The Professional Learning Community

1
The Professional Learning Community

• Presented by Tom Jennings

2
(No Transcript)
3
Guiding questions for this presentation

• What is a Professional Learning Community?
• What are the critical questions of a PLC?
• Why should Schenevus Central School become a PLC?
• What is the role of the Principal in a PLC?
• How does a school change as it becomes a PLC?
• How do we become a PLC?

4
What is a Professional Learning Community?

• A focus on learning
• A collaborative culture with a focus on learning
  for all
• Collective inquiry into best practice and current
  reality
• Action orientation learning by doing
• A commitment to continuous improvement
• Results orientation
• Administrator assurances and teacher commitments

(DuFour, 2006)
5
What are the Critical Questions of a PLC?

• What is it we want our students to learn?
• How will we know if each student has learned it?
• How will we respond when some students do not
  learn it?
• How can we extend and enrich the learning for
  students who have demonstrated proficiency?

(DuFour, 2006)
6
Why should Schenevus Central School become a PLC?

• Good is the enemy of great.
• (Collins, 2001)

7

• Richard DuFour
• Robert Eaker
• Jonathon Saphier
• Philip Schlechty
• Thomas Sergiovanni
• Mike Schmoker
• Michael Fullan
• Richard Marzano
• Larry Lezotte
• Roland Barth
• Rick Stiggins
• Dennis Sparks
• Barbara Eason-Watkins
• Douglas Reeves
• Some of the researchers who endorse the PLC
  concept.

8

• American Federation of Teachers
• Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory
• National Association of Elementary School
  Principals
• National Association of Secondary School
  Principals
• National Board of Professional Teaching Standards
• National Council for Accreditation of Teacher
  Education
• National Council of Teachers of English
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
• National Education Association
• National Science Teachers Association
• National Staff Development Council
• North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
• Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
• Some of the organizations that endorse the PLC
  concept.

9
Why should Schenevus Central School become a
PLC? (continued)

• AllThingsPLC.org
• PLC Blog and Discussions
• Evidence of Effectiveness
• Tools and Resources

10
What is the role of the Principal in a PLC?

• One of the great ironies in education is that
  it takes strong and effective educational leaders
  to create truly empowered people who are capable
  of sustaining improvement after the leader has
  gone. DuFour (2006)

11
What is the role of the Principal in a
PLC? (continued)

• Link the change initiative to current practices
  and assumptions when possible
• Focus first on the why of change, then focus on
  the how
• Align actions with words
• Be flexible on implementation but firm on the
  essence of the initiative
• Build a guiding coalition and move forward
  without unanimity
• Expect to make mistakes and learn from them
• Learn by doing
• Supervision

(DuFour, 2006)
12
The Essentials of Systemic Change
13
Race Car Professional Learning Community
Engine Collaborative Teams
Drivers Students
Gas Data
Teacher and Student Empowerment Continuous
Improvement
Status Quo
Tires Educational Leaders
14
How does a school change as it becomes a PLC?

• A shift in fundamental purpose
• A shift in the use of assessments
• A shift in the response when students dont learn
• A shift in the work of teachers
• A shift in professional development
• A shift in school culture

15
A shift in fundamental purpose

• From a focus on teaching to a focus on learning
  
• From coverage of content to demonstration of
  proficiency
• From providing individual teachers with
  curriculum documents to engaging collaborative
  teams in building shared knowledge regarding
  essential curriculum

16
A shift in the use of assessments

• From infrequent summative assessments to
  frequent common formative assessments
• From individual teacher assessments to
  assessments developed jointly by collaborative
  teams

17
A shift in the response when students dont learn

• From remediation to intervention
• From individual teachers determining the
  appropriate response to a systematic response
  that ensures support for every student
• From one opportunity to demonstrate learning to
  multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning

18
A shift in the work of teachers

• From isolation to collaboration
• From each teacher clarifying what students must
  learn to collaborative teams clarifying
  essential learning
• From individual teachers attempting to discover
  ways to improve results to collaborative teams
  of teachers helping each other improve
• From decisions made on the basis of individual
  preferences to decisions made collectively by
  building shared knowledge of best practice

19
A shift in professional development

• From workshops and individual courses to
  job-embedded learning in collaborative teams
• From presentations to entire faculties to
  team-based action research
• From short-term exposure to multiple concepts and
  practices to sustained commitment to limited,
  focused initiatives

20
A shift in school culture

• From independence to interdependence
• From a language of complaint to a language of
  commitment
• From infrequent generic recognition to frequent
  specific recognition and a culture of celebration
  that creates many winners

21
How do we become a PLC? Answering the Critical
Questions of a PLC.

• What is it we want our students to learn?
• How will we know if each student has learned it?
• How will we respond when some students do not
  learn it?
• How can we extend and enrich the learning for
  students who have demonstrated proficiency?

22
References

• All Things PLC. Retrieved November 12, 2007,
  Website http//www.allthingsplc.org
• Asking the Right Questions A Leaders Guide to
  Systems Thinking about School Improvement.
  (2000). McRel.
• Balanced Leadership What 30 years of research
  tells us about the effect of leadership on
  student achievement. (2003). McRel.
• Collins, Jim. (2001). Good to Great. New York.
  Harper Collins.
• DuFour, Richard. (May, 2004) What is a
  Professional Learning Community? Educational
  Leadership. V.61 No. 8 pgs 6-11.
• Dufour, Richard. (2006). Learning by Doing A
  Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at
  Work. Solution Tree.
• Guide to Using Data in School Improvement
  Efforts. (2004). Learning Point Associates.
• Marzano, R.J., Waters, T., McNulty, B.A.
  (2005). School Leadership that Works From
  Research to Results. Alexandria, Va. Association
  for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
• Schmoker, Mike. (February, 2004). Tipping Point
  From Feckless Reform to Substantive Instructional
  Improvement. Phi Delta Kappan. V.85 No.6 pgs
  424-432.