The district has
operated as a Professional Learning Community at Work for 15 years, and sharing success stories with colleagues across the country has become a formalized process through hosted monthly site visits and a yearly mini-conference.
However, over the past two decades, there has been an increasingly loud call amongst educators, school leaders, and policy makers to break down the walls of classroom isolation in exchange for a more collaborative approach commonly
known as professional learning communities (PLCs).
Collective wisdom — referred to by such
names as professional learning communities (PLCs), communities of practice, and networked improvement communities — allows each of us to benefit from the experience of many of us.
His expertise is in the areas of systems thinking; shared leadership; strategic planning; data collection, measurement, information, and analysis; customer service; and aligning school
districts as professional learning communities.
In my world as an educator, collaborative cultures are
defined as professional learning communities (now, I say this here because I want my readers who are not in the education business to understand the terminology and I so appreciate that you are reading along with us!).
Since 1998, we have published many books and videos with the same two goals in mind: (1) to persuade educators that the most promising strategy for meeting the challenge of helping all students learn at high levels is to develop their capacity to
function as a professional learning community and (2) to offer specific strategies and structures to help them transform their own schools and districts into PLCs.
Subsequently, during a decade of valuable and productive research and development work at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), I was privileged to study the improvement efforts of a school whose staff
operated as a professional learning community.
«Collaboration can encompass a range of activities, from teachers working together in an informal, unplanned way to the implementation of more formal collaborative approaches,
such as professional learning communities.
Equitable schools see
themselves as professional learning communities.
Many schools are finding success when they begin to function
as professional learning communities (PLCs).
As a professional learning community, we work to trust, inspire, and take action daily so every child learns.
When a school begins to function
as a professional learning community, however, teachers become aware of the incongruity between their commitment to ensure learning for all students and their lack of a coordinated strategy to respond when some students do not learn.
The Institute for Excellence in Education (IEE) functions
as a professional learning community (PLC).
Most 21st century organizations, including schools, have come to define collaboration to mean that we function
as professional learning communities (PLCs)...
Most 21st century organizations, including schools, have come to define collaboration to mean that we function
as professional learning communities (PLCs) or professional communities... learning.
In a school that functions
as a professional learning community, the emphasis is on embedding the learning mission into the day - to - day work of the entire school.
Re-culturing schools to function
as professional learning communities is a difficult, complex and incremental journey.
Our consultant has not only helped us develop math curriculum maps, she has assisted us in using data to drive instruction, build capacity and, consequently, strengthened
us as professional learning community.
In a school where the staff operates
as a professional learning community, the aspirations of the teachers, as well as the needs of the students and goals of the school, are realized.
Afterschool program staff participate in school meetings and committees, such
as professional learning communities and school improvement teams.
The PLCF and Professional Community Questionnaire (PCQ) provide school leaders with a means of reviewing the strength of their schools
as a professional learning community and measuring improvement over time.
School leaders use the ACER Professional Learning Community Questionnaire (PLCQ) in conjunction with the PLCF to gauge the strength of their schools
as professional learning communities and to identify aspects that may need to be strengthened.