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A Blueprint for authentic engagement

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Professional Learning Community Assessment-Revised

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SEDL merged with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) on January 1, 2015. This archived website contains the work of SEDL legacy projects and rich resources from the past 50 years.

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Building Trust in Collaborative Learning Groups

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Building Trust in Collaborative Learning Groups

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Education World

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EducationWorld is committed to bringing educators the practical tools they need to make good decisions, engage in effective leadership and implement strategies that work. To further this commitment, we have formed a content partnership with Stenhouse Publishers. EducationWorld is pleased to feature a variety of book excerpts as part of this collaboration. Check back frequently as we feature additional excerpts from Stenhouse titles.

The following excerpt comes from From Literature Circles to Blogs: Activities for engaging professional learning communities, by Susan Church and Margaret Swain (Stenhouse Publishers, 2009). The book retails for $21 and is available on the Stenhouse Web site.

This excerpt offers 10 rapport-building activities to help ease the transition from the workday to collaborative group learning. See two more excerpts from this book: Co-Teaching Tips and Better Book Study Groups.

Even when schedules align and teachers are freed from their teaching responsibilities to focus on their own learning in collaborative groups, making the transition from the busy workday to a learning context can be challenging. Outlined below are a number of suggestions for opening sessions in order to facilitate this transition, as well as to build trust and rapport in the early stages of meeting together. Initially, the principal or a designated group leader will need to take responsibility for these transition activities. Once the group has become more self-directive, however, members can take turns fulfilling this leadership role.

Transition activities such as those described should be brief (no more than five minutes), and non-threatening. They are designed to bring all participants into a positive frame of mind for learning and they should be varied and adaptable to sustain novelty and interest

About Stenhouse Publishers

Stenhouse publishes professional development books and videos by teachers and for teachers. Their titles cover a range of content areas -- from literacy and mathematics to science, social studies, the arts, and environmental education -- as well as a variety of topics, including classroom management, assessment, and differentiation.

Word of the Day
Post a sheet of chart paper in the meeting area and write a word in the centre of the paper. The word can be related to a specific topic being explored (e.g., [it] book, comprehension, rubric, algorithm, spelling, and so on), connected more generally to student learning (e.g., [it] behavior, engagement, differentiation), or open-ended and non-specific (e.g., [it] why, flow, success, and so on). Provide markers and ask participants to write or draw a response to the word or to someone else's response. Encourage the use of lines, arrows, and other graphics to show connections among words. Debrief quickly by reviewing what everyone has recorded.

Finish the Sentence
Prepare word strips with sentence starters and ask participants to complete each sentence and then post the strips around the room. The starters can be the same for everyone or there can be sets of different starters. Here are some examples:

The best thing about teaching is ________________________________ .

The worst thing about teaching is_______________________________ .

Today I feel_________________________________________________ .

This morning I laughed about ___________________________________ .

My students are _____________________________________________ .

I like to _____________________________________________________ .

I don't like to ________________________________________________ .

Classroom Photo Montage
Take photos in classrooms and create a montage that demonstrates the many positive ways in which students are engaged in learning in the school. Invite participants to make comments on post-it notes. Give everyone an opportunity to read the comments and to talk about the photos.

Write a "Can-Do" About a Colleague
Record the names of all the participants in the professional learning community group on small slips of paper. Invite each person to draw the name of a colleague from a hat or a bag and then write and share a "can-do" (a list of three or four things that the person does well) about the person.

Surprise Packages
Occasionally, place a small wrapped gift (a pencil or pen, sticky notes with humorous illustrations or captions, a small plant, specialty tea bags, etc.) at each participant's place at the meeting table. Have recipients guess what is in the package. As an alternative, create a grab-bag of small gifts from which participants can draw as they enter the session.

Storytelling
In an article published in 2009, Bunting describes how a school established a story hour for teachers-a time when they could come together and tell stories about their work. She writes about how the story hour evolved as teachers moved from entertainment and community building to sharing personal narratives that helped them make sense of their work. For these teachers, stories

...spoke about the cost of lost purpose, the power of reflection, and the rewards of taking responsibility for your destiny as a teacher. Stories intertwined thinking with feeling, purpose with action, and self-reliance with community.

