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Within the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado, all schools are currently in the midst of implementing Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). By initiating this model, the goal is that all schools within the district focus on collaborative inquiry, are guided by student data, and are committed to learning for all ("Cherry Creek School District", 2018).

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When synthesizing the organization of this plan with learning from course readings, the Cherry Creek School district has established an effective plan to lead all schools to improvement. To start off, a framework was developed in order to promote the idea of ongoing learning. Although educators are lifelong learners, this plan succeeds in how it clearly defines and expects outcomes. Although teachers have the power to participate in many professional developments, often studies that appeal to self-interest, PLCs are presented in a process-model and are results oriented. In this, teachers are expected find and clarify the purpose of learning, respond to student needs through an equitable lens, and reflect upon the practices that lead to student improvement (Roberts & Pruitt, 2009). By clarifying these key expectations, educators are required to implement pre-assessments, monitor learning by using formative assessments, and analyze summative assessment results. Therefore, PLCs are organize in a manner that holds teachers accountable, requires purposeful decision-making, and the implementation of practices that support all learners. The Cherry Creek School District, thus, preaches the idea that all students will learn at the highest level ("Cherry Creek School District", 2018).

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After reflecting upon research, the district initiative of PLC implementation is most evident through its power of collaboration. Professional Learning Communities are all about establishing a collaborative culture. Because teaching, for so long, had been structured in a fashion where teachers worked independently, educators are now learning how to teach to all students. The idea of PLCs is that teachers focus on what all students need, where they view students as "our" kids. By having the mindset that all students will learn and that all students will have the opportunity to participate in valuable learning experiences, teachers are advised to work as a team. This requires teams to meet regularly, progress monitor frequently, and respond to feedback. When teams focus on these initiatives, where they follow the process, the collaboration develops a stronger school-wide culture. Although this mindset is necessary for improvement, teachers have to be accepting of new ideas, by willing to take risks, and evolve with the students.

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Similar to the value in collaboration, PLCs are built around data. Within the professional development of PLCs implemented into schools, grade-levels are required to document student progress. Although there is a larger district vision that all students will learn, teachers have had to create data systems that work for the grade-level. In other words, schools and grade-levels have to document all types of learners and how they are going to monitor skill development. In this, schools have been guided by four essential questions:
1. What do we want our students to know and be able to do?
2. How will we know they have learned it?
3. What will we do when students do not learn?
4. What will we do when students do learn?
By using these questions as a foundation to data analysis, the district is becoming more intentional about how to respond to learning more promptly and challenge students to practice the skills of a 21st century learner. Overall, data analysis is a key component of PLCs in order to promote learning as a process. There are always ways to support or enrich students.

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Furthermore, student work is crucial in the effectiveness of PLCs as a professional development. In order to monitor student progress, teachers have to collaborate and provide evidence to learning through artifact samples. Within this part of the learning, PLCs require teachers to be intentional through formative assessments. Student work is evaluated regularly, where teachers make decisions through analytical conversations (Joyce & Calhoun, 2010). This includes "look for's", conversations centered on rubrics, how content was presented differently from class-to-class, and work to be used as examples. This leads to more dialogue regarding instructional approach, where reteaching is necessary, and evaluating how student work demonstrates an understanding. Overall, this is also a place in which the Cherry Creek School District could provide additional support. Because innovation is also on the rise, teachers have to learn how to evaluate student work that looks differently. This requires continued learning on evaluating portfolios, where students have more choice, and when learning styles offer different pieces of evidence.

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When looking further at PLC work, this is an area of the professional development that needs additional support. Because there is great value in ongoing support, where teachers have and are acquainted to resources, PLCs would be more effective if teachers were offered continuous learning opportunities. At Creekside Elementary, there are PLC leaders, where one person on each team is required to attend PLC trainings and then reiterate their learning to other colleagues. Although there is a system, district information is not always translated clearly. There is some misinterpretation regarding PLC expectations and a place where learning could become more aligned across grade-levels. After getting more experience, the hope is that teams continuously develop in their PLC work.

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After implementing PLCs into Creekside, teachers have had multiple opportunities for reflective practice. Although the PLC process requires teachers to take steps of action after analyzing the results, additional reflective practice has been initiated school-wide. In this, each grade-level at Creekside is focusing on vertical alignment. Teams have collaborated in order to determine priority standards that carry as kids progress through school, but also where there are gaps in learning large concepts. By making these distinctions, Creekside teachers are able to continue the learning cycle and become more purposeful in their teaching the following school year. Likewise, reflective practice is evident in the conversations that are held within the school community. Teachers are acknowledging their student learning celebrations, but also getting support in teaching areas that are weaknesses. Teachers are using each other as resources by sharing ideas and by doing what is best for all kids.

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In order to improve the PLC professional development plan within both Creekside Elementary and the district, it would be beneficial to implement different ways that student work could be evaluated. Although Creekside values formative assessment data, this could be a place of improvement by allowing portfolios, presentations, or other projects to display an understanding of the skill. PLCs often become data driven, where teachers feel as if all student work needs to look the same; however, there is value in being aligned but not alike. Thus, by creating a culture in which learning is extended, the goal is that students are more likely to implement critical thinking and creative results. Teachers are also becoming more open-minded and willing to listen to other ideas, especially when concrete examples are welcomed into the learning community. Another way to improve this professional development plan would be by providing teachers will different tools to use during progress monitoring. From previous PLC experience, teachers can get caught up in using Excel or Word Documents to track student work of all grade-level teachers. Rather than spending time creating the data sheet, it would be helpful if district personnel could offer examples of previously used documents. This could become a source of reference for teachers that are newly implementing PLCs.

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Joyce, B., & Calhoun, E. (2010). Models of Professional Development: A Celebration of Educators. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Roberts, S. M., & Pruitt, E. Z. (2009). Schools as Professional Learning Communities: Collaborative Activities and Strategies for Professional Development (2nd ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Cherry Creek School District (2018). Retrieved from http://www.cherrycreekschools.org/PerformanceImprovement/Pages/Performance-Improvement-Model.aspx.