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(Andrea Daly)

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Andrea Daly

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PDF Version

Professional Learning Communities are becoming more prevalent in Ontario. The term has many different interpretations and the implementation of Professional Learning Communities has deviated from the original research definitions. The Professional Learning Community is an organizational model that links the success of the school to the presence of the following factors: the importance of workplace factors (resources, climate, shared vision, good leadership), institutional support for teacher learning, opportunities for teachers to work collaboratively, and shared decision-making.

A Professional Learning Community focuses on three things: student learning, the development of a school culture that fosters professional collaboration, and results.

Although ETFO recognizes the potential of this new structure, it is becoming increasingly aware of situations where the Professional Learning Community is not collaborative, where shared decision-making is not the norm, where the PLC is under-resourced, and the focus is only on improving student results on EQAO tests.

ETFO has developed policy on Professional Learning Communities.

"A group of education professionals who share common visions, values, and goals, and work collaboratively using inquiry, experimentation, and innovation to improve teaching and student learning."

participation in a PLC is voluntary;

Professional Learning Communities are based on collegiality, respect for member professionalism and autonomy;

Professional Learning Communities are a means for teachers to generate knowledge regarding teaching and learning;

Professional Learning Communities are based upon an evidence-based, shared decision-making model;

Professional Learning Communities foster teacher empowerment and leadership development;

professional development opportunities during the school day on the role and function of a PLC are provided by district school boards prior to, and throughout the development of a Professional Learning Community;

funding is provided by school boards for a PLC to access professional learning opportunities and resources, and enable teachers to meet and collaborate during the school day, exclusive of teacher preparation time and nutrition/lunch breaks;

teacher self-directed learning is included in any professional development associated with a Professional Learning Community;

a PLC should focus on all areas of the curriculum, with emphasis on the development of the whole child; and

no aspect of teacher participation in a Professional Learning Community is used for teacher performance appraisal.

respects your autonomy;

works on a shared-decision making model;

uses data to improve teaching and learning;

provides professional development within the school day;

provides for individual and collective teacher professional development;

provides available resources;

defines clear responsibilities; and

does not use participation as criteria in the teacher performance appraisal process.

For more information, contact Professional Relations Staff at 416-962-3836 or 1-888-838-3836 at the provincial office.

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ETFO | Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

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PDF Version Professional Learning Communities are becoming more prevalent in Ontario. The term has many different interpretations and the implementation of Professional Learning Communities has deviated from the original research definitions.

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Andrea Daly

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A professional learning community, or PLC, is a group of educators that meets regularly, shares expertise, and works collaboratively to improve teaching skills and the academic performance of students. The term is also applied to schools or teaching faculties that use small-group collaboration as a form of professional development. Shirley Hord, an expert on school leadership, came up with perhaps the most efficient description of the strategy: "The three words explain the concept: Professionals coming together in a group-a community-to learn."

It should be noted that professional learning communities may be called many different things from school to school or place to place, including professional learning groups, collaborative learning communities, critical friends groups, or communities of practice, to name just a few common terms (terms such as professional learning groups and critical friends groups are typically applied to smaller teams of teachers-usually between four and eight, although group sizes vary-rather than to an entire school that uses small-group collaboration as a form of professional development). In Japan, the practice is called lesson study or lesson research. In addition, professional learning communities can take a wide variety of forms or be organized for different purposes. While some educators define "professional learning community" in a very specific way, others may use the term more loosely, even applying it to meetings or groups that other educators would not consider to be a genuine "professional learning communities." In fact, Richard DuFour, considered one of the foremost experts on the subject, wrote in 2004 that "the term has been used so ubiquitously that it is in danger of losing all meaning." For Dufour and other experts and researchers, the term professional learning community should only be applied to schools in which all teachers and school leaders use specific, recommended strategies. The distinction here is subtle and potentially confusing: When a school is considered a "professional learning community," educators meet in small groups, but in some cases educators consider the small groups to be "professional learning communities."

Professional learning communities tend serve to two broad purposes: (1) improving the skills and knowledge of educators through collaborative study, expertise exchange, and professional dialogue, and (2) improving the educational aspirations, achievement, and attainment of students through stronger leadership and teaching. Professional learning communities often function as a form of action research -i.e., as a way to continually question, reevaluate, refine, and improve teaching strategies and knowledge. Meetings are goal-driven exchanges facilitated by educators who have been trained to lead professional learning communities. Participation in meetings may be entirely voluntary, and in some schools only a small percentage of the faculty will elect to participate, or it may be a school-wide requirement that all faculty members participate.

In professional learning communities, teams are often built around shared roles or responsibilities. For example, the teachers in a particular group may all teach the same ninth-grade students or they may all teach science, and these shared attributes allow participants to focus on specific problems and strategies-How do I teach this particular student better? How do I teach this scientific theory more effectively?-rather than on general educational goals or theories. Teachers, for example, will discuss and reflect on their instructional techniques, lesson designs, and assessment practices, while administrators may address leadership questions, strategies, and issues.

While the specific activities and goals of a professional learning community may vary widely from school to school, the following are a few examples of common activities that may take place in meetings:

Discussing teacher work: Participants collectively review lesson plans or assessments that have been used in a class, and then offer critical feedback and recommendations for improvement.

Discussing student work: Participants look at examples of student work turned in for a class, and then offer recommendations on how lessons or teaching approaches may be modified to improve the quality of student work.

Discussing student data: Participants analyze student-performance data from a class to identify trends-such as which students are consistently failing or underperforming-and collaboratively develop proactive teaching and support strategies to help students who may be struggling academically.

Discussing professional literature: Participants select a text to read, such as a research study or an article about a specialized instructional technique, and then engage in a structured conversation about the text and how it can help inform or improve their teaching.

Reform

Professional learning communities are nearly always an intentional school-improvement strategy designed to reduce professional isolation, foster greater faculty collaboration, and spread the expertise and insights of individual teachers throughout a school. Because teachers may work largely independently-i.e., they will create courses and lessons on their own and teach behind the closed doors without much feedback from colleagues-teaching styles, educational philosophies, and learning expectations can vary widely from class to class, as can the effectiveness of lessons and instruction.

While professional learning communities may take a wide variety of forms from school to school, they tend to share a variety of common features:

Teachers will likely meet regularly-every other week or every month, for example-and work together to improve and diversify their instructional techniques. For example, they may agree to identify and monitor student learning needs in their classes, conduct observations of their colleagues while they teach and give them constructive feedback, collaboratively develop and refine lessons and instructional techniques, and improve the support strategies they use to help students.

Time for meetings is often scheduled during the school day, and participation in a professional learning community may be an expected teaching responsibility, not an optional activity that competes with out-of-school personal time.

Groups generally work toward common goals and expectations that are agreed upon in advance. Groups may even create mission and vision statements or a set of shared beliefs and values.

Meeting procedures are commonly guided by norms, or a set of conduct expectations that group members collaboratively develop and agree on. A norm might address meeting logistics (e.g., start meetings on time, stick to the agenda, and end on time) or interactions (listen attentively to colleagues and make sure feedback is respectful and constructive).

Meetings are often coordinated and run by teachers who have been trained in group-facilitation strategies, often by an outside organization or training professional.

Meetings typically follow predetermined agendas that are developed by facilitators in response to group requests or identified teacher or student needs.

Facilitators typically use protocols-a set of parameters and guidelines developed by educators-to structure group conversations and help keep the discussions focused and productive.

Facilitators will make sure that conversations remain respectful, constructive, objective, and goal-oriented, and they may step in and guide the conversation in a more productive direction if it becomes digressive or negative.

Facilitators will also ensure that conversations remain objective and factual, rather than subjective and speculative. For example, group members may be asked to cite student-performance data, specific examples, research findings, or other concrete evidence to support their points, and facilitators may point out assumptions or generalizations.

Advocates of professional learning communities argue that the practice can foster and promote a wide variety of positive professional interactions and practices among teachers in a school. For example:

Teachers may assume more leadership responsibility or feel a greater sense of ownership over a school-improvement process.

Teachers may feel more professionally confident and better equipped to address the learning needs of their students, and they may become more willing to engage in the kind of self-reflection that leads to professional growth and improvement.

The faculty culture may improve, and professional relationships can become stronger and more trusting because the faculty is interacting and communicating more productively.

Teachers may participate in professional collaborations more frequently, such as co-developing and co-teaching interdisciplinary courses.

More instructional innovation may take hold in classrooms and academic programs, and teachers may begin incorporating effective instructional techniques being used by colleagues.

Teachers may begin using more evidence-based approaches to designing lessons and delivering instruction.

Debate

While the professional learning community concept is not typically an object of criticism or debate, skeptics may question whether these groups can actually have a positive impact on student learning, or whether the extent of that impact justifies the time or expense required to make them successful. Since it often extremely difficult, from a research perspective, to attribute gains in student performance to any one influence in a school (because so many potential factors can influence performance, including familial or socioeconomic dynamics outside of a school's control), the benefits of professional learning communities may be difficult to measure objectively and reliably.

It is more likely, however, that professional learning communities will be criticized or debated when they are poorly implemented or facilitated, if they become disorganized and unfocused, if they are perceived as a burdensome or time-consuming obligation, or when teachers have negative experiences within their groups. Like any school-improvement strategy or program, the quality of the design and execution will typically determine the results achieved. If meetings are poorly facilitated and conversations lapse into complaints about policies or personalities, or if educators fail to turn group learning into actual changes in instructional techniques, professional learning communities are less likely to be successful.

In addition, administrators and teachers may encounter any number of potential challenges when implementing professional learning communities. For example:

A lack of support from the superintendent, principal, or other school leaders could lead to an inadequate investment of time, attention, and resources.

Inadequate training for group facilitators could produce ineffective facilitation, disorganized meetings, and an erosion of confidence in the process.

A lack of clear, explicit goals for group work can lead to unfocused conversations, misspent time, and general confusion about the purpose of the groups.

A dysfunctional school or faculty culture could contribute to tensions, conflicts, factions, and other issues that undermine the potential benefits of professional learning communities.

A lack of observable, measurable faculty progress or student-achievement gains can erode support, motivation, and enthusiasm for the process.

Highly divergent educational philosophies, belief systems, or learning styles can lead to disagreements that undermine the collegiality and sense of shared purpose typically required to make professional learning communities successful.

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A professional learning community, or PLC, is a group of educators that meets regularly, shares expertise, and works collaboratively to improve teaching skills and the academic performance of students. The term is also applied to schools or teaching faculties that use small-group collaboration as a form of professional development.

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Andrea Daly

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Andrea Daly

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Andrew Kirschnick

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May 2004 | Volume 61 | Number 8
Schools as Learning Communities Pages 6-11

Richard DuFour

The idea of improving schools by developing professional learning communities is currently in vogue. People use this term to describe every imaginable combination of individuals with an interest in education-a grade-level teaching team, a school committee, a high school department, an entire school district, a state department of education, a national professional organization, and so on. In fact, the term has been used so ubiquitously that it is in danger of losing all meaning.

The professional learning community model has now reached a critical juncture, one well known to those who have witnessed the fate of other well-intentioned school reform efforts. In this all-too-familiar cycle, initial enthusiasm gives way to confusion about the fundamental concepts driving the initiative, followed by inevitable implementation problems, the conclusion that the reform has failed to bring about the desired results, abandonment of the reform, and the launch of a new search for the next promising initiative. Another reform movement has come and gone, reinforcing the conventional education wisdom that promises, "This too shall pass."

The movement to develop professional learning communities can avoid this cycle, but only if educators reflect critically on the concept's merits. What are the "big ideas" that represent the core principles of professional learning communities? How do these principles guide schools' efforts to sustain the professional learning community model until it becomes deeply embedded in the culture of the school?

Big Idea #1: Ensuring That Students Learn

The professional learning community model flows from the assumption that the core mission of formal education is not simply to ensure that students are taught but to ensure that they learn. This simple shift-from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning-has profound implications for schools.

School mission statements that promise "learning for all" have become a cliché. But when a school staff takes that statement literally-when teachers view it as a pledge to ensure the success of each student rather than as politically correct hyperbole-profound changes begin to take place. The school staff finds itself asking, What school characteristics and practices have been most successful in helping all students achieve at high levels? How could we adopt those characteristics and practices in our own school? What commitments would we have to make to one another to create such a school? What indicators could we monitor to assess our progress? When the staff has built shared knowledge and found common ground on these questions, the school has a solid foundation for moving forward with its improvement initiative.