Professional learning communities can adapt this approach as an ongoing introductory activity for individual sessions or as a way to establish trust and a sense of community when teachers first begin to work together. Participants can volunteer to be the storyteller of the day, and the session can start with a story. The invitation can be open-ended so that the storyteller can choose a topic. Alternatively, volunteers can be asked to tell a story related to the topic selected as the focus of the group's current inquiry.

Practicing Mindfulness
Open the session with activities designed to divert the mind away from the distractions of a busy day through progressive relaxation, breathing exercises, visualization, or simple yoga stretches.

Artifacts
Have each participant bring in an artifact that represents something significant about them as a teacher. Artifacts can be found or hand-made. Examples might include a favorite song (recorded or performed by the participant); a poem or work of visual art (by another writer/artist or by the participant); an object; a book; a cartoon; a photograph; a plant or flower, and so on. Encourage creativity and a diverse range of representations.

Quick-Write
Post a quote from a book or an article that the group is reading. Distribute small sheets of paper or file cards and ask each participant to respond briefly to the quote in writing. Have teachers share their responses with a partner.

"Ain't It Awful!"
When school life has been particularly busy or stressful, it can be helpful to release pent-up emotions by allowing everyone a few minutes to vent about what has been difficult in their lives. These "ain't it awful!" sessions are remarkably powerful in clearing the mind so that participants can make the transition into a productive work session with a more positive focus.

Education World®
Copyright © 2012 Education World

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Building Trust in Collaborative Learning Groups

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EducationWorld is committed to bringing educators the practical tools they need to make good decisions, engage in effective leadership and implement strategies that work. To further this commitment, we have formed a content partnership with Stenhouse Publishers. EducationWorld is pleased to feature a variety of book excerpts as part of this collaboration.

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Best Practices for Professional Learning Communities

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Best Practices for Professional Learning Communities

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Education World

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You've no doubt heard the term professional learning community (PLC) used in educator circles. Every school serious about improvement should have one, say experts.

So what is a PLC? And how can schools get the most "bang for the buck" from this proven approach to school improvement?

A professional learning community (PLC) involves much more than a staff meeting or group of teachers getting together to discuss a book they've read. Instead, a PLC represents the institutionalization of a focus on continuous improvement in staff performance as well as student learning. Called "the most powerful professional development and change strategy available," PLCs, when done well, lead to reliable growth in student learning.

In a nutshell, PLCs entail whole-staff involvement in a process of intensive reflection upon instructional practices and desired student benchmarks, as well as monitoring of outcomes to ensure success. PLCs enable teachers to continually learn from one another via shared visioning and planning, as well as in-depth critical examination of what does and doesn't work to enhance student achievement.

Read More: AMLE Research Summary - Professional Learning Communities (2012). Association for Middle Level Education.

The focus of PLCs is ongoing "job-embedded learning," rather than one-shot professional development sessions facilitated by outsiders, who have little accountability regarding whether staff learning is successfully applied. In addition, PLCs emphasize teacher leadership, along with their active involvement and deep commitment to school improvement efforts. PLCs therefore benefit teachers just as much as they do students.

Read More: Professional Learning Communities (2009). The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement.

How does this process of intensive reflection and job-embedded learning unfold? Typically it includes six steps- study, select, plan, implement, analyze, and adjust. Prior to beginning the process, teachers review student achievement data to identify a specific standard or standards on which many students are not meeting goal.

Teachers work in collaborative planning teams to examine critically and discuss standards-based learning expectations for students.

These teams select evidence-based instructional strategies for meeting the standards.

Teams develop a common lesson plan incorporating the selected strategies and identify the type of student work each teacher will use to demonstrate learning.

Teachers implement the planned lesson, record successes and challenges, and gather evidence of student learning.

Teams review student work and discuss student understanding of the standards.

