Professional Learning Communities

Professional Learning Communities, often called PLCs, have become the main focus for school improvement, professional development and decision making in schools. I was reading an article by Richard DuFour called "Schools as Learning Communities" and I was thinking that many people do not really know what a PLC is. The reason according to DuFour is that "Professional Learning Community" has become a buzz word that can refer to almost anything happening in education today. According to DuFour, a PLC has 3 main ideas. First DuFour asks "What Is a Professional Learning Community?" He then answers his own question with the following definition, "To create a professional learning community, focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively, and hold yourself accountable for results." These are the 3 main ideas.

A focus on student learning is actually a shift from what has been done for years. Many of us were trained in a system that focused on teaching. We took methods courses and studied teaching strategies. These are fine things to know as long as you don't lose sight of what the purpose of education is. It is not what we teach as much as what they learn. Dufour asks 3 questions. What do we want students to learn? How will we know when they learn it? What do we do when students struggle or don't learn? When we focus on teaching we spend a lot of time on the first question, some time on the second question and no time on the third question. A focus on learning gives equal weight to each question with a plan for the third question because we all know that students will struggle. The question is: What will we do? Dufour says it should be a timely intervention that directly targets what the student needs. I often compare this to learning to play an instrument or participating in sports. When you learn to play the trumpet your teacher sits with you and guides you through the music. The moment you make an error. It is immediately addressed. Adjustments are made to how you are holding the instrument or how tight your lips are. You practice over and over until you get it right and then you move on. Once you can play the music all the way through you move onto something harder. It is a timely intervention that you must work on until you can move on.

Working collaboratively is a problem I addressed in an earlier post. Teachers need to work together to analyze their practice. It promotes deep conversation and debate, which enhances team learning for the purpose of student achievement. Many think collaboration is teams of teachers getting along with each other, making operational decision or just working together on a project. Although these things are important they do not focus on improving instruction and improving student achievement. As a principal there are many barriers that I need to address before collaboration can be affective.

Finally, there is a focus on results. We often call this looking at data. The problem is we often look at data but we don't use the data to make changes. Assessment information used properly can have the biggest impact on student success. Summative assessments just look at what students learned. Formative assessments actually drive instruction. It helps teachers plan instruction. To use my previous example. The music teacher doesn't just let the student play the song poorly and fail. The music teacher is making adjustments throughout his instruction. Every time the student plays there is an assessment made on what to do next for the student. Assessment and adjustment! The only way to make this happen is to stop doing what doesn't work and to use the collaborative process to share ideas, materials and strategies. We must also stop blaming factors outside the classrooms when our students struggle. We need to really address what is going on behind the closed doors of the classroom. The first step is to open the doors.

People often celebrate the success of charter schools. Many charter schools are no different than their public school neighbors. The kids are the same and the facilities are the same. The teachers have the same training. The only difference is that charter schools are often PLCs. The teachers put everything aside for the achievement of their students. The administrator embraces his faculty and gives them opportunities to collaborate. It is about time public school teachers and administrators begin to do the same.

Professional learning communities dufour

The standard

Staff development that improves the learning of all students organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district.

The rationale

Staff development that has as its goal high levels of learning for all students, teachers, and administrators requires a form of professional learning that is quite different from the workshop-driven approach. The most powerful forms of staff development occur in ongoing teams that meet on a regular basis, preferably several times a week, for the purposes of learning, joint lesson planning, and problem solving. These teams, often called learning communities or communities of practice, operate with a commitment to the norms of continuous improvement and experimentation and engage their members in improving their daily work to advance the achievement of school district and school goals for student learning.

Learning teams may be of various sizes and serve different purposes. For instance, the faculty as a whole may meet once or twice a month to reflect on its work, engage in appropriate learning, and assess its progress. In addition, some members of the faculty may serve on school improvement teams or committees that focus on the goals and methods of schoolwide improvement. While these teams make important contributions to school culture, learning environment and other priority issues, they do not substitute for the day-to-day professional conversations focused on instructional issues that are the hallmark of effective learning communities. Learning teams meet almost every day and concern themselves with practical ways to improve teaching and learning. Members of learning communities take collective responsibility for the learning of all students represented by team members. Teacher members of learning teams, which consist of four to eight members, assist one another in examining the standards students are required to master, planning more effective lessons, critiquing student work, and solving the common problems of teaching.

The teams determine areas in which additional learning would be helpful and read articles, attend workshops or courses, or invite consultants to assist them in acquiring necessary knowledge or skills. In addition to the regular meetings, participants observe one another in the classroom and conduct other job-related responsibilities. Learning communities are strengthened when other support staff, administrators, and even school board members choose to participate, and when communication is facilitated between teams. Because of this common focus and clear direction, problems of fragmentation and incoherence that typically thwart school improvement efforts are eliminated.

Administrator learning communities also meet on a regular basis to deepen participants' understanding of instructional leadership, identify practical ways to assist teachers in improving the quality of student work, critique one another's school improvement efforts, and learn important skills such as data analysis and providing helpful feedback to teachers.

Many educators also benefit from participation in regional or national subject-matter networks or school reform consortia that connect schools with common interests. While most such networks have face-to-face meetings, increasing numbers of participants use electronic means such as e-mail, listservs, and bulletin boards to communicate between meetings or as a substitute for meetings. Such virtual networks can provide important sources of information and knowledge as well as the interpersonal support required to persist over time in changing complex schoolwide or classroom practices.