As the school moves forward, every professional in the building must engage with colleagues in the ongoing exploration of three crucial questions that drive the work of those within a professional learning community:

What do we want each student to learn?

How will we know when each student has learned it?

How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?

The answer to the third question separates learning communities from traditional schools.

Here is a scenario that plays out daily in traditional schools. A teacher teaches a unit to the best of his or her ability, but at the conclusion of the unit some students have not mastered the essential outcomes. On the one hand, the teacher would like to take the time to help those students. On the other hand, the teacher feels compelled to move forward to "cover" the course content. If the teacher uses instructional time to assist students who have not learned, the progress of students who have mastered the content will suffer; if the teacher pushes on with new concepts, the struggling students will fall farther behind.

What typically happens in this situation? Almost invariably, the school leaves the solution to the discretion of individual teachers, who vary widely in the ways they respond. Some teachers conclude that the struggling students should transfer to a less rigorous course or should be considered for special education. Some lower their expectations by adopting less challenging standards for subgroups of students within their classrooms. Some look for ways to assist the students before and after school. Some allow struggling students to fail.

When a school begins to function as a professional learning community, however, teachers become aware of the incongruity between their commitment to ensure learning for all students and their lack of a coordinated strategy to respond when some students do not learn. The staff addresses this discrepancy by designing strategies to ensure that struggling students receive additional time and support, no matter who their teacher is. In addition to being systematic and schoolwide, the professional learning community's response to students who experience difficulty is

Timely. The school quickly identifies students who need additional time and support.

Based on intervention rather than remediation. The plan provides students with help as soon as they experience difficulty rather than relying on summer school, retention, and remedial courses.

Directive. Instead of inviting students to seek additional help, the systematic plan requires students to devote extra time and receive additional assistance until they have mastered the necessary concepts.

The systematic, timely, and directive intervention program operating at Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, provides an excellent example. Every three weeks, every student receives a progress report. Within the first month of school, new students discover that if they are not doing well in a class, they will receive a wide array of immediate interventions. First, the teacher, counselor, and faculty advisor each talk with the student individually to help resolve the problem. The school also notifies the student's parents about the concern. In addition, the school offers the struggling student a pass from study hall to a school tutoring center to get additional help in the course. An older student mentor, in conjunction with the struggling student's advisor, helps the student with homework during the student's daily advisory period.

Any student who continues to fall short of expectations at the end of six weeks despite these interventions is required, rather than invited, to attend tutoring sessions during the study hall period. Counselors begin to make weekly checks on the struggling student's progress. If tutoring fails to bring about improvement within the next six weeks, the student is assigned to a daily guided study hall with 10 or fewer students. The guided study hall supervisor communicates with classroom teachers to learn exactly what homework each student needs to complete and monitors the completion of that homework. Parents attend a meeting at the school at which the student, parents, counselor, and classroom teacher must sign a contract clarifying what each party will do to help the student meet the standards for the course.

Stevenson High School serves more than 4,000 students. Yet this school has found a way to monitor each student's learning on a timely basis and to ensure that every student who experiences academic difficulty will receive extra time and support for learning.

Like Stevenson, schools that are truly committed to the concept of learning for each student will stop subjecting struggling students to a haphazard education lottery. These schools will guarantee that each student receives whatever additional support he or she needs.

Big Idea #2: A Culture of Collaboration

Educators who are building a professional learning community recognize that they must work together to achieve their collective purpose of learning for all. Therefore, they create structures to promote a collaborative culture.

Despite compelling evidence indicating that working collaboratively represents best practice, teachers in many schools continue to work in isolation. Even in schools that endorse the idea of collaboration, the staff's willingness to collaborate often stops at the classroom door. Some school staffs equate the term "collaboration" with congeniality and focus on building group camaraderie. Other staffs join forces to develop consensus on operational procedures, such as how they will respond to tardiness or supervise recess. Still others organize themselves into committees to oversee different facets of the school's operation, such as discipline, technology, and social climate. Although each of these activities can serve a useful purpose, none represents the kind of professional dialogue that can transform a school into a professional learning community.

The powerful collaboration that characterizes professional learning communities is a systematic process in which teachers work together to analyze and improve their classroom practice. Teachers work in teams, engaging in an ongoing cycle of questions that promote deep team learning. This process, in turn, leads to higher levels of student achievement.

Collaborating for School Improvement

At Boones Mill Elementary School, a K-5 school serving 400 students in rural Franklin County, Virginia, the powerful collaboration of grade-level teams drives the school improvement process. The following scenario describes what Boones Mill staff members refer to as their teaching-learning process.

The school's five 3rd grade teachers study state and national standards, the district curriculum guide, and student achievement data to identify the essential knowledge and skills that all students should learn in an upcoming language arts unit. They also ask the 4th grade teachers what they hope students will have mastered by the time they leave 3rd grade. On the basis of the shared knowledge generated by this joint study, the 3rd grade team agrees on the critical outcomes that they will make sure each student achieves during the unit.

Next, the team turns its attention to developing common formative assessments to monitor each student's mastery of the essential outcomes. Team members discuss the most authentic and valid ways to assess student mastery. They set the standard for each skill or concept that each student must achieve to be deemed proficient. They agree on the criteria by which they will judge the quality of student work, and they practice applying those criteria until they can do so consistently. Finally, they decide when they will administer the assessments.

After each teacher has examined the results of the common formative assessment for his or her students, the team analyzes how all 3rd graders performed. Team members identify strengths and weaknesses in student learning and begin to discuss how they can build on the strengths and address the weaknesses. The entire team gains new insights into what is working and what is not, and members discuss new strategies that they can implement in their classrooms to raise student achievement.

At Boones Mill, collaborative conversations happen routinely throughout the year. Teachers use frequent formative assessments to investigate the questions "Are students learning what they need to learn?" and "Who needs additional time and support to learn?" rather than relying solely on summative assessments that ask "Which students learned what was intended and which students did not?"

Collaborative conversations call on team members to make public what has traditionally been private-goals, strategies, materials, pacing, questions, concerns, and results. These discussions give every teacher someone to turn to and talk to, and they are explicitly structured to improve the classroom practice of teachers-individually and collectively.

For teachers to participate in such a powerful process, the school must ensure that everyone belongs to a team that focuses on student learning. Each team must have time to meet during the workday and throughout the school year. Teams must focus their efforts on crucial questions related to learning and generate products that reflect that focus, such as lists of essential outcomes, different kinds of assessment, analyses of student achievement, and strategies for improving results. Teams must develop norms or protocols to clarify expectations regarding roles, responsibilities, and relationships among team members. Teams must adopt student achievement goals linked with school and district goals.

Removing Barriers to Success

For meaningful collaboration to occur, a number of things must also stop happening. Schools must stop pretending that merely presenting teachers with state standards or district curriculum guides will guarantee that all students have access to a common curriculum. Even school districts that devote tremendous time and energy to designing the intended curriculum often pay little attention to the implemented curriculum (what teachers actually teach) and even less to the attained curriculum (what students learn) (Marzano, 2003). Schools must also give teachers time to analyze and discuss state and district curriculum documents. More important, teacher conversations must quickly move beyond "What are we expected to teach?" to "How will we know when each student has learned?"

In addition, faculties must stop making excuses for failing to collaborate. Few educators publicly assert that working in isolation is the best strategy for improving schools. Instead, they give reasons why it is impossible for them to work together: "We just can't find the time." "Not everyone on the staff has endorsed the idea." "We need more training in collaboration." But the number of schools that have created truly collaborative cultures proves that such barriers are not insurmountable. As Roland Barth (1991) wrote,

Are teachers and administrators willing to accept the fact that they are part of the problem? . . . God didn't create self-contained classrooms, 50-minute periods, and subjects taught in isolation. We did-because we find working alone safer than and preferable to working together. (pp. 126-127)

In the final analysis, building the collaborative culture of a professional learning community is a question of will. A group of staff members who are determined to work together will find a way.

Big Idea #3: A Focus on Results

Professional learning communities judge their effectiveness on the basis of results. Working together to improve student achievement becomes the routine work of everyone in the school. Every teacher team participates in an ongoing process of identifying the current level of student achievement, establishing a goal to improve the current level, working together to achieve that goal, and providing periodic evidence of progress. The focus of team goals shifts. Such goals as "We will adopt the Junior Great Books program" or "We will create three new labs for our science course" give way to "We will increase the percentage of students who meet the state standard in language arts from 83 percent to 90 percent" or "We will reduce the failure rate in our course by 50 percent."

Schools and teachers typically suffer from the DRIP syndrome-Data Rich/Information Poor. The results-oriented professional learning community not only welcomes data but also turns data into useful and relevant information for staff. Teachers have never suffered from a lack of data. Even a teacher who works in isolation can easily establish the mean, mode, median, standard deviation, and percentage of students who demonstrated proficiency every time he or she administers a test. However, data will become a catalyst for improved teacher practice only if the teacher has a basis of comparison.

When teacher teams develop common formative assessments throughout the school year, each teacher can identify how his or her students performed on each skill compared with other students. Individual teachers can call on their team colleagues to help them reflect on areas of concern. Each teacher has access to the ideas, materials, strategies, and talents of the entire team.

Freeport Intermediate School, located 50 miles south of Houston, Texas, attributes its success to an unrelenting focus on results. Teachers work in collaborative teams for 90 minutes daily to clarify the essential outcomes of their grade levels and courses and to align those outcomes with state standards. They develop consistent instructional calendars and administer the same brief assessment to all students at the same grade level at the conclusion of each instructional unit, roughly once a week.

Each quarter, the teams administer a common cumulative exam. Each spring, the teams develop and administer practice tests for the state exam. Each year, the teams pore over the results of the state test, which are broken down to show every teacher how his or her students performed on every skill and on every test item. The teachers share their results from all of these assessments with their colleagues, and they quickly learn when a teammate has been particularly effective in teaching a certain skill. Team members consciously look for successful practice and attempt to replicate it in their own practice; they also identify areas of the curriculum that need more attention.

Freeport Intermediate has been transformed from one of the lowest-performing schools in the state to a national model for academic achievement. Principal Clara Sale-Davis believes that the crucial first step in that transformation came when the staff began to honestly confront data on student achievement and to work together to improve results rather than make excuses for them.

Of course, this focus on continual improvement and results requires educators to change traditional practices and revise prevalent assumptions. Educators must begin to embrace data as a useful indicator of progress. They must stop disregarding or excusing unfavorable data and honestly confront the sometimes-brutal facts. They must stop using averages to analyze student performance and begin to focus on the success of each student.

Educators who focus on results must also stop limiting improvement goals to factors outside the classroom, such as student discipline and staff morale, and shift their attention to goals that focus on student learning. They must stop assessing their own effectiveness on the basis of how busy they are or how many new initiatives they have launched and begin instead to ask, "Have we made progress on the goals that are most important to us?" Educators must stop working in isolation and hoarding their ideas, materials, and strategies and begin to work together to meet the needs of all students.

Hard Work and Commitment

Even the grandest design eventually translates into hard work. The professional learning community model is a grand design-a powerful new way of working together that profoundly affects the practices of schooling. But initiating and sustaining the concept requires hard work. It requires the school staff to focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively on matters related to learning, and hold itself accountable for the kind of results that fuel continual improvement.

When educators do the hard work necessary to implement these principles, their collective ability to help all students learn will rise. If they fail to demonstrate the discipline to initiate and sustain this work, then their school is unlikely to become more effective, even if those within it claim to be a professional learning community. The rise or fall of the professional learning community concept depends not on the merits of the concept itself, but on the most important element in the improvement of any school-the commitment and persistence of the educators within it.

References

Barth, R. (1991). Restructuring schools: Some questions for teachers and principals. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(2), 123-128.

Marzano, R. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Richard DuFour recently retired as Superintendent of Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. He currently resides in Moneta, Virginia, and may be reached at (540) 721-4662; rdufour@district125.k12.il.us. His forthcoming book is Whatever It Takes: How a Professional Learning Community Responds When Kids Don't Learn (National Educational Service, in press).

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What Is a Professional Learning Community?

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May 2004 | Volume 61 | Number 8 Schools as Learning Communities Pages 6-11 Richard DuFour The idea of improving schools by developing professional learning communities is currently in vogue.

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Andrew Kirschnick

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Andrew Kirschnick

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Professional learning community - Wikipedia

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If schools are to be significantly more effective, they must break from the industrial model upon which they were created and embrace a new model that enables them to function as learning organizations. We prefer characterizing learning organizations as "professional learning communities" for several vital reasons.

