CAN 
US/Global
Mary Shay
Mary Shay, EdD, is a Colorado-based educational leader, practitioner, and researcher with almost 30 years of experience in public education. She specializes in effective leadership to maximize the collaborative capacity of teams, thereby enhancing student achievement and learning.
Mary Shay
Mary Shay, EdD, has served as a classroom teacher, school administrator, adjunct college professor, and district-level director during her tenure in education. Dr. Shay started her career in Omaha, Nebraska, as a teacher. She was, most recently, director of innovation and equity for a school district in Colorado, where she supported elementary, middle, and high schools and bridged post-secondary experiences for students. Dr. Shay was also the director of professional learning and helped implement a districtwide professional learning communities (PLC) movement. She is committed to using the PLC process to augment teaching and learning at all levels.
Cottonwood Creek Elementary in Englewood, Colorado, was named a John Irwin School of Excellence and earned the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award while Dr. Shay was principal. Cottonwood Creek was also consistently ranked as one of Colorado’s top-performing schools during that time.
An Investigation of the Attitudes, Beliefs, and Values of Elementary Teachers toward Race and Schooling and Lateral Capacity Promotes Authentic Collaboration, both written by Dr. Shay, are valuable tools for enhancing the work of PLCs and guiding schools to develop systems and structures for organizational learning.
Dr. Shay earned both her bachelor’s degree and her master’s degree in education from Creighton University; she completed her doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Northern Colorado.
PLC at Work®
PLC at Work® experts have proven success in leading the PLC at Work process in a school or district. Work with them to implement a focus on learning, build a collaborative culture, and create a results orientation that leads to sustained, substantive school improvement.
Presentations by Mary Shay
- Developing and Sustaining Professional Learning Communities
- Embracing Innovation and Equity in PLCs
- Challenging Conversations on Teams
- Protocols to Guide Collaborative Teams
- Guiding Coalitions: Collective Leadership to Support PLCs
- Team Facilitation
- PLC: Evidence of Effectiveness
- PLC: Putting the Pieces Together
- A Focus on Collaboration in PLCs
- District-Level Development of PLCs