Teams reflect on the implications of the analysis of student work and discuss potential modifications to instructional strategies.

The PLC approach is a long-term proposition, taking three to six years to fully incorporate into a school's routine practices. Staff teams need to have time to meet during the workday throughout the year. They also need to focus their efforts on essential questions about learning and generate products such as lists of key student outcomes, methods of assessment and strategies for meeting goals.

During the first year of implementation, staff teams usually need to complete several cycles of the six steps in order to master the process. For the next few years, most schools and districts also benefit from the support of an external facilitator.

Read More: The Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle: Introduction (2008). Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.

The process sounds straightforward enough. Yet without paying attention to best practices, schools may fail to reap the benefits of PLCs. Consider the following best practices-PLCs work best when schools have:

1. A culture that supports collaboration;

2. The ability to take an objective/macro view of school efforts; and

3. Shared beliefs and behaviors.

Let's explore each of these best practices in more detail.

A Collaboration-Friendly Culture
Collaboration cannot be forced. Instead, school leaders should help all members of the school community feel attached and committed to the work. Some ways to do this including articulating a clear, specific and compelling vision; matching tasks and roles to staff members who are personally invested in them; expanding leadership roles; and making coordination easy.

Consider facilitating coordination through online tools such as Basecamp (a project-coordination platform) and Blackboard (an online learning platform).

Read More: 5 Ways to Build a Culture of Collaboration With Staff, Teachers and Parents (retrieved 2012). Kruse, Sharon D., for American Association of School Administrators.

Viewed a different way, several things must stop happening in order to enable meaningful collaboration. Schools must stop pretending that merely presenting teachers with standards is sufficient for ensuring that all students receive a common curriculum. Districts also need to make sure that the intended curriculum matches what teachers are actually teaching.

In addition, educators must stop making excuses for failing to collaborate. For example, is it true that staff really can't find the time, or is it that they find operating in isolation preferable to the hard work of collaboration?

An Objective View of School Efforts
Read More: What Is a Professional Learning Community? (2004). DuFour, Richard, for Educational Leadership.

An external facilitator's work with a school PLC involves getting familiar with staff and assessing their way of operating as it relates to school improvement goals. Facilitators also can help bring a school's fragmented efforts into alignment, especially at the beginning of the process.

Change facilitators are able to take a "balcony" or macro-centric view of the situations and contexts facing school staff. Recognizing the leadership qualities of the principal and the extent to which leadership is dispersed in the school, facilitators can provide appropriate support to staff in meeting their goals.

Read More: Professional Learning Communities - An Ongoing Exploration (2000). Morrissey, Melanie S., for Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.

Shared Beliefs and Behaviors

Staff-wide beliefs and behaviors that support successful PLCs include:

Failure, mistakes and uncertainty in work are openly shared and discussed;

Colleagues agree on broad educational values, but accept disagreements that foster new dialogue;

Teachers receive respect and consideration as people; and

Administrators support "dispersed leadership," where teachers develop the confidence to select and adapt strategies that drive improvement.

Additional key beliefs and practices include:

A relentless commitment to improvement;

A view of improvement as a team effort for which everyone is responsible;

An acknowledgement that teacher behavior is key to enhancing student learning;

A belief that knowledge is constructed from day-to-day experiences, along with the ability to share those experiences; and

A value placed on ongoing learning (continuous inquiry).

Read More: Professional Learning Communities (2009). The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement.

Another core belief of effective PLCs is that all students can learn. Schools embracing this belief motivate teachers to share a vision for promoting student learning.

Further, in successful PLCs, high expectations of teachers and students emerge within a set of priorities that benefits the whole school as well as teachers' personal ambitions.

Finally, effective PLCs address the interpersonal skills of trust, collaboration and communication.
Building Trust in Collaborative Learning Communities
Co-Teaching Tips
Better Book Study Groups
Read More: Professional Learning Communities - Characteristics, Principals, and Teachers (2009). Cormier, Ron and Olivier, Dianne, for the Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Education Research Association.