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Andrew Kirschnick

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Andrew Kirschnick

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Adam McSheffrey

http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Employees/PRSMattersBulletin/Pages/Professional%20Learning%20Communities.aspx

https://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/best-practices-for-professional-learning-communities.shtml

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Professional_Learning.pdf

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Adam McSheffrey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7YX40bWrCs

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Adam McSheffrey

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Christina Williamson

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The debate is just warming up and it promises to be lively. Are we seeing the start of another school-improvement bandwagon? Or will professional learning communities endure - enabling schools to become models of reflective and collaborative continuous improvement?

The idea of professional learning communities originated decades ago in connection with effective business organization. Peter Senge coined the term learning organization in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990). He defined the learning organization as a place where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free and where people continually learn how to learn together.

In Canadian education, professors Coral Mitchell and Larry Sackney have defined a professional learning community (PLC) as one where teachers and administrators take an active, reflective, collaborative, learning-oriented and growth-promoting approach to the mysteries and challenges of teaching and learning. PLC has come to mean schools where the entire staff is involved in data-based decision making about student needs, where they define school goals and directions to meet those needs and engage in ongoing study, discussion, testing and reflection to change their practice.

The ideals surrounding PLCs are neither new nor unique. In his 2001 book on educational change, education theorist Michael Fullan argues that after years of top-down reform, schools are suffering from overload and that any success is "in spite of the system."

Fullan says collegiality best supports true improvement. He advocates that teaching should be collective and reflective, not an individual activity. He states that successful schools value consistent standards, and successful teachers trust and appreciate others and ask for and share expertise.

Avis Glaze, Ontario's Chief Student Achievement Officer and CEO of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat at the Ministry of Education, believes that ongoing learning and reflection are pivotal in the practice of true professionals.

"Teachers learn with and from one another," says Glaze. Professional learning communities are about collegiality among individuals who can discuss what works and share resources that can make a difference. They are results-oriented and use research to guide their decisions. "When we build PLCs, we embed learning to ensure a lasting effect on both student achievement and organizational effectiveness."

The question is: Can PLCs help implement lasting and significant change that will truly improve student learning? We decided to look at the realities of PLCs in the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB.

On the ground

"Education tends to be rather conservative, and many educators see change initiatives as fads that come and go," says Debbie Kasman, principal of Courtice North PS. "As a result, we don't often make major, long-lasting changes in our schools."

But Kasman wanted her school to be a professional learning community and staff members are now working to that end.

"Teachers have always worked with colleagues to some degree, but the majority most often work alone, within their classrooms," explains Paul Reid, Courtice North's vice-principal, who believes that some of the most successful classrooms, divisions and schools are those where teachers work collaboratively, dropping their guard to share both frustrations and successes. "Instead of personal islands, we envision a community of teachers focused on a common goal."

Last fall, CNPS staff reviewed board-assessment data, diagnostic early-literacy assessments, primary division-running records and EQAO results to identify their greatest area of need (GAN). Kasman talks about the role of the data: "We value assessment for learning, not assessment of learning." From this process the area of need was identified. Courtice North would address students' reading skills, which they saw as key to success in all subjects.

Echoing Fullan's belief that "real change depends on what teachers do and think," Kasman emphasizes that administration did not direct the decision: "Teachers chose the goal and have made program changes to reflect what the data tells them our students need."

The next step was to set measurable goals that addressed their GAN. Junior teachers set a target of five per cent improvement in reading scores across Grades 4 to 6 by the end of June 2005. The goal was simple and linked to student assessments - not mother-hood statements about improving school tone.

"This initiative has given me a clear idea of where we are going," says Grade 6 teacher Jennifer Pym-Murphy. Now in her seventh year of teaching and the school's lead Junior literacy teacher, Pym-Murphy feels that the school-wide goal has made it easier to focus curriculum and that students are benefiting. "I can work toward these goals every day in my own classroom."

Primary teachers grouped kindergarten students according to needs for differentiated instruction. "We had five groups, each working with a different teacher daily for 20 minutes," says Erica Luck, the school's early literacy teacher. "Two even went ahead with a Grade 1 class because that best met their needs. It was fantastic."

Committing resources

Now, teachers envision school-wide programming where students are grouped according to needs and skill levels to receive targeted instruction in specific subject areas - rather than working in strict grade-level classrooms.

Kasman acknowledges, "It is a challenge to create time for teachers to discuss, learn and reflect during the school day." Finding time is one of the most difficult aspects of sustaining a school-wide PLC. But there are creative ways to do it when the administration sees it as a priority.

At Courtice North this year, Kasman allocated money for supply teachers. She and Reid also covered classes when necessary to release teachers during the day. As well, Luck spent some of her time at the school covering classes, so that colleagues could work together or sit in on other classes.

"When it's made a priority, a lot can be done," says Kasman. "But there's no question that we need to be creative in carving out time during the school day."

Teachers were freed for PD sessions with Luck on building capacity by sharing, and demonstrating and modeling new instructional practices. Junior teachers learned about running records and guided reading (usually the domain of Primary teachers) and Primary teachers examined student-achievement data to make decisions around student intervention. Supply teachers were also used to free staff time to develop the school's mission, vision and values statements. Next year's timetable provides same-grade teachers with common planning times.

It is important to distinguish between professional development and a professional learning community. Assessment and evaluation guru Rick Stiggins argues that workshops alone will not produce sustained and meaningful improvement because they do not permit experimentation with new ideas in real classrooms and the vital sharing of experiences with colleagues. Kasman agrees, saying that teachers often view PD workshops as "add-ons" or "something that is done to them." If they don't buy into the workshop content and make a concerted effort to take the new idea back to the classroom, then the odds of PD affecting teachers' practice are pretty slim.

In a PLC, teachers choose their professional development and choices are not made in isolation. They learn about a new idea, try it in their classrooms, reflect on it, talk about the results with their colleagues, and then fine-tune it and try it again. If it works, they stay with it and find ways to improve it; if it doesn't work, they try something else. In a PLC, Stiggins explains, teachers conduct action research in their classrooms, looking for ways to improve student achievement. They do this with the support of their colleagues. Indeed, a successful PLC requires commitment and can help to produce it.

In the fall of 2004, members of Courtice North's school council were planning to raise money for a new playground. When they learned about the school's reading focus they decided to support that initiative instead, and bought sets of books for each of the guided reading levels. "It's fantastic that our school council is on board and can support our work in such a helpful and tangible way," Kasman enthuses.

Pym-Murphy describes the difference in school culture in just one year: "I feel less isolated because I'm part of something bigger. It's not just me in my classroom; I know that my colleagues down the hall are working towards the same goal. We are working together more and there's more sharing among grades and levels."

"Our PLC is about opening classroom doors and talking, sharing and planning together," explains Kasman. "It's about hearing a new idea and feeling comfortable enough, safe enough and supported enough to try it. It's exciting!"

Variations on a team

PLCs have commonalities but are different from learning teams (see Mapping the Journey to Student Success, Professionally Speaking, September 2004). The reflective experimentation and collaborative approaches are similar, but learning teams are not necessarily school-based or school-wide. Members of a learning team focus on particular areas of responsibility - a common grade, division or subject area - and may address specific needs - how students can best learn and apply a new math concept, for example.

A PLC, on the other hand, may integrate various learning teams to address school-wide challenges. A PLC requires collaboration and communication throughout a whole school and a collective responsibility for every child.

Some schools may never become PLCs, while their learning teams continue to address specific needs and projects. In the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB many teachers participate in such teams. For example, teachers from various schools might work together to improve teaching and learning for students with autism.

"Many ideals of PLCs are followed," says Joan James, vice-principal at Dr. LB Powers PS. "But this group is less formal. These teachers are enjoying the process and benefits of their learning team, both personally and professionally, and of course their students are benefiting as well."

In 2003, 36 early literacy teachers conducted a self-guided book study using a literacy teaching strategy called a literature circle. This year, the team moved online to study another text and continue professional conversations. Although teachers miss the face-to-face contact, they find it more convenient. They go online when it suits them and have time to be more thoughtful about their opinions and others' comments.

Mitchell and Sackney contend that one of the most important factors for successful PLCs is investment in professional development that is directly and explicitly linked to classroom practice and school goals. Effective PD requires time, professional collaboration and collaborative discourse structured around teaching and learning.

Embedding change

The SMART Schools work of DuFour and Eaker contend that if a change initiative is to be sustained, the elements of that change must be embedded in the culture.

This September, Ron Tansley will become principal of Clarington Central - the first new secondary school built in the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB in 33 years. He relishes the opportunity to define a PLC culture at the new school from the beginning.

Last year, Tansley worked with parents and the school's future department heads to develop guiding principles for the school. "I am looking forward to working with staff who will be empowered to make data-informed decisions that reflect our guiding principles and focus on improving learning for all students."

Strong leadership is an essential component of a PLC. The principal must give clear signals that professional learning is important and allocate sufficient time and resources. But saying that a school will become a professional learning community does not make it so. A truly successful PLC thrives when collegial reflection, study, discussion, experimentation, preparation and evaluation of teaching materials become the norm. An exercise imposed by an administrator in search of a solution is not enough.

Schools can begin the process - establishing guiding principles and putting posters up on their walls - but until curriculum, rules and initiatives reflect the process and until teachers completely buy into and value them, there can be no meaningful and lasting change.

Mitchell and Sackney observe that creating a PLC is a daunting and complicated task that requires fundamentally different ways of being a teacher and thinking about teaching and learning. It requires that teachers put themselves on the line and expose knowledge gaps to their colleagues and then work together to address them.

Based on what's happening in schools in Kawartha Pine Ridge, the efforts are worth the work and the results are paying dividends, both for students and teachers.

For a bibliography of related readings, visit this issue of Professionally Speaking online at www.oct.ca.

Six steps to a Plc culture

A National Education Service workshop summarizes the steps to achieving a school culture that supports a professional learning community:

Define mission, vision, values and goals

There is a collective commitment to guiding principles that articulate and interconnect what staff members believe and what governs their actions and behaviour.

Ensure collective inquiry and constantly question what is being done

Professionals seek innovative methods of teaching and learning and support each other as they test them. They co-ordinate their actions to ensure that the work of individuals contributes to the common goals identified by staff.

Develop a common purpose

Collaborative teams of teachers learn from each other and create momentum that drives improvement. They build a school structure that supports improvement, while administration supports their work with creative scheduling that allows them to find team time during the school day. Strategies may include timetabling for common planning time, using paraprofessionals and parent volunteers, combined classes, school-wide activities, theme and team teaching and purchasing supply teachers.

Focus on action and experimentation

All learning is pragmatic and quickly turned into action. Teaching strategies and learning theories are thoroughly tested in classrooms, results are monitored and assessed, and findings are shared with colleagues.

Value continuous improvement

Teachers are never content with the status quo and constantly seek better ways. Innovation and experimentation are the norm.

Seek results

No matter how well-intentioned the efforts, only results count. They must be observable and measurable. Assessment and re-evaluation are constant and rigorous.

For more information on the SMART Schools conferences and the National Educational Service, visit www.lnesc.org.

Linguistic Minorities

by Gabrielle Barkany

In the minority setting of Ontario's French-language schools, professional learning communities may offer some of the additional support needed by teachers working to strengthen students' language skills.

Over the past five years, several French-language district school boards have established frameworks to encourage teaching methods that respect students' individual learning styles and improve achievement. Sources of inspiration have been research on reflective practice conducted by Americans Robert Eaker and Richard DuFour and Quebec educator Jacques Tardif's observations on constructivism.

Teachers and administrators work together - sharing responsibility for creating educational projects at their school. "We try to set up educational projects that reflect the realities of the francophone minority and address needs that differ from region to region," explains Gyslaine Hunter-Perreault, superintendent of Conseil scolaire public Centre-Sud-Ouest.

School staff members compile class profiles that look at students' academic results and performance in provincial tests as well as their social and emotional needs, before developing school- and grade-specific strategies.

"A student's success is not the concern of only one teacher but of all our teachers."

"A school in the heart of Toronto may focus on improving the written French - spelling, grammar, syntax - of its multi-ethnic students," notes Hunter-Perreault. "Whereas a school in Sarnia might focus on improving its students' oral communication because their environment is much more anglicized."

At École élémentaire l'Héritage in St. Catharines, the professional learning community has set goals around literacy. "Part of the success of professional learning communities is that staff members share responsibility for the students and they own the results," explains Kamel Fodil, who is principal at l'Héritage. "A student's academic success is not the concern of only one teacher but of all our teachers."

