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Professional Learning

Communities
Learning Objectives:

 Educators will define Professional Learning


Communities.
 Educators will Examine how PLC’s work in schools
 Educators will describe the culture shift that is
necessary when moving toward PLC’s
 Educators will identify ways they can and will
implement PLC practices in their schools.
What current teams are you on?
Focus on Learning
 Isyour team always…….focused on student
learning? (graphic)
 Student learning should be at the center of
every team.
Why do we need to change?
 The “factory model” of education will not
prepare students to succeed in a knowledge-
based global economy.
 Previous attempts at reforming the American
educational system have failed.
 Past models focus on procedures rather then
results.
What is a Professional
Learning Community?
Educators committed to working collaboratively in
ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action
research in order to achieve better results for the
students they serve.

PLC’s operate under the assumption that the key to


improved learning for students is continuous job-
embedded learning for educators.

DuFour, DuFour, Eaker


2007 PLC Institute
Characteristics of Professional
Learning Communities
 Shared mission, vision, values, goals
 Collaborative teams focused on learning
 Collective inquiry
 Action oriented
 Commitment to continuous improvement
 Results orientated

DuFour, DuFour, Eaker


2007 PLC Institute
Asking the Right Questions:
PLC Fundamentals
 What do we want students to learn?
▪ Essential Outcomes vs. Covering the Material
 How do we know if they learned it?
▪ Common Formative Assessments
▪ Data Driven Instruction
 What do we do when they don’t learn?
▪ Pyramid of Intervention
 What do we do when they do learn?
▪ Celebrate and Enrich
Changing the Culture of Education
Even the grandest design eventually degenerates
into hard work.
Richard DuFour
May 2004

Professional Learning Communities represent a shift


from “doing” to “being.” PLC is not a design, but
rather change in how we think about teaching and
learning.
A Culture Shift
From To
▪ A focus on teaching ▪ A focus on learning
▪ Teacher “covers” content ▪ Students master essential learnings
▪ Isolation ▪ Collaboration
▪ Assessment of learning ▪ Assessment for learning
▪ Determining the average of ▪ Looking at the needs of individual
students who got it students
▪ Voluntary remediation ▪ Direct, timely, systematic intervention
▪ Infrequent summative assessments ▪ Common Formative Assessments

▪ Specialization of knowledge ▪ Sharing expertise


▪ “My kids” ▪ “Our kids”
Identify two challenges to
implementing PLCs at your school
Our Challenges
In a perfect world, PLC’s would be
a built on a shared vision, from the
community to the school building.
 District-wide or Building-based Initiative
 Team by Team - Grass Roots Effort
Implementing PLC Practices
K-12
 Collaboration in Elementary School
 Collaboration in Middle School
 Collaboration in High School
▪ Large Schools
▪ Small Schools
Role of the Principal
“A critical element in creating these powerful school
cultures is the principal’s leadership”
Dr. R. DuFour

• Empower Teachers to be Leaders


• Delegate Authority
• Developing Collaborative Decision Making Processes
• Promote, Protect, and Defend the Mission, Vision, and
core values.
The Principal as a Learning Leader
“PLC’s will shift the focus of school improvement
efforts from supervision and evaluation of individual
teachers to an emphasis on building collaborative teams
of teachers that will take the responsibility of their own
learning.”
Dr. R. DuFour
Learning Leader
Performance Indicators:
 Will you schedule for collaborative meetings?
 Will you model commitment to the vision and
the process of putting the focus on learning?
 Will you celebrate progress and success?
 Will you confront roadblocks?
 Will you ask the fundamental questions?
 Will you allocate resources?
ARE YOU READY?
You cannot wait for the stars to align!

If you want to BE a Professional


Learning Community, you
must begin doing the work of a
Professional Learning
Community NOW!
Group Work:
 Using what you have learned about PLC’s,
identify two ways that you could incorporate
PLC practices into a team that you are
currently a part of.

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