Related resources

Article by Celine Provini, Education World Editor
Education World®
Copyright © 2012 Education World

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Best Practices for Professional Learning Communities

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You've no doubt heard the term professional learning community (PLC) used in educator circles. Every school serious about improvement should have one, say experts. So what is a PLC? And how can schools get the most "bang for the buck" from this proven approach to school improvement?

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Just Ask Publications

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Marcia Baldanza, the author of Professional Practices and a Just ASK Senior Consultant, lives in Arlington, Virginia, and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She recently retired from the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida, where she was an Area Director for School Reform and Accountability; prior to that she was Director of Federal and State Programs.

August 2016, Volume I Issue VIII
The focus for this month's Professional Practices for the 21 Century Leader is Standard 7 of the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders 2015: Professional Community for Teachers and Staff. My 25 years of experience as a teacher, principal, director, and mother have reinforced the belief that the vast majority of us in the field of educational leadership are passionately interested in improving the lives of all students in our care. The Professional Standards for Educational Leaders compel education leaders to approach every decision based on what is best for the students in our care. At the end of each day I reflect on two essential questions:

Did I make a difference today for our students?

Did I focus on what matters most for their learning and their well-being?

Professional Standards for Educational Leaders 2015

Mission, Vision, and Core Values

Ethics and Professional Norms

Equity and Cultural Responsiveness

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Community of Care and Support for Students

Professional Capacity of School Personnel

Professional Community for Teachers and Staff
Effective Educational leaders foster a professional community of teachers and other professional staff to promote each student's academic success and well- being

Meaningful Engagement of Families and Community

Operations and Management

School Improvement

In 2012 the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching published Beyond Job- Embedded: Ensuring That Professional Development Gets Results. Their research moves leaders to develop and support explicit protocols for planning and structuring collaborative teacher meetings so that the critical shift from "trying it out" to "figuring out solutions" occurs reliably across collaborative teams. When this happens, teachers can see the impact of teaching strategies on student learning and become invested in changing classroom practices to get better results. Too often I've been witness to the effects of "trying it out" with students who needed us to have "figured it out."

Many districts and schools have incorporated job-embedded professional development as they strive to become professional learning communities (PLCs). When this happens, school morale is enhanced, teacher performance improves, new teachers stay in the profession, and students achieve high standards. Districts and schools must strive to find ways to create structures and assign specific authority and responsibility to those charged with supporting it, overseeing it, and reinforcing it at every turn.

In order to establish PLCs, leaders must develop an infrastructure that guarantees a "yes" on each of these four questions:

Do all teachers experience high quality professional learning? How do you know?

Does the professional learning increase teachers' knowledge and skills? How do you know?

Do teachers use their new knowledge and skills to implement new strategies in the classroom? How do you know?

Do the classroom strategies improve students' learning? How do you know?

The "how do you know" part of the question should cause leaders to examine the evidence and look at instructional practices, student work, formative assessments, and more.

What's a Principal to Do?
Principals have a clear and robust role to play in professional learning. As instructional leaders of their schools, principals are bestowed with implementation of job-embedded professional learning and its impact on learning. I always considered myself as the lead learner and spoke about my learning frequently. Principal roles that support distributed professional learning include:

As head of the school leadership team, the principal models the collaborative process of analyzing student data that will guide the collaborative group work. In some cases, the group sets the goals and presents them to the principal and leadership

Working with other members of the leadership team, the principal regularly examines formative assessment data, drilling down to classroom and student level to identify gaps that exist. Team members then identify strategies for supporting students.

The principal observes collaborative team meetings, reviews meeting notes, and offers feedback and guidance.

The principal establishes a leadership learning group that studies leadership issues.

Historical Perspective on Creating Cultures for Learning

Practitioners and researchers who influence our current practice include:

It's About Time!

I learned early in my first principalship that I wasn't in control of very much in the building. Budgets were provided with little flexibility; staffing came from a central hiring authority, although I was able to select among those approved; materials came from the warehouse. However, there was one thing I did control - time! How we scheduled the school; how we used our staff; how we supported our learners; and how we learned together were all within our span of authority. "Awesome!" I thought. "We can do this."