For more than a year now, the Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l'Est ontarien (CSDCEO) has encouraged professional learning communities and teams, which are addressing literacy and numeracy issues in individual schools. One goal is to increase performance in provincial testing and improve reading and vocabulary - especially among boys.

New projects are now bringing together elementary and secondary teachers to discuss ways of providing more continuity and decreasing redundancy between levels.

There are many considered teaching and learning strategies that can improve student achievement and help teachers to hone their practice. But, to be fully effective, learning communities require commitment and continuity.

"If we want to engage teachers, first we have to convince them that we are not there to judge their work, but to support them in improving learning," says Jean-Pierre Dufour, director of educational services for CSDCEO.

"Successful practices also need flexible calendars, financial resources and time," says Dufour, adding that research indicates that such projects need five to seven years to do well.

Factors such as high staff turnover - at many schools one in five of the teachers is new every year - can make sustained implementation difficult. But since success usually makes both students and teachers happier, boards have reason to hope that team-building will also help to increase job satisfaction - encouraging teachers to stay in the same school.

Bibliography

Donahoe, T, "Finding the Way: Structure, time and culture in school improvement," Phi Delta Kappan (75-4).

DuFour, Richard and Robert Eaker, Professional Learning Communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement (Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service, 1998).

DuFour Richard and Robert Eaker, Communautés d'apprentissage professionnelles: méthodes d'amélioration du rendement scolaire (Bloomington, IN: National Education Service, 2004).

DuFour, Richard, Robert Eaker and Rebecca DuFour, Premiers pas: Transformation culturelle de l'école en communauté d'apprentissage professionnelle (Bloomington, IN: National Education Service, 2004).

Fullan, Michael, Leading in a Culture of Change (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001).

Fullan, Michael, The New Meaning of Educational Change (New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 3rd edition, 2001).

McLaughlin, M.W. and J.E. Talbert, Professional Communities and the Work of High School Teaching (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001).

Mitchell, C. and L. Sackney, "Building Capacity for a Learning Community," Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (# 19, February 24, 2001).

Mitchell, C. and L. Sackney, Profound Improvement: Building capacity for a learning community (Lisse, NL: Swets & Zeitlinger, 2000).

Schmoker, M., "Tipping Point: From feckless reform to substantive instructional improvement," Phi Delta Kappan (85-6, February 2004).

Schmoker, M., The Results Fieldbook: Practical Strategies from Dramatically Improved Schools (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001).

Schmoker, M., Results: The Key to continuous school improvement (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1996).

Senge, P.M., A. Kleiner, C. Roberts, R. Ross, G. Roth and B. Smith, The Dance of Change: The Challenges to sustaining momentum in learning organizations (New York: Doubleday, 1999).

Senge, P., A. Kleiner and C. Roberts (eds), The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization (New York: Doubleday, 1994).

Senge, P., The Fifth Discipline: The Art and practice of the learning organization (New York: Currency Doubleday, 1990).

Stiggins, R., "Assessment, Student Confidence and School Success," Phi Delta Kappan (November 1999).

Tardif, Jacques, Pour un enseignement stratégique (Montréal: Éditions Logique, 1992).

Tardif, Jacques, L'apprentissage d'abord (Montréal: Éditions Logique, 1994).

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The debate is just warming up and it promises to be lively. Are we seeing the start of another school-improvement bandwagon? Or will professional learning communities endure - enabling schools to become models of reflective and collaborative continuous improvement? The idea of professional learning communities originated decades ago in connection with effective business organization.

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Christina Williamson
(includes presentation slides to inform what it is and what you can do, etc)

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In this hands-on session you'll be introduced to TeachOntario, a new online community that supports sharing, collaboration and knowledge exchange among Ontario's teachers. Hear from educators who are using the platform to create and share content, engage in discussion groups and contribute to the ever-growing, online community.

TeachOntario was created by TVO, in partnership with the Ontario Teachers' Federation (OTF), its Affiliates and the Ministry of Education (EDU), and in consultation with teachers from a variety of districts across the province. This platform is for you! It's for Ontario teachers, by Ontario teachers.

Setup your free TeachOntario account here. Need help? Ask Albert!

Educator Facilitators: Maureen Asselin, Colleen Rose and Derrick Schellenberg
TVO Facilitators: Nikki Luscombe and Albert Wisco
Resources:

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TeachOntario: A Professional Learning Community for Educators

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In this hands-on session you'll be introduced to TeachOntario, a new online community that supports sharing, collaboration and knowledge exchange among Ontario's teachers. Hear from educators who are using the platform to create and share content, engage in discussion groups and contribute to the ever-growing, online community.

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Christina Williamson

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Professional learning community (PLC)

An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.

Read what advocates say about the impact of PLCs.
What Are Professional Learning Communities?

It has been interesting to observe the growing popularity of the term professional learning community. In fact, the term has become so commonplace and has been used so ambiguously to describe virtually any loose coupling of individuals who share a common interest in education that it is in danger of losing all meaning. This lack of precision is an obstacle to implementing PLC processes because, as Mike Schmoker observes, "clarity precedes competence" (2004a, p. 85). Thus, we begin with an attempt to clarify our meaning of the term. To those familiar with our past work, this step may seem redundant, but we are convinced that redundancy can be a powerful tool in effective communication, and we prefer redundancy to ambiguity.

We have seen many instances in which educators assume that a PLC is a program. For example, one faculty told us that each year they implemented a new program in their school. In the previous year it had been PLC, the year prior to that it had been "understanding by design," and the current year it was "differentiated instruction." They had converted the names of the various programs into verbs, and the joke on the faculty was that they had been "UBDed, PLCed, and DIed." The PLC process is not a program. It cannot be purchased, nor can it be implemented by anyone other than the staff itself. Most importantly, it is ongoing-a continuous, never-ending process of conducting schooling that has a profound impact on the structure and culture of the school and the assumptions and practices of the professionals within it.

We have seen other instances in which educators assume that a PLC is a meeting-an occasional event when they meet with colleagues to complete a task. It is not uncommon for us to hear, "My PLC meets Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m." This perception of a PLC is wrong on two counts. First, the PLC is the larger organization and not the individual teams that comprise it. While collaborative teams are an essential part of the PLC process, the sum is greater than the individual parts. Much of the work of a PLC cannot be done by a team but instead requires a schoolwide or districtwide effort. So we believe it is helpful to think of the school or district as the PLC and the various collaborative teams as the building blocks of the PLC. Second, once again, the PLC process has a pervasive and ongoing impact on the structure and culture of the school. If educators meet with peers on a regular basis only to return to business as usual, they are not functioning as a PLC. So the PLC process is much more than a meeting.

So, what is a PLC? We argue that it is an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators. The following section examines the elements of the PLC process more closely.

A Focus on Learning

The very essence of a learning community is a focus on and a commitment to the learning of each student. When a school or district functions as a PLC, educators within the organization embrace high levels of learning for all students as both the reason the organization exists and the fundamental responsibility of those who work within it. In order to achieve this purpose, the members of a PLC create and are guided by a clear and compelling vision of what the organization must become in order to help all students learn. They make collective commitments clarifying what each member will do to create such an organization, and they use results-oriented goals to mark their progress. Members work together to clarify exactly what each student must learn, monitor each student's learning on a timely basis, provide systematic interventions that ensure students receive additional time and support for learning when they struggle, and extend and enrich learning when students have already mastered the intended outcomes.

A corollary assumption is that if the organization is to become more effective in helping all students learn, the adults in the organization must also be continually learning. Therefore, structures are created to ensure staff members engage in job-embedded learning as part of their routine work practices.

There is no ambiguity or hedging regarding this commitment to learning. Whereas many schools operate as if their primary purpose is to ensure that children are taught, PLCs are dedicated to the idea that their organization exists to ensure that all students learn essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions. All the other characteristics of a PLC flow directly from this epic shift in assumptions about the purpose of the school.

A Collaborative Culture With a Focus on Learning for All

Collaboration is a means to an end, not the end itself. In many schools, staff members are willing to collaborate on a variety of topics as long as the focus of the conversation stops at their classroom door. In a PLC, collaboration represents a systematic process in which teachers work together interdependently in order to impact their classroom practice in ways that will lead to better results for their students, for their team, and for their school.

Collective Inquiry Into Best Practice and Current Reality

The teams in a PLC engage in collective inquiry into both best practices in teaching and best practices in learning. They also inquire about their current reality including their present practices and the levels of achievement of their students. They attempt to arrive at consensus on vital questions by building shared knowledge rather than pooling opinions. They have an acute sense of curiosity and openness to new possibilities.

Collective inquiry enables team members to develop new skills and capabilities that in turn lead to new experiences and awareness. Gradually, this heightened awareness transforms into fundamental shifts in attitudes, beliefs, and habits which, over time, transform the culture of the school.

Working together to build shared knowledge on the best way to achieve goals and meet the needs of clients is exactly what professionals in any field are expected to do, whether it is curing the patient, winning the lawsuit, or helping all students learn. Members of a professional learning community are expected to work and learn together.

Action Orientation: Learning by Doing

Members of PLCs are action oriented: they move quickly to turn aspirations into action and visions into reality. They understand that the most powerful learning always occurs in a context of taking action, and they value engagement and experience as the most effective teachers. Henry Mintzberg's (2005) observation about training leaders applies here: deep learning requires experience, which requires taking action. It "is as much about doing in order to think as thinking in order to do" (p. 10). In fact, the very reason that teachers work together in teams and engage in collective inquiry is to serve as catalysts for action.

A Commitment to Continuous Improvement

Inherent to a PLC are a persistent disquiet with the status quo and a constant search for a better way to achieve goals and accomplish the purpose of the organization. Systematic processes engage each member of the organization in an ongoing cycle of:

Gathering evidence of current levels of student learning

Developing strategies and ideas to build on strengths and address weaknesses in that learning

Implementing those strategies and ideas

Analyzing the impact of the changes to discover what was effective and what was not

Applying new knowledge in the next cycle of continuous improvement

The goal is not simply to learn a new strategy, but instead to create conditions for a perpetual learning environment in which innovation and experimentation are viewed not as tasks to be accomplished or projects to be completed but as ways of conducting day-to-day business- forever. Furthermore, participation in this process is not reserved for those designated as leaders; rather, it is a responsibility of every member of the organization.

Results Orientation

Finally, members of a PLC realize that all of their efforts in these areas (a focus on learning, collaborative teams, collective inquiry, action orientation, and continuous improvement) must be assessed on the basis of results rather than intentions. Unless initiatives are subjected to ongoing assessment on the basis of tangible results, they represent random groping in the dark rather than purposeful improvement. As Peter Senge and colleagues conclude, "The rationale for any strategy for building a learning organization revolves around the premise that such organizations will produce dramatically improved results."

This focus on results leads each team to develop and pursue measurable improvement goals that are aligned to school and district goals for learning. It also drives teams to create a series of common formative assessments that are administered to students multiple times throughout the year to gather ongoing evidence of student learning. Team members review the results from these assessments in an effort to identify and address program concerns (areas of learning where many students are experiencing difficulty). They also examine the results to discover strengths and weaknesses in their individual teaching in order to learn from one another. Most importantly, the assessments are used to identify students who need additional time and support for learning. Frequent common formative assessments represent one of the most powerful tools in the PLC arsenal.
Please also see What Is a "Professional Learning Community"?DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2006). Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work™, pp. 2-4.

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An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.

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Christina Williamson

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Christina Williamson

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Damian Lozada
a group of educators that meets regularly, shares expertise, and works collaboratively to improve teaching skills and the academic performance of studentA

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Ashton Lavigne

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The debate is just warming up and it promises to be lively. Are we seeing the start of another school-improvement bandwagon? Or will professional learning communities endure - enabling schools to become models of reflective and collaborative continuous improvement?

The idea of professional learning communities originated decades ago in connection with effective business organization. Peter Senge coined the term learning organization in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990). He defined the learning organization as a place where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free and where people continually learn how to learn together.

In Canadian education, professors Coral Mitchell and Larry Sackney have defined a professional learning community (PLC) as one where teachers and administrators take an active, reflective, collaborative, learning-oriented and growth-promoting approach to the mysteries and challenges of teaching and learning. PLC has come to mean schools where the entire staff is involved in data-based decision making about student needs, where they define school goals and directions to meet those needs and engage in ongoing study, discussion, testing and reflection to change their practice.

The ideals surrounding PLCs are neither new nor unique. In his 2001 book on educational change, education theorist Michael Fullan argues that after years of top-down reform, schools are suffering from overload and that any success is "in spite of the system."

