National School Reform Faculty:
A Network of Educators Pursuing Significant Change In Their Schools and Practice
The Lastinger Center for Learning, as a leader in the creation, implementation, research and evaluation of professional learning communities is a major partner of the National School Reform Faculty(NSRF). This network of people, schools, and organizations actively pursues significant change in schools. The work of the NSRF is characterized by the concepts of Critical Friendship, Facilitated Leadership and the development of Learning Communities.
The organization's mission is to:
"Foster educational and social equity by empowering all people involved with schools to work collaboratively in reflective democratic communities that create and support powerful learning experiences for everyone."
The Faculty's membership consists of over 12,000 individuals and is comprised of:
Coaches
These are individuals who participate in a five day coaches seminar and are actively involved in the development of reflective practice and learning communities.
NSRF National Facilitators
These are individuals who are experienced Coaches and have completed preparation required to facilitate Coaches Seminars.
Through the creation and support of learning communities, the NSRF and the Lastinger Center for Learning promote the following values:
- Reflective Practice
- Collaboration
- Inquiry
- Learning from Student Work
- Democratic Culture
- Equity of Opportunity and Achievement
- Adaptive Practice
The National School Reform Faculty Protocols
In addition to participating in the above, the Lastinger Center for Learning makes use of NSRF Protocols to facilitate its work. The protocols (which are used by the Coaches) are:
"Agreed upon guidelines for a conversation. This type of structure permits very focused conversations to occur. We use protocols for looking at student and adult work, giving and receiving feedback, solving problems or dilemmas, observing classrooms or peers, to push thinking on a given issue and to structure a discussion around a text."
Please refer to the National School Reform Faculty web site for further details.
