The concept of "professional learning community" (as developed by Shirley Hord) is advanced by Huffman (education, U. of North Texas) and Hipp (education, Cardinal Stritch U.) as a way to improve educational institutions in the United States. After explaining the concept and describing exemplars and non-exemplars of implementation, they present case studies from five schools. Each case study focuses on a particular facet of the "professional learning community" model, such as the role of trust or the task of reculturing. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)