"As they implement the professional learning community (PLC) process, many schools are tempted to check the early steps off the list in their haste to help their students. In The Foundation for Change: Focusing on the Four Pillars of a PLC at Workª, Jonathan G. Vander Els and Joshua Ray emphasize that glossing over the foundational work either dilutes or dooms to failure the messy, complicated, necessary process of true school improvement. In fact, a school's mission, vision, values, and goals are not the first step but the reason for all the other steps a school must take to ensure high levels of learning for all"--