A June 2016 JSD article by Joellen Killion titled "Establish Time for Learning: Finding Time to Collaborate Takes Creativity and Commitment" validated my practice. The seven steps outlined in the article are not a procedure to increase time available for professional learning. Rather, they provide a process to figure out how to increase the time in which educators are engaged in professional learning. Use these steps as a starting place to look for minutes in the day that can be reallocated to priorities such as collaborative teams.

7 Steps to Establish Time for Professional Learning
1. Form a time study team
2. Examine assumptions about time
3. Understand existing time
4. Study time options
5. Form and adopt recommendations about time
6. Establish a plan to implement and evaluate accepted recommendations
7. Review time use and results

I remember being surprised when the speech pathologist came to see me shortly after I arrived for my first day as principal. Boxes piled high, she came in and after some brief pleasantries, told me she had always designed the master schedule and she handed it to me ready for the upcoming school year. I was taken aback and asked her how she did it and what priorities she used to create it. She said she needed to make sure that the students in special education were scheduled first, then the electives, then everything else.

Oops! There was no common planning anywhere. I knew that I needed to be able to work with teacher mentors, have learning team time, and be able to hold data chats with teachers. I couldn't turn around a failing school without those. I thanked her and told her I would study it and get back with her. I called a meeting of the team leaders, including the speech pathologist, and asked them if they would help with the schedule. My requirements were few, but clearly communicated:

Common planning time for all teachers

Long uninterrupted blocks for instruction

Equitable student-free time

Compliance with all federal, state, and district guidelines

This group revised the school schedule to allow for common planning time and an enrichment center for all students using Canady's parallel block scheduling model. Now, we could move ahead! Professional learning teams and goals were soon established.

Building Efficacy and Increasing Collaborative Skills

Building capacity appears most evident in the actions leaders take to build self-and collective efficacy among those being led. Efficacy is the fuel for high engagement in continuous learning and expands and extends knowledge and skills. If teachers believe in their individual capacity to address student needs and in the collective capacity of their team, learning community, school, and students benefit!

Understanding the value of conflict and how it contributes to a team's progress is key to fulfilling responsibilities to those being served and conflict avoidance can short change students. Kenneth Williams' statement resonates with me. He said, "One of the things I emphasize for good, productive conflict is a willingness to engage. Many times we will see cordial hypocrisy within a group." You've seen it too...everyone is nodding their heads yes, when they don't actually agree. When this happens, kids lose out on our expertise, wisdom, and advocacy because the group wanted to avoid conflict and did not get important ideas to surface.

My colleagues at Just ASK authored Creating a Culture for Learning, a comprehensive text that is a resource for leaders who are ready to act on their beliefs that all students can learn and that all adults must be committed to the success of all other adults. I encourage you not only read this book, but also to access the free tools and templates designed to support the constructs introduced in the text ( www.justaskpublications.co m/ccltemplates). Of particular note to me are the consensus building tools because consensus is so important to keeping all collaborative learning team members committed and unafraid of conflict. Eight tools to help build consensus, surface issues, and examine needs are presented on pages 93-95 of Creating a Culture for Learning.

My favorite quick group processing tool is Fist to Five. I have used this tool to take a poll of group members and overall group thinking or feelings at any point in discussions. When asked to show " Fist to Five ", participants show:

Fist to indicate absolutely not, or total disagreement

Three fingers to indicate that the feeling is neutral about the topic or issue

Five fingers indicate total agreement or comfort with the topic of issue

Points to Ponder
Just ASK's
Non-Negotiables for Creating a Culture for Learning

We believe and act on the belief that all students can learn!