Fullan says collegiality best supports true improvement. He advocates that teaching should be collective and reflective, not an individual activity. He states that successful schools value consistent standards, and successful teachers trust and appreciate others and ask for and share expertise.

Avis Glaze, Ontario's Chief Student Achievement Officer and CEO of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat at the Ministry of Education, believes that ongoing learning and reflection are pivotal in the practice of true professionals.

"Teachers learn with and from one another," says Glaze. Professional learning communities are about collegiality among individuals who can discuss what works and share resources that can make a difference. They are results-oriented and use research to guide their decisions. "When we build PLCs, we embed learning to ensure a lasting effect on both student achievement and organizational effectiveness."

The question is: Can PLCs help implement lasting and significant change that will truly improve student learning? We decided to look at the realities of PLCs in the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB.

On the ground

"Education tends to be rather conservative, and many educators see change initiatives as fads that come and go," says Debbie Kasman, principal of Courtice North PS. "As a result, we don't often make major, long-lasting changes in our schools."

But Kasman wanted her school to be a professional learning community and staff members are now working to that end.

"Teachers have always worked with colleagues to some degree, but the majority most often work alone, within their classrooms," explains Paul Reid, Courtice North's vice-principal, who believes that some of the most successful classrooms, divisions and schools are those where teachers work collaboratively, dropping their guard to share both frustrations and successes. "Instead of personal islands, we envision a community of teachers focused on a common goal."

Last fall, CNPS staff reviewed board-assessment data, diagnostic early-literacy assessments, primary division-running records and EQAO results to identify their greatest area of need (GAN). Kasman talks about the role of the data: "We value assessment for learning, not assessment of learning." From this process the area of need was identified. Courtice North would address students' reading skills, which they saw as key to success in all subjects.

Echoing Fullan's belief that "real change depends on what teachers do and think," Kasman emphasizes that administration did not direct the decision: "Teachers chose the goal and have made program changes to reflect what the data tells them our students need."

The next step was to set measurable goals that addressed their GAN. Junior teachers set a target of five per cent improvement in reading scores across Grades 4 to 6 by the end of June 2005. The goal was simple and linked to student assessments - not mother-hood statements about improving school tone.

"This initiative has given me a clear idea of where we are going," says Grade 6 teacher Jennifer Pym-Murphy. Now in her seventh year of teaching and the school's lead Junior literacy teacher, Pym-Murphy feels that the school-wide goal has made it easier to focus curriculum and that students are benefiting. "I can work toward these goals every day in my own classroom."

Primary teachers grouped kindergarten students according to needs for differentiated instruction. "We had five groups, each working with a different teacher daily for 20 minutes," says Erica Luck, the school's early literacy teacher. "Two even went ahead with a Grade 1 class because that best met their needs. It was fantastic."

Committing resources

Now, teachers envision school-wide programming where students are grouped according to needs and skill levels to receive targeted instruction in specific subject areas - rather than working in strict grade-level classrooms.

Kasman acknowledges, "It is a challenge to create time for teachers to discuss, learn and reflect during the school day." Finding time is one of the most difficult aspects of sustaining a school-wide PLC. But there are creative ways to do it when the administration sees it as a priority.

At Courtice North this year, Kasman allocated money for supply teachers. She and Reid also covered classes when necessary to release teachers during the day. As well, Luck spent some of her time at the school covering classes, so that colleagues could work together or sit in on other classes.

"When it's made a priority, a lot can be done," says Kasman. "But there's no question that we need to be creative in carving out time during the school day."

Teachers were freed for PD sessions with Luck on building capacity by sharing, and demonstrating and modeling new instructional practices. Junior teachers learned about running records and guided reading (usually the domain of Primary teachers) and Primary teachers examined student-achievement data to make decisions around student intervention. Supply teachers were also used to free staff time to develop the school's mission, vision and values statements. Next year's timetable provides same-grade teachers with common planning times.

It is important to distinguish between professional development and a professional learning community. Assessment and evaluation guru Rick Stiggins argues that workshops alone will not produce sustained and meaningful improvement because they do not permit experimentation with new ideas in real classrooms and the vital sharing of experiences with colleagues. Kasman agrees, saying that teachers often view PD workshops as "add-ons" or "something that is done to them." If they don't buy into the workshop content and make a concerted effort to take the new idea back to the classroom, then the odds of PD affecting teachers' practice are pretty slim.

In a PLC, teachers choose their professional development and choices are not made in isolation. They learn about a new idea, try it in their classrooms, reflect on it, talk about the results with their colleagues, and then fine-tune it and try it again. If it works, they stay with it and find ways to improve it; if it doesn't work, they try something else. In a PLC, Stiggins explains, teachers conduct action research in their classrooms, looking for ways to improve student achievement. They do this with the support of their colleagues. Indeed, a successful PLC requires commitment and can help to produce it.

In the fall of 2004, members of Courtice North's school council were planning to raise money for a new playground. When they learned about the school's reading focus they decided to support that initiative instead, and bought sets of books for each of the guided reading levels. "It's fantastic that our school council is on board and can support our work in such a helpful and tangible way," Kasman enthuses.

Pym-Murphy describes the difference in school culture in just one year: "I feel less isolated because I'm part of something bigger. It's not just me in my classroom; I know that my colleagues down the hall are working towards the same goal. We are working together more and there's more sharing among grades and levels."

"Our PLC is about opening classroom doors and talking, sharing and planning together," explains Kasman. "It's about hearing a new idea and feeling comfortable enough, safe enough and supported enough to try it. It's exciting!"

Variations on a team

PLCs have commonalities but are different from learning teams (see Mapping the Journey to Student Success, Professionally Speaking, September 2004). The reflective experimentation and collaborative approaches are similar, but learning teams are not necessarily school-based or school-wide. Members of a learning team focus on particular areas of responsibility - a common grade, division or subject area - and may address specific needs - how students can best learn and apply a new math concept, for example.

A PLC, on the other hand, may integrate various learning teams to address school-wide challenges. A PLC requires collaboration and communication throughout a whole school and a collective responsibility for every child.

Some schools may never become PLCs, while their learning teams continue to address specific needs and projects. In the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB many teachers participate in such teams. For example, teachers from various schools might work together to improve teaching and learning for students with autism.

"Many ideals of PLCs are followed," says Joan James, vice-principal at Dr. LB Powers PS. "But this group is less formal. These teachers are enjoying the process and benefits of their learning team, both personally and professionally, and of course their students are benefiting as well."

In 2003, 36 early literacy teachers conducted a self-guided book study using a literacy teaching strategy called a literature circle. This year, the team moved online to study another text and continue professional conversations. Although teachers miss the face-to-face contact, they find it more convenient. They go online when it suits them and have time to be more thoughtful about their opinions and others' comments.

Mitchell and Sackney contend that one of the most important factors for successful PLCs is investment in professional development that is directly and explicitly linked to classroom practice and school goals. Effective PD requires time, professional collaboration and collaborative discourse structured around teaching and learning.

Embedding change

The SMART Schools work of DuFour and Eaker contend that if a change initiative is to be sustained, the elements of that change must be embedded in the culture.

This September, Ron Tansley will become principal of Clarington Central - the first new secondary school built in the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB in 33 years. He relishes the opportunity to define a PLC culture at the new school from the beginning.

Last year, Tansley worked with parents and the school's future department heads to develop guiding principles for the school. "I am looking forward to working with staff who will be empowered to make data-informed decisions that reflect our guiding principles and focus on improving learning for all students."

Strong leadership is an essential component of a PLC. The principal must give clear signals that professional learning is important and allocate sufficient time and resources. But saying that a school will become a professional learning community does not make it so. A truly successful PLC thrives when collegial reflection, study, discussion, experimentation, preparation and evaluation of teaching materials become the norm. An exercise imposed by an administrator in search of a solution is not enough.

Schools can begin the process - establishing guiding principles and putting posters up on their walls - but until curriculum, rules and initiatives reflect the process and until teachers completely buy into and value them, there can be no meaningful and lasting change.

Mitchell and Sackney observe that creating a PLC is a daunting and complicated task that requires fundamentally different ways of being a teacher and thinking about teaching and learning. It requires that teachers put themselves on the line and expose knowledge gaps to their colleagues and then work together to address them.

Based on what's happening in schools in Kawartha Pine Ridge, the efforts are worth the work and the results are paying dividends, both for students and teachers.

For a bibliography of related readings, visit this issue of Professionally Speaking online at www.oct.ca.

Six steps to a Plc culture

A National Education Service workshop summarizes the steps to achieving a school culture that supports a professional learning community:

Define mission, vision, values and goals

There is a collective commitment to guiding principles that articulate and interconnect what staff members believe and what governs their actions and behaviour.

Ensure collective inquiry and constantly question what is being done

Professionals seek innovative methods of teaching and learning and support each other as they test them. They co-ordinate their actions to ensure that the work of individuals contributes to the common goals identified by staff.

Develop a common purpose

Collaborative teams of teachers learn from each other and create momentum that drives improvement. They build a school structure that supports improvement, while administration supports their work with creative scheduling that allows them to find team time during the school day. Strategies may include timetabling for common planning time, using paraprofessionals and parent volunteers, combined classes, school-wide activities, theme and team teaching and purchasing supply teachers.

Focus on action and experimentation

All learning is pragmatic and quickly turned into action. Teaching strategies and learning theories are thoroughly tested in classrooms, results are monitored and assessed, and findings are shared with colleagues.

Value continuous improvement

Teachers are never content with the status quo and constantly seek better ways. Innovation and experimentation are the norm.

Seek results

No matter how well-intentioned the efforts, only results count. They must be observable and measurable. Assessment and re-evaluation are constant and rigorous.

For more information on the SMART Schools conferences and the National Educational Service, visit www.lnesc.org.

Linguistic Minorities

by Gabrielle Barkany

In the minority setting of Ontario's French-language schools, professional learning communities may offer some of the additional support needed by teachers working to strengthen students' language skills.

Over the past five years, several French-language district school boards have established frameworks to encourage teaching methods that respect students' individual learning styles and improve achievement. Sources of inspiration have been research on reflective practice conducted by Americans Robert Eaker and Richard DuFour and Quebec educator Jacques Tardif's observations on constructivism.

Teachers and administrators work together - sharing responsibility for creating educational projects at their school. "We try to set up educational projects that reflect the realities of the francophone minority and address needs that differ from region to region," explains Gyslaine Hunter-Perreault, superintendent of Conseil scolaire public Centre-Sud-Ouest.

School staff members compile class profiles that look at students' academic results and performance in provincial tests as well as their social and emotional needs, before developing school- and grade-specific strategies.

"A student's success is not the concern of only one teacher but of all our teachers."

"A school in the heart of Toronto may focus on improving the written French - spelling, grammar, syntax - of its multi-ethnic students," notes Hunter-Perreault. "Whereas a school in Sarnia might focus on improving its students' oral communication because their environment is much more anglicized."

At École élémentaire l'Héritage in St. Catharines, the professional learning community has set goals around literacy. "Part of the success of professional learning communities is that staff members share responsibility for the students and they own the results," explains Kamel Fodil, who is principal at l'Héritage. "A student's academic success is not the concern of only one teacher but of all our teachers."

For more than a year now, the Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l'Est ontarien (CSDCEO) has encouraged professional learning communities and teams, which are addressing literacy and numeracy issues in individual schools. One goal is to increase performance in provincial testing and improve reading and vocabulary - especially among boys.

New projects are now bringing together elementary and secondary teachers to discuss ways of providing more continuity and decreasing redundancy between levels.

There are many considered teaching and learning strategies that can improve student achievement and help teachers to hone their practice. But, to be fully effective, learning communities require commitment and continuity.

"If we want to engage teachers, first we have to convince them that we are not there to judge their work, but to support them in improving learning," says Jean-Pierre Dufour, director of educational services for CSDCEO.

"Successful practices also need flexible calendars, financial resources and time," says Dufour, adding that research indicates that such projects need five to seven years to do well.

Factors such as high staff turnover - at many schools one in five of the teachers is new every year - can make sustained implementation difficult. But since success usually makes both students and teachers happier, boards have reason to hope that team-building will also help to increase job satisfaction - encouraging teachers to stay in the same school.

Bibliography

Donahoe, T, "Finding the Way: Structure, time and culture in school improvement," Phi Delta Kappan (75-4).

DuFour, Richard and Robert Eaker, Professional Learning Communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement (Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service, 1998).

DuFour Richard and Robert Eaker, Communautés d'apprentissage professionnelles: méthodes d'amélioration du rendement scolaire (Bloomington, IN: National Education Service, 2004).

