Shirley Hord, Learning Forward’s scholar laureate, has focused her career on research about and practice of effective professional learning communities. Here she answers an educator’s question about professional learning communities.  Q: While my school district says it is committed to professional learning communities, I am not sure what they mean by it. We have lots of meetings, but I don’t think things are getting better. What is an authentic professional learning community? A: I hear this astute observation often. In the U.S., we pride ourselves on being creative and innovative. When a “new” practice appears, everyone is ready to use it. However, with insufficient study of what the innovation is, we implement imprecise or incomplete variations. Further, in U.S. schools today, the multitude of demands