All adults are committed to the success of all other

We accept learning as the fundamental purpose of the school and examine all our practices in light of their impact on learning

We engage in, model, and promote collaborative

All the students belong to all of us

We establish and maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect

Isolation is not an option. Collaboration is a right and responsibility

We collectively develop clearly articulated norms that we adhere to in our work

We focus on results: That means we analyze assessment results together, make data-driven decisions, establish goals for specific measurable skills and knowledge, identify improvement strategies, and adapt instruction to meet student needs

Student learning and achievement increase when educators engage in professional development focused on the skills they need to address students' major learning challenges. Professional learning can occur in a formal setting, such as a workshop, or seminar, or in an informal context, such as data-driven discussions among colleagues, independent reading and research, observing a colleague's work, or analyzing student work. See Chapter Four in Creating a Culture for Learning for an amazing listing of professional learning formats (mini-TOC on page 142) and use Formats for Professional Learning Self-Assessment (Access Tool-41 at www.justaskpublications.com/ccltemplates) to celebrate the possibilities you are already using and to identify over two dozen formats you might use. I am certain you will find them useful in developing and supporting a wide-range of professional learning opportunities for teachers and staff.

Finding Time and Funding for Professional Development

The literature is full of what quality professional development means in schools, how job-embedded collaborative endeavors can improve teacher performance and therefore increase student outcomes, but there is little guidance to identify the costs.

To begin, consider the idea that a budget should reflect the priorities of the organization. If professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students is at the forefront, it requires prioritizing, monitoring, and coordinating funds and other resources for educator learning.

Allan Odden compiled a cost structure for professional development. The cost components he lists are:

Teacher time used for professional development

Training and coaching

Administration of professional development

Materials, equipment, and facilities

Travel and transportation

He notes, "Time is the largest cost." Odden's cost structure includes time for teachers for training and for on-going collaborative, and some individual, work. He recommends training would be student-free time, which could be during intensive summer institutes or on various days during the school year. In addition, principals can design school master schedules so teachers have common student-free time allowing them to meet during the day; to do that, principals could examine elective classes and programs scheduling. Robert Canady provides multiple ideas on how these can be scheduled to provide additional periods in the day and allow collaborative time for teachers. Some high schools schedule four 90-minute blocks per day, where teachers are assigned to teach three of those blocks allowing the remaining block to support job-embedded learning.

In order to deploy resources for an effective professional development program that aligns to accepted Learning Forward's Professional Development Standards and the 2015 Professional Standards for Educational Leader, school and district leaders need to:

Eliminate all current professional development, program improvement, and other training programs that are not focused on the strategic instructional and curriculum programs of the school and district and redeploy those resources to the prioritized learning activities.

Capture the bulk of the student-free days that have been given to teachers for their own use and use them and any additional days for curriculum-based professional development aligned to school

Organize the school into collaborative teams so all teachers have the time to interact

Provide activities and support to help all teachers incorporate their new learning into their repertoire of teaching

Examine alternative uses of time, including early dismissals or late

Consider the use of in-school field trips, community service projects, performing arts events as ways to gain time during the school day or support additional release time for teacher learning

Additionally, Title I has a strong professional development component and requires that a portion of the school budget allocation be designated for professional learning. The purchase of an instructional coach may suffice the set-aside requirement for professional development. Title II funds are usually held at the district level and used for district-wide initiatives. I strongly recommend that principals serve on district budgeting committees and make school priorities clear.

Some of this is easier written than done and there may be push back from some stakeholders around the reallocation of resources to fund and support professional learning, especially when it involves redistribution of time. However, there are many more stakeholders who believe in and support professional learning as an important vehicle for improving student learning. Persevere-it's worth it!

Points to Ponder
DuFour on Attributes of Professional Learning Communities

Rick DuFour and his colleagues have identified ten attributes of professional learning communities. He, and others, are adamant that professional learning communities are not a series of meetings or events, but rather organizations that operate with the following mindset:

Clarity of the knowledge and skills all students should acquire

Agreement on and consistently applied assessment practices

Development of formative common assessments

Use of formative assessments to assess and provide students with timely intervention

Use of data to assess effectiveness of instruction

Establishment of SMART goals

Commitment to and focus on improved instructional practices

Sharing of research-based practices

Determination to help all students achieve at high levels

Use of team time to focus on student learning

Online Professional Learning Communities Resources
Solution Tree PLC Web Resources Youtube Resources

youtube/r2UCLZDWdyA : A video features a 4th collaborative learning team meeting at Seven Hills Elementary School in Justin, Texas

youtube/uoWzAuvofgw : This video of a high school collaborative team unpacking the 9th grade English Language Arts standards for writing was produced as part of a partnership between NJIT and the NJDOE to provide support for NJ educators in the Online Professional Learning Exchange.