DuFour, Richard, Robert Eaker and Rebecca DuFour, Premiers pas: Transformation culturelle de l'école en communauté d'apprentissage professionnelle (Bloomington, IN: National Education Service, 2004).

Fullan, Michael, Leading in a Culture of Change (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001).

Fullan, Michael, The New Meaning of Educational Change (New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 3rd edition, 2001).

McLaughlin, M.W. and J.E. Talbert, Professional Communities and the Work of High School Teaching (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001).

Mitchell, C. and L. Sackney, "Building Capacity for a Learning Community," Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (# 19, February 24, 2001).

Mitchell, C. and L. Sackney, Profound Improvement: Building capacity for a learning community (Lisse, NL: Swets & Zeitlinger, 2000).

Schmoker, M., "Tipping Point: From feckless reform to substantive instructional improvement," Phi Delta Kappan (85-6, February 2004).

Schmoker, M., The Results Fieldbook: Practical Strategies from Dramatically Improved Schools (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001).

Schmoker, M., Results: The Key to continuous school improvement (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1996).

Senge, P.M., A. Kleiner, C. Roberts, R. Ross, G. Roth and B. Smith, The Dance of Change: The Challenges to sustaining momentum in learning organizations (New York: Doubleday, 1999).

Senge, P., A. Kleiner and C. Roberts (eds), The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization (New York: Doubleday, 1994).

Senge, P., The Fifth Discipline: The Art and practice of the learning organization (New York: Currency Doubleday, 1990).

Stiggins, R., "Assessment, Student Confidence and School Success," Phi Delta Kappan (November 1999).

Tardif, Jacques, Pour un enseignement stratégique (Montréal: Éditions Logique, 1992).

Tardif, Jacques, L'apprentissage d'abord (Montréal: Éditions Logique, 1994).

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pour parler profession

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The debate is just warming up and it promises to be lively. Are we seeing the start of another school-improvement bandwagon? Or will professional learning communities endure - enabling schools to become models of reflective and collaborative continuous improvement? The idea of professional learning communities originated decades ago in connection with effective business organization.

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Ashton Lavigne

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PDF Version

Professional Learning Communities are becoming more prevalent in Ontario. The term has many different interpretations and the implementation of Professional Learning Communities has deviated from the original research definitions. The Professional Learning Community is an organizational model that links the success of the school to the presence of the following factors: the importance of workplace factors (resources, climate, shared vision, good leadership), institutional support for teacher learning, opportunities for teachers to work collaboratively, and shared decision-making.

A Professional Learning Community focuses on three things: student learning, the development of a school culture that fosters professional collaboration, and results.

Although ETFO recognizes the potential of this new structure, it is becoming increasingly aware of situations where the Professional Learning Community is not collaborative, where shared decision-making is not the norm, where the PLC is under-resourced, and the focus is only on improving student results on EQAO tests.

ETFO has developed policy on Professional Learning Communities.

"A group of education professionals who share common visions, values, and goals, and work collaboratively using inquiry, experimentation, and innovation to improve teaching and student learning."

participation in a PLC is voluntary;

Professional Learning Communities are based on collegiality, respect for member professionalism and autonomy;

Professional Learning Communities are a means for teachers to generate knowledge regarding teaching and learning;

Professional Learning Communities are based upon an evidence-based, shared decision-making model;

Professional Learning Communities foster teacher empowerment and leadership development;

professional development opportunities during the school day on the role and function of a PLC are provided by district school boards prior to, and throughout the development of a Professional Learning Community;

funding is provided by school boards for a PLC to access professional learning opportunities and resources, and enable teachers to meet and collaborate during the school day, exclusive of teacher preparation time and nutrition/lunch breaks;

teacher self-directed learning is included in any professional development associated with a Professional Learning Community;

a PLC should focus on all areas of the curriculum, with emphasis on the development of the whole child; and

no aspect of teacher participation in a Professional Learning Community is used for teacher performance appraisal.

respects your autonomy;

works on a shared-decision making model;

uses data to improve teaching and learning;

provides professional development within the school day;

provides for individual and collective teacher professional development;

provides available resources;

defines clear responsibilities; and

does not use participation as criteria in the teacher performance appraisal process.

For more information, contact Professional Relations Staff at 416-962-3836 or 1-888-838-3836 at the provincial office.

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ETFO | Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

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PDF Version Professional Learning Communities are becoming more prevalent in Ontario. The term has many different interpretations and the implementation of Professional Learning Communities has deviated from the original research definitions.

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Ashton Lavigne

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Professional Learning Communities: A Model for Ontario

The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat CAPACITY BUILDING SERIES The Capacity Building Series is produced by The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat to support leadership and instructional effectiveness in Ontario schools. The series is posted at: www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/ literacynumeracy/inspire/ Why PLCs? "If there is anything that the research community agrees on, it is this: the right kind of continuous, structured teacher collaboration improves the quality of teaching and pays big, often immediate, dividends in student learning and professional morale in virtually any setting. Our experience with schools across the nations bears this out unequivocally." (Schmoker, 2004, p. 48) New from The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat The School Effectiveness Framework: A Collegial Process for Continued Growth in the Effectiveness of Ontario Elementary Schools is being released by The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat in the fall of 2007. The framework provides a thorough process for school self-assessment and board review. It is the expectation of The Secretariat that the School Effectiveness Framework will in form the work of PLCs. For more in formation call 416-326-8501. October 2007 ISSN: 1913 8482 (Print) ISSN: 1913 8490 (Online) Professional Learning Communities: A Model for Ontario Schools SECRETARIAT SPECIAL EDITION # 3 The ultimate goal of a professional learning community (PLC) can be summed up in three words: improved student achievement. Although the term has grown to encompass a wide variety of concepts and practices, a professional learning community is always a group of people who are motivated by a vision of learning and who support one another toward that end. A PLC: * represents a collective ef fort to enhance student learning * promotes and sustains the learning of all professionals in the school * builds knowledge through inquiry * analyses and uses data for reflection and improvement (Bolam et al., 2005) Various researchers agree that PLCs are important for improved student achievement. "Achieving school improvement involves continual learning groups focused on explicit goals for student learning." (Linda Darling-Hammond) "In successful schools, teachers form professional learning communities that focus on student work through assessment." (Michael Fullan) "Improved student learning and teaching result when teachers collaboratively focus on achievement and assessment, questioning practice, and supporting professional growth." (Judith Little) " Professional learning communities are indeed the best form of staff development." (Dennis Sparks) (cited in Schmoker, 2006, pp. 109, 177-178) With such strong research support, Ontario educators are compelled to investigate what makes professional learning communities so effective, and how wider implementation might be achieved in schools and districts across the province. The graphic on the next page highlights the components of a professional learning community. It is important to stress that if one component is not present in a school's PLC, then this high-yield strategy will not achieve its maximum benefit. For example, schools that have high levels of collaboration or collegiality, yet lack a focus on achievement through assessment, will have little impact on the character and quality of teacher practice (Schmoker, 2006, p. 178).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Professional Learning Communities: A Model for Ontario Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat CAPACITY BUILDING SERIES The Capacity Building Series is produced by The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat to support leadership and instructional effectiveness in Ontario schools. The series is posted at: www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/ literacynumeracy/inspire/ Why PLCs?

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Ashton Lavigne

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Long version - Professional Learning Animation AITSL

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Long version - Professional Learning Animation AITSL

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Damian LozadaIf you get the chance to be involved in a TLLP, do it! The perfect professional learning community.

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Ashton Lavigne

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Anna Maria Dell'Anno

http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Employees/PRSMattersBulletin/Pages/Professional%20Learning%20Communities.aspx

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/PLC.pdf

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The debate is just warming up and it promises to be lively. Are we seeing the start of another school-improvement bandwagon? Or will professional learning communities endure - enabling schools to become models of reflective and collaborative continuous improvement?

The idea of professional learning communities originated decades ago in connection with effective business organization. Peter Senge coined the term learning organization in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990). He defined the learning organization as a place where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free and where people continually learn how to learn together.

In Canadian education, professors Coral Mitchell and Larry Sackney have defined a professional learning community (PLC) as one where teachers and administrators take an active, reflective, collaborative, learning-oriented and growth-promoting approach to the mysteries and challenges of teaching and learning. PLC has come to mean schools where the entire staff is involved in data-based decision making about student needs, where they define school goals and directions to meet those needs and engage in ongoing study, discussion, testing and reflection to change their practice.

The ideals surrounding PLCs are neither new nor unique. In his 2001 book on educational change, education theorist Michael Fullan argues that after years of top-down reform, schools are suffering from overload and that any success is "in spite of the system."

Fullan says collegiality best supports true improvement. He advocates that teaching should be collective and reflective, not an individual activity. He states that successful schools value consistent standards, and successful teachers trust and appreciate others and ask for and share expertise.

Avis Glaze, Ontario's Chief Student Achievement Officer and CEO of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat at the Ministry of Education, believes that ongoing learning and reflection are pivotal in the practice of true professionals.

"Teachers learn with and from one another," says Glaze. Professional learning communities are about collegiality among individuals who can discuss what works and share resources that can make a difference. They are results-oriented and use research to guide their decisions. "When we build PLCs, we embed learning to ensure a lasting effect on both student achievement and organizational effectiveness."

The question is: Can PLCs help implement lasting and significant change that will truly improve student learning? We decided to look at the realities of PLCs in the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB.

On the ground

"Education tends to be rather conservative, and many educators see change initiatives as fads that come and go," says Debbie Kasman, principal of Courtice North PS. "As a result, we don't often make major, long-lasting changes in our schools."

But Kasman wanted her school to be a professional learning community and staff members are now working to that end.

"Teachers have always worked with colleagues to some degree, but the majority most often work alone, within their classrooms," explains Paul Reid, Courtice North's vice-principal, who believes that some of the most successful classrooms, divisions and schools are those where teachers work collaboratively, dropping their guard to share both frustrations and successes. "Instead of personal islands, we envision a community of teachers focused on a common goal."

Last fall, CNPS staff reviewed board-assessment data, diagnostic early-literacy assessments, primary division-running records and EQAO results to identify their greatest area of need (GAN). Kasman talks about the role of the data: "We value assessment for learning, not assessment of learning." From this process the area of need was identified. Courtice North would address students' reading skills, which they saw as key to success in all subjects.

Echoing Fullan's belief that "real change depends on what teachers do and think," Kasman emphasizes that administration did not direct the decision: "Teachers chose the goal and have made program changes to reflect what the data tells them our students need."

The next step was to set measurable goals that addressed their GAN. Junior teachers set a target of five per cent improvement in reading scores across Grades 4 to 6 by the end of June 2005. The goal was simple and linked to student assessments - not mother-hood statements about improving school tone.

"This initiative has given me a clear idea of where we are going," says Grade 6 teacher Jennifer Pym-Murphy. Now in her seventh year of teaching and the school's lead Junior literacy teacher, Pym-Murphy feels that the school-wide goal has made it easier to focus curriculum and that students are benefiting. "I can work toward these goals every day in my own classroom."

Primary teachers grouped kindergarten students according to needs for differentiated instruction. "We had five groups, each working with a different teacher daily for 20 minutes," says Erica Luck, the school's early literacy teacher. "Two even went ahead with a Grade 1 class because that best met their needs. It was fantastic."

Committing resources

Now, teachers envision school-wide programming where students are grouped according to needs and skill levels to receive targeted instruction in specific subject areas - rather than working in strict grade-level classrooms.

Kasman acknowledges, "It is a challenge to create time for teachers to discuss, learn and reflect during the school day." Finding time is one of the most difficult aspects of sustaining a school-wide PLC. But there are creative ways to do it when the administration sees it as a priority.

At Courtice North this year, Kasman allocated money for supply teachers. She and Reid also covered classes when necessary to release teachers during the day. As well, Luck spent some of her time at the school covering classes, so that colleagues could work together or sit in on other classes.

"When it's made a priority, a lot can be done," says Kasman. "But there's no question that we need to be creative in carving out time during the school day."

Teachers were freed for PD sessions with Luck on building capacity by sharing, and demonstrating and modeling new instructional practices. Junior teachers learned about running records and guided reading (usually the domain of Primary teachers) and Primary teachers examined student-achievement data to make decisions around student intervention. Supply teachers were also used to free staff time to develop the school's mission, vision and values statements. Next year's timetable provides same-grade teachers with common planning times.

It is important to distinguish between professional development and a professional learning community. Assessment and evaluation guru Rick Stiggins argues that workshops alone will not produce sustained and meaningful improvement because they do not permit experimentation with new ideas in real classrooms and the vital sharing of experiences with colleagues. Kasman agrees, saying that teachers often view PD workshops as "add-ons" or "something that is done to them." If they don't buy into the workshop content and make a concerted effort to take the new idea back to the classroom, then the odds of PD affecting teachers' practice are pretty slim.

In a PLC, teachers choose their professional development and choices are not made in isolation. They learn about a new idea, try it in their classrooms, reflect on it, talk about the results with their colleagues, and then fine-tune it and try it again. If it works, they stay with it and find ways to improve it; if it doesn't work, they try something else. In a PLC, Stiggins explains, teachers conduct action research in their classrooms, looking for ways to improve student achievement. They do this with the support of their colleagues. Indeed, a successful PLC requires commitment and can help to produce it.

In the fall of 2004, members of Courtice North's school council were planning to raise money for a new playground. When they learned about the school's reading focus they decided to support that initiative instead, and bought sets of books for each of the guided reading levels. "It's fantastic that our school council is on board and can support our work in such a helpful and tangible way," Kasman enthuses.

Pym-Murphy describes the difference in school culture in just one year: "I feel less isolated because I'm part of something bigger. It's not just me in my classroom; I know that my colleagues down the hall are working towards the same goal. We are working together more and there's more sharing among grades and levels."

"Our PLC is about opening classroom doors and talking, sharing and planning together," explains Kasman. "It's about hearing a new idea and feeling comfortable enough, safe enough and supported enough to try it. It's exciting!"

Variations on a team

PLCs have commonalities but are different from learning teams (see Mapping the Journey to Student Success, Professionally Speaking, September 2004). The reflective experimentation and collaborative approaches are similar, but learning teams are not necessarily school-based or school-wide. Members of a learning team focus on particular areas of responsibility - a common grade, division or subject area - and may address specific needs - how students can best learn and apply a new math concept, for example.

A PLC, on the other hand, may integrate various learning teams to address school-wide challenges. A PLC requires collaboration and communication throughout a whole school and a collective responsibility for every child.

Some schools may never become PLCs, while their learning teams continue to address specific needs and projects. In the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB many teachers participate in such teams. For example, teachers from various schools might work together to improve teaching and learning for students with autism.

"Many ideals of PLCs are followed," says Joan James, vice-principal at Dr. LB Powers PS. "But this group is less formal. These teachers are enjoying the process and benefits of their learning team, both personally and professionally, and of course their students are benefiting as well."

In 2003, 36 early literacy teachers conducted a self-guided book study using a literacy teaching strategy called a literature circle. This year, the team moved online to study another text and continue professional conversations. Although teachers miss the face-to-face contact, they find it more convenient. They go online when it suits them and have time to be more thoughtful about their opinions and others' comments.

Mitchell and Sackney contend that one of the most important factors for successful PLCs is investment in professional development that is directly and explicitly linked to classroom practice and school goals. Effective PD requires time, professional collaboration and collaborative discourse structured around teaching and learning.

Embedding change

The SMART Schools work of DuFour and Eaker contend that if a change initiative is to be sustained, the elements of that change must be embedded in the culture.

This September, Ron Tansley will become principal of Clarington Central - the first new secondary school built in the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB in 33 years. He relishes the opportunity to define a PLC culture at the new school from the beginning.

Last year, Tansley worked with parents and the school's future department heads to develop guiding principles for the school. "I am looking forward to working with staff who will be empowered to make data-informed decisions that reflect our guiding principles and focus on improving learning for all students."

Strong leadership is an essential component of a PLC. The principal must give clear signals that professional learning is important and allocate sufficient time and resources. But saying that a school will become a professional learning community does not make it so. A truly successful PLC thrives when collegial reflection, study, discussion, experimentation, preparation and evaluation of teaching materials become the norm. An exercise imposed by an administrator in search of a solution is not enough.

Schools can begin the process - establishing guiding principles and putting posters up on their walls - but until curriculum, rules and initiatives reflect the process and until teachers completely buy into and value them, there can be no meaningful and lasting change.

Mitchell and Sackney observe that creating a PLC is a daunting and complicated task that requires fundamentally different ways of being a teacher and thinking about teaching and learning. It requires that teachers put themselves on the line and expose knowledge gaps to their colleagues and then work together to address them.

Based on what's happening in schools in Kawartha Pine Ridge, the efforts are worth the work and the results are paying dividends, both for students and teachers.

For a bibliography of related readings, visit this issue of Professionally Speaking online at www.oct.ca.

Six steps to a Plc culture

A National Education Service workshop summarizes the steps to achieving a school culture that supports a professional learning community:

Define mission, vision, values and goals

There is a collective commitment to guiding principles that articulate and interconnect what staff members believe and what governs their actions and behaviour.

Ensure collective inquiry and constantly question what is being done

Professionals seek innovative methods of teaching and learning and support each other as they test them. They co-ordinate their actions to ensure that the work of individuals contributes to the common goals identified by staff.

Develop a common purpose

Collaborative teams of teachers learn from each other and create momentum that drives improvement. They build a school structure that supports improvement, while administration supports their work with creative scheduling that allows them to find team time during the school day. Strategies may include timetabling for common planning time, using paraprofessionals and parent volunteers, combined classes, school-wide activities, theme and team teaching and purchasing supply teachers.

Focus on action and experimentation

All learning is pragmatic and quickly turned into action. Teaching strategies and learning theories are thoroughly tested in classrooms, results are monitored and assessed, and findings are shared with colleagues.

Value continuous improvement

Teachers are never content with the status quo and constantly seek better ways. Innovation and experimentation are the norm.

Seek results

No matter how well-intentioned the efforts, only results count. They must be observable and measurable. Assessment and re-evaluation are constant and rigorous.

For more information on the SMART Schools conferences and the National Educational Service, visit www.lnesc.org.

Linguistic Minorities

by Gabrielle Barkany

In the minority setting of Ontario's French-language schools, professional learning communities may offer some of the additional support needed by teachers working to strengthen students' language skills.

Over the past five years, several French-language district school boards have established frameworks to encourage teaching methods that respect students' individual learning styles and improve achievement. Sources of inspiration have been research on reflective practice conducted by Americans Robert Eaker and Richard DuFour and Quebec educator Jacques Tardif's observations on constructivism.

Teachers and administrators work together - sharing responsibility for creating educational projects at their school. "We try to set up educational projects that reflect the realities of the francophone minority and address needs that differ from region to region," explains Gyslaine Hunter-Perreault, superintendent of Conseil scolaire public Centre-Sud-Ouest.

School staff members compile class profiles that look at students' academic results and performance in provincial tests as well as their social and emotional needs, before developing school- and grade-specific strategies.

"A student's success is not the concern of only one teacher but of all our teachers."

"A school in the heart of Toronto may focus on improving the written French - spelling, grammar, syntax - of its multi-ethnic students," notes Hunter-Perreault. "Whereas a school in Sarnia might focus on improving its students' oral communication because their environment is much more anglicized."

At École élémentaire l'Héritage in St. Catharines, the professional learning community has set goals around literacy. "Part of the success of professional learning communities is that staff members share responsibility for the students and they own the results," explains Kamel Fodil, who is principal at l'Héritage. "A student's academic success is not the concern of only one teacher but of all our teachers."

For more than a year now, the Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l'Est ontarien (CSDCEO) has encouraged professional learning communities and teams, which are addressing literacy and numeracy issues in individual schools. One goal is to increase performance in provincial testing and improve reading and vocabulary - especially among boys.

New projects are now bringing together elementary and secondary teachers to discuss ways of providing more continuity and decreasing redundancy between levels.

There are many considered teaching and learning strategies that can improve student achievement and help teachers to hone their practice. But, to be fully effective, learning communities require commitment and continuity.

"If we want to engage teachers, first we have to convince them that we are not there to judge their work, but to support them in improving learning," says Jean-Pierre Dufour, director of educational services for CSDCEO.

"Successful practices also need flexible calendars, financial resources and time," says Dufour, adding that research indicates that such projects need five to seven years to do well.

Factors such as high staff turnover - at many schools one in five of the teachers is new every year - can make sustained implementation difficult. But since success usually makes both students and teachers happier, boards have reason to hope that team-building will also help to increase job satisfaction - encouraging teachers to stay in the same school.

Bibliography

Donahoe, T, "Finding the Way: Structure, time and culture in school improvement," Phi Delta Kappan (75-4).

DuFour, Richard and Robert Eaker, Professional Learning Communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement (Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service, 1998).

DuFour Richard and Robert Eaker, Communautés d'apprentissage professionnelles: méthodes d'amélioration du rendement scolaire (Bloomington, IN: National Education Service, 2004).

DuFour, Richard, Robert Eaker and Rebecca DuFour, Premiers pas: Transformation culturelle de l'école en communauté d'apprentissage professionnelle (Bloomington, IN: National Education Service, 2004).

Fullan, Michael, Leading in a Culture of Change (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001).

Fullan, Michael, The New Meaning of Educational Change (New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 3rd edition, 2001).

McLaughlin, M.W. and J.E. Talbert, Professional Communities and the Work of High School Teaching (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001).

Mitchell, C. and L. Sackney, "Building Capacity for a Learning Community," Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (# 19, February 24, 2001).

Mitchell, C. and L. Sackney, Profound Improvement: Building capacity for a learning community (Lisse, NL: Swets & Zeitlinger, 2000).

Schmoker, M., "Tipping Point: From feckless reform to substantive instructional improvement," Phi Delta Kappan (85-6, February 2004).

Schmoker, M., The Results Fieldbook: Practical Strategies from Dramatically Improved Schools (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001).

Schmoker, M., Results: The Key to continuous school improvement (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1996).

Senge, P.M., A. Kleiner, C. Roberts, R. Ross, G. Roth and B. Smith, The Dance of Change: The Challenges to sustaining momentum in learning organizations (New York: Doubleday, 1999).

Senge, P., A. Kleiner and C. Roberts (eds), The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization (New York: Doubleday, 1994).

Senge, P., The Fifth Discipline: The Art and practice of the learning organization (New York: Currency Doubleday, 1990).

Stiggins, R., "Assessment, Student Confidence and School Success," Phi Delta Kappan (November 1999).

Tardif, Jacques, Pour un enseignement stratégique (Montréal: Éditions Logique, 1992).

Tardif, Jacques, L'apprentissage d'abord (Montréal: Éditions Logique, 1994).

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pour parler profession

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The debate is just warming up and it promises to be lively. Are we seeing the start of another school-improvement bandwagon? Or will professional learning communities endure - enabling schools to become models of reflective and collaborative continuous improvement? The idea of professional learning communities originated decades ago in connection with effective business organization.

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Anna Maria Dell'Anno

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professional learning community teachers in ontario - Bing images

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Idea of a Professional Teacher NJ Teacher Professional Development Workshops NJ Professional Development for Teachers Teacher Professional Development Courses Online Professional Teachers Learningfunny Teacher Professional Growth Teacher Professional Learning Goals Examples Teacher Professional Development and Learning Professional Learning Teacher Unites Professional Learning Board Attributes of Professional Learning Communities Professional Learning

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Damian Lozada
Here is link to a teacher's blog and various PLC that she is involved with.
http://globalconnections2014.edublogs.org

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Anna Maria Dell'Anno

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Creating a Professional Learning Community at Work: Foundational Concepts and Practices

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Damian Lozada

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This is what it's like to get inspired at the epicenter of edtech | ISTE Conference & Expo

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Damian Lozada
Science Teachers Association of Ontario (or all grade levels).
https://stao.ca

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All things PLC and all in one place
http://www.allthingsplc.info/

https://www.k12blueprint.com/toolkits/plc

http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Employees/PRSMattersBulletin/Pages/Professional%20Learning%20Communities.aspx

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https://youtu.be/7KskLjbv3YI?list=PLDF0066D5704B79AA

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Solution Tree: Richard DuFour on PLCs and 21st Century Skills

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Amanda Kennedy

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" Learn why PLCs are important for improving student learning and components for successful implementation. "

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Websites:

1) http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may04/vol61/num08/What-is-a-Professional-Learning-Community%C2%A2.aspx

2) http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Employees/PRSMattersBulletin/Pages/Professional%20Learning%20Communities.aspx

3)
https://www.edglossary.org/professional-learning-community/

4)
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/vicproflearningcommunities.aspx

5)
https://hub.wiley.com/community/exchanges/educate/blog/2017/11/30/professional-learning-communities-what-s-in-it-for-me

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Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7YX40bWrCs

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Check out the following links.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/PLC.pdf

http://www.allthingsplc.info/about

https://www.k12blueprint.com/sites/default/files/Components-of-a-Successful-PLC.pdf

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Solution Tree: The Power of PLCs at Work

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Visit us at http://www.solution-tree.com The clip from this video set introduces the concepts and practices of professional learning communities. Hear practitioners say why PLC is not just a trendy initiative or program but a way of doing things.

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Best Practices for Professional Learning Communities | Education World

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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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Technology in Education PLC | Collaborative for Educational Services

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The professional learning community is a collegial discussion group for technology directors, coordinators, and educators at all levels that meets regularly throughout the school year.

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1. http://www.nea.org/

2. https://www.teachervision.com/teaching-strategies/professional-development

3. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/PLC.pdf

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https://vimeo.com/88398112

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1.http://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/june_2005/plc.asp
2.https://www.collaborative.org/events-and-courses/technology-education-plc
3.https://www.collaborative.org/events-and-courses/technology-education-plc

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https://youtu.be/36Ltuaailm4

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Professional Learning Communities: A Focus on Student Learning

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Teaching Classroom Design, Coaching Tips, Teacher Resources - Ms Houser - Part 1

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Professional Learning Communities, an ICT integrated model of in-service teacher education | IT for Change

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Teachers Teaching Teachers – Professional Learning Community (PLC) – ProEd Foundation

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Designing a professional development program for teachers requires many trade-offs. Longer programs can offer more value, but they can also cause training fatigue. IREX and our partners have found that establishing professional learning communities can be an effective way to support teachers as they implement new teaching methods in their classrooms.

A professional learning community (PLC) is a group of teachers with a shared commitment to reflect on their teaching practice and to learn both individually and collectively about the teaching practices that are the most effective for improving student learning.

At this year's Comparative and International Education Society Conference (CIES), I'll discuss what IREX has learned from working with the Republic of Georgia's National Center for Teacher Professional Development (TPDC) to support a system-wide professional development program for more than 14,000 secondary STEM teachers.

There are many open questions about what type of professional development can improve teaching. Research suggests that effective teacher professional development includes active learning over a sustained period of time, with a focus on a specific subject.

School-level research also shows positive effects when teachers share knowledge and reflect in professional learning communities.

Drawing from this evidence, the Training Educators for Excellence (TEE) project, funded by the Millennium Challenge Account - Georgia and implemented by TPDC with technical support from IREX, is designed to improve the quality of instruction in STEM subjects through a two-year teacher professional development cycle that consists of four in-person trainings, post-training application exercises, and PLC meetings, referred to locally as "teacher study groups."

In Georgia, facilitators prepared teachers to lead reflections on using new teaching methods. In other contexts, PLCs take on different topics and formats. Examples include PLCs in South Africa that focused on inclusive education and learning from data and a PLC in the US that focused on literacy and included coteaching by PLC members.

Beyond Workshops: Effective and Sustainable Strategies for Teacher Professional Development (March 26, 8 a.m., Hilton Reforma, 2nd floor, Don Diego 1, Section A, with Amy Bernath)

Schools' and Educators' Experiences of Institutional Change in Eurasia (March 26, 11:30 a.m., Hilton Reforma, 4th floor, Doña Adelita, with Sophia Gorgodze)

ICT4D and Teacher Professional Development (March 26, 11:30 a.m., Hilton Reforma, 2nd floor, Don Diego 1, Section B, with Megan Smith)

RoboClubs: Increasing Young People's Interest in STEM (March 27, 5 p.m., Hilton Reforma, 4th floor, Don Alberto 4, with Anne Laesecke)

ICT for Development Special Interest Group (March 28, 10 a.m., Fiesta Inn Centro Histórico, Room C, with Megan Smith)

Building an Education Ecosystem: How Libraries Supported Ethiopia's Third Graders to Spend More Time Reading (March 28, 3 p.m., Hilton Reforma, 4th floor, Don Alberto 4, with Joel Turner)

Improving Early Reading Outcomes in Bangladesh: The Role of Libraries in Community Engagement (March 28, 3 p.m., Hilton Reforma, 4th floor, Don Alberto 4, with Ari Katz and Amber Ehrke)

ICT Capacity Building and Leadership Development (March 28, 6:45 p.m., Hilton Reforma, 4th floor, Don Alberto 3, with Megan Smith)

Accountability in ICT4D: The Big Picture in Networking, Citizenship, and Education (March 29, 3 p.m., Hilton Reforma, 2nd floor, Don Diego 1, Section D, with Anne Laesecke and Megan Smith)

Insights from Youth-Led Research into Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Gaps (March 29, 3 p.m., Hilton Reforma, Business Center, Room 6, with Swathi Massar, Ziad Abdullah, and Dan Baker)

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How professional learning communities can strengthen teachers' professional development

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Designing a professional development program for teachers requires many trade-offs. Longer programs can offer more value, but they can also cause training fatigue.

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1. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may04/vol61/num08/What-is-a-Professional-Learning-Community%C2%A2.aspx

2. http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Employees/PRSMattersBulletin/Pages/Professional%20Learning%20Communities.aspx
3. http://www.fnsa.ca/programs/plc

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Professional Learning Community - Dan Urciuoli

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Professional Learning Community - Dan Urciuoli

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By: Colleen Gravelle

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By: Colleen Gravelle

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/PLC.pdf
http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Employees/PRSMattersBulletin/Pages/Professional%20Learning%20Communities.aspx
https://www.edutopia.org/professional-learning-communities-collaboration-how-to

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By: Colleen Gravelle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1BKVz0nhws

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVgVQdqxRGk

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A professional learning community, or PLC, is a group of educators that meets regularly, shares expertise, and works collaboratively to improve teaching skills and the academic performance of students. The term is also applied to schools or teaching faculties that use small-group collaboration as a form of professional development. Shirley Hord, an expert on school leadership, came up with perhaps the most efficient description of the strategy: "The three words explain the concept: Professionals coming together in a group-a community-to learn."

It should be noted that professional learning communities may be called many different things from school to school or place to place, including professional learning groups, collaborative learning communities, critical friends groups, or communities of practice, to name just a few common terms (terms such as professional learning groups and critical friends groups are typically applied to smaller teams of teachers-usually between four and eight, although group sizes vary-rather than to an entire school that uses small-group collaboration as a form of professional development). In Japan, the practice is called lesson study or lesson research. In addition, professional learning communities can take a wide variety of forms or be organized for different purposes. While some educators define "professional learning community" in a very specific way, others may use the term more loosely, even applying it to meetings or groups that other educators would not consider to be a genuine "professional learning communities." In fact, Richard DuFour, considered one of the foremost experts on the subject, wrote in 2004 that "the term has been used so ubiquitously that it is in danger of losing all meaning." For Dufour and other experts and researchers, the term professional learning community should only be applied to schools in which all teachers and school leaders use specific, recommended strategies. The distinction here is subtle and potentially confusing: When a school is considered a "professional learning community," educators meet in small groups, but in some cases educators consider the small groups to be "professional learning communities."

Professional learning communities tend serve to two broad purposes: (1) improving the skills and knowledge of educators through collaborative study, expertise exchange, and professional dialogue, and (2) improving the educational aspirations, achievement, and attainment of students through stronger leadership and teaching. Professional learning communities often function as a form of action research -i.e., as a way to continually question, reevaluate, refine, and improve teaching strategies and knowledge. Meetings are goal-driven exchanges facilitated by educators who have been trained to lead professional learning communities. Participation in meetings may be entirely voluntary, and in some schools only a small percentage of the faculty will elect to participate, or it may be a school-wide requirement that all faculty members participate.

In professional learning communities, teams are often built around shared roles or responsibilities. For example, the teachers in a particular group may all teach the same ninth-grade students or they may all teach science, and these shared attributes allow participants to focus on specific problems and strategies-How do I teach this particular student better? How do I teach this scientific theory more effectively?-rather than on general educational goals or theories. Teachers, for example, will discuss and reflect on their instructional techniques, lesson designs, and assessment practices, while administrators may address leadership questions, strategies, and issues.

While the specific activities and goals of a professional learning community may vary widely from school to school, the following are a few examples of common activities that may take place in meetings:

Discussing teacher work: Participants collectively review lesson plans or assessments that have been used in a class, and then offer critical feedback and recommendations for improvement.

Discussing student work: Participants look at examples of student work turned in for a class, and then offer recommendations on how lessons or teaching approaches may be modified to improve the quality of student work.

Discussing student data: Participants analyze student-performance data from a class to identify trends-such as which students are consistently failing or underperforming-and collaboratively develop proactive teaching and support strategies to help students who may be struggling academically.

Discussing professional literature: Participants select a text to read, such as a research study or an article about a specialized instructional technique, and then engage in a structured conversation about the text and how it can help inform or improve their teaching.

Reform

Professional learning communities are nearly always an intentional school-improvement strategy designed to reduce professional isolation, foster greater faculty collaboration, and spread the expertise and insights of individual teachers throughout a school. Because teachers may work largely independently-i.e., they will create courses and lessons on their own and teach behind the closed doors without much feedback from colleagues-teaching styles, educational philosophies, and learning expectations can vary widely from class to class, as can the effectiveness of lessons and instruction.

While professional learning communities may take a wide variety of forms from school to school, they tend to share a variety of common features:

Teachers will likely meet regularly-every other week or every month, for example-and work together to improve and diversify their instructional techniques. For example, they may agree to identify and monitor student learning needs in their classes, conduct observations of their colleagues while they teach and give them constructive feedback, collaboratively develop and refine lessons and instructional techniques, and improve the support strategies they use to help students.

Time for meetings is often scheduled during the school day, and participation in a professional learning community may be an expected teaching responsibility, not an optional activity that competes with out-of-school personal time.

Groups generally work toward common goals and expectations that are agreed upon in advance. Groups may even create mission and vision statements or a set of shared beliefs and values.

Meeting procedures are commonly guided by norms, or a set of conduct expectations that group members collaboratively develop and agree on. A norm might address meeting logistics (e.g., start meetings on time, stick to the agenda, and end on time) or interactions (listen attentively to colleagues and make sure feedback is respectful and constructive).

Meetings are often coordinated and run by teachers who have been trained in group-facilitation strategies, often by an outside organization or training professional.

Meetings typically follow predetermined agendas that are developed by facilitators in response to group requests or identified teacher or student needs.

Facilitators typically use protocols-a set of parameters and guidelines developed by educators-to structure group conversations and help keep the discussions focused and productive.

Facilitators will make sure that conversations remain respectful, constructive, objective, and goal-oriented, and they may step in and guide the conversation in a more productive direction if it becomes digressive or negative.

Facilitators will also ensure that conversations remain objective and factual, rather than subjective and speculative. For example, group members may be asked to cite student-performance data, specific examples, research findings, or other concrete evidence to support their points, and facilitators may point out assumptions or generalizations.

Advocates of professional learning communities argue that the practice can foster and promote a wide variety of positive professional interactions and practices among teachers in a school. For example:

Teachers may assume more leadership responsibility or feel a greater sense of ownership over a school-improvement process.

Teachers may feel more professionally confident and better equipped to address the learning needs of their students, and they may become more willing to engage in the kind of self-reflection that leads to professional growth and improvement.

The faculty culture may improve, and professional relationships can become stronger and more trusting because the faculty is interacting and communicating more productively.

Teachers may participate in professional collaborations more frequently, such as co-developing and co-teaching interdisciplinary courses.

More instructional innovation may take hold in classrooms and academic programs, and teachers may begin incorporating effective instructional techniques being used by colleagues.

Teachers may begin using more evidence-based approaches to designing lessons and delivering instruction.

Debate

While the professional learning community concept is not typically an object of criticism or debate, skeptics may question whether these groups can actually have a positive impact on student learning, or whether the extent of that impact justifies the time or expense required to make them successful. Since it often extremely difficult, from a research perspective, to attribute gains in student performance to any one influence in a school (because so many potential factors can influence performance, including familial or socioeconomic dynamics outside of a school's control), the benefits of professional learning communities may be difficult to measure objectively and reliably.

It is more likely, however, that professional learning communities will be criticized or debated when they are poorly implemented or facilitated, if they become disorganized and unfocused, if they are perceived as a burdensome or time-consuming obligation, or when teachers have negative experiences within their groups. Like any school-improvement strategy or program, the quality of the design and execution will typically determine the results achieved. If meetings are poorly facilitated and conversations lapse into complaints about policies or personalities, or if educators fail to turn group learning into actual changes in instructional techniques, professional learning communities are less likely to be successful.

In addition, administrators and teachers