The power of a case is not in the narrative but in the discussion or experience that it can generate--and it is the role of the facilitator to maximize these opportunities. A Guide to Facilitating Cases in Education offers valuable guidance for anyone charged with this task, describing how to foster an entire professional development experience, not simply a group talking together.

This book provides important guidelines on orchestrating and extending conversations among case users. It offers both strategies for improving your effectiveness as a facilitator and a conceptual framework for understanding and acting in this role.

Throughout the volume, that authors offer an extended example of their own facilitation of a case about a teacher changing his classroom practice, which they initiated among a group of high school department chairs and administrators. (This example case appears in the appendix and is also featured in A Casebook on School Reform.) They also describe some alternative decisions they made in facilitating the case with other groups to illustrate what goes into constructing a plan of work around a particular case. At the end of the volume is a valuable list of resources for engaging in case facilitation, including casebooks and facilitator guides that the authors have used.

Whether you are a teacher educator, classroom teacher, administrator, or central office staff member, A Guide to Facilitating Cases in Education is certain to help you deepen and enrich any conversation you may lead about educational issues and practice.