J. Richard Dewey

J. Richard Dewey

With more than 40 years of experience as an educator, J. Richard Dewey is currently a university teacher, a master PLC coach and PLC virtual coach for Solution Tree, and a recognized authority on best practices in school improvement and successful leadership.

His career encompasses service as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, and district director. He draws from this rich background to deliver motivating, practical presentations. Dr. Dewey has extensive firsthand knowledge of Professional Learning Communities at Work™ and Master(ful) Scheduling to support and enable the PLC journey. As the founding principal of Eastview High School in Minnesota, he created a professional learning community that has frequently earned the school state and national recognition.

The successful leadership techniques Dr. Dewey shares in his lectures and workshops have been shaped by his myriad responsibilities, including leadership for curriculum and instruction, effective student services, master scheduling, special education, high potential programs, and now training teachers and principals at the graduate school level. Dr. Dewey also served for 20 years as principal of two large suburban high schools in Minnesota School District 196: Rosemount High School, a national school of excellence, and the more recently built Eastview High School.

At Eastview, Dr. Dewey advanced the design and construction of the school, as well as development of its programs and staff. He selected teachers and administrators who support PLC principles. Eastview is a thriving professional learning community and has, for over a decade, appeared on consecutive Newsweek and US News and World Report lists as one of “America’s Best High Schools.” In 2016, the Eastview professional learning community earned the highest multiple measurements rating and focus rating in the state of Minnesota for proficiency, growth, achievement gap reduction, and graduation rate.

Since 2006, Dr. Dewey has worked with hundreds of preK–12 schools in 40 states, engaged in developing successful and sustainable Professional Learning Communities at Work™.

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.

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Presentations by J. Richard Dewey

• Taking Active Control of Your Professional Learning Community Journey
• The Principal as a Leader and Builder of Capacity
• Getting the Culture Right for Success and Sustainability
• Building Leadership Density: Coaching for Success and Sustainability
• Leadership for Master(ful) Scheduling© That Supports and Enables Professional Learning Communities at Work™
• The Data Team Process: Collaborative Action Research That Support and Enables Professional Learning Communities at Work™
• Complex to Simple: One School’s Extraordinary Journey to Educational Equity
• Power Standards: Why, What, and How
• Toward Assessment Literacy: Using Relevant Information to Inform and Impact Practice
• A Proactive and Responsive Pyramid of Interventions