Additional Resources and References

Armstrong, Anthony. "Build a Culture that Nurtures Productive Conflict." Tools for Learning Schools. Learning Forward, Winter 2014, pp 1-3.

Canady, Robert and Michael Rettig. Teaching in the Block: Strategies for Engaging Active Learners. Philadelphia, PA: Routledge Eye on Education, 1996.

DuFour, Richard and Robert Eaker. Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree, 1998.

Fullan, Michael. Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007.

Jensen, Ben, Julie Sonnemann, Katie Roberts-Hull and Amélie Hunter, "Beyond PD: Teacher Professional Learning in High-Performing Systems." National Center on Education and the Economy, 2016.

__________ . Facilitator's Guide for Beyond PD: Teacher Professional Learning in High-Performing Systems. Oxford, OH: Learning Forward, 2016. Access at learningforward.org/docs/default-source/beyond-pd-resources/facguide_beyondpd.pdf.

Killion, Joellen and Cindy Harrison. Taking the Lead: New Roles for Teachers and School-based Coaches. Oxford, OH: Learning Forward, 2006.

National Policy Board for Educational Administration. Professional Standards for Educational Leaders 2015. Access at www.ccsso.org/Documents/2015/ProfessionalStandardsforEducationalLeaders2015forNPBEAFINAL.pdf.

Provini, Celine. "Best Practices for Professional Learning Communities. " Education World. 2012. Access at www.educationworld.com/a_admin/best-practices-for-professional-learning-communities.shtml.

Williams, Kenneth and Tom Hierck. Starting a Movement: Building Culture From the Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press, 2015.

Permission is granted for reprinting and distribution of this newsletter for non-commercial use only.

Please include the following citation on all copies:
Baldanza, Marcia. "Creating Professional Community for Teachers and Staff."Professional Practices. August 2016. Reproduced with permission of Just ASK Publications & Professional Development (Just ASK). © 2016 by Just ASK. All rights reserved.

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Professional Community for Teachers and Staff

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Marcia Baldanza, the author of Professional Practices and a Just ASK Senior Consultant, lives in Arlington, Virginia, and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

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This site is a collaborative, objective resource for educators and administrators who are committed to enhancing student achievement. We invite you to share your knowledge, ask questions, and get expert insight into the issues educators face each day.

Connect with other PLC practitioners with insights, tips, and questions.

Examine evidence of improved learning and effective practices from model PLCs.

Download samples, investigate a variety of helpful links, and more.

School leadership teams lead everything under the sun. For example, they . . . Read more

I have mentioned before that I met a mentor of mine, Dr. Sharon Kramer, . . . Read more

The professional learning community (PLC) process has become . . . Read more

An announcement posted on the school district's website, www.mineralpointschools.org: "The Mineral Point Unified School District received outstanding academic news from the Cooperative Educational Service Agency #6 in Oshkosh. CESA 6 engaged in a study of its Effectiveness Project districts who have seen exemplary academic growth from the 2012-13 to 2015-16 school years. Of districts participating in the Effectiveness Project, Mineral Point saw unmatched academic growth. CESA 6 has been a leader in educator effectiveness across the state. Their team of professionals partnered with Wisconsin educators to design the CESA 6 Effectiveness Project, a multi-tiered professional evaluation system for teachers, educational specialists, school . . . Read more

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This site is a collaborative, objective resource for educators and administrators who are committed to enhancing student achievement. We invite you to share your knowledge, ask questions, and get expert insight into the issues educators face each day. Connect with other PLC practitioners with insights, tips, and questions.