is the coordinator of Language Acquisition for the Pleasanton Unified School District Pleasanton, California. She is passionate about the topics of equity, inclusion, and ensuring high levels of learning for all students.

Faith Short is the principal at East Pointe Elementary. With 25 years of experience in education, she is fiercely passionate about the work of collaborative teams as a vehicle to ensure high levels of learning for every student. She specializes in helping leaders and teachers implement the PLC process to impact teaching and learning.

Joshua Ray, EdD, is assistant superintendent of the Greenwood School District in Greenwood, Arkansas. He has led Professional Learning Community at Work® campuses at the elementary and secondary level and is a passionate advocate for adult learning and educator well-being.

Claire Springer is a partner in education specializing in master scheduling at the elementary level, creating school systems to support the professional learning community process, and implementing data protocols to monitor high levels of learning for all. She has 13 years of experience in education, eight of those years in school leadership.

Kim Nichols, EdD, is former assistant superintendent in Ringgold, Georgia. Under her leadership, Catoosa County Schools was named the first Model PLC District in Georgia and twelve schools have become Model PLCs.

Lorrie Hulbert has more than 30 years of experience in education. She currently serves as the principal of Floyd L. Bell Elementary, a Model PLC School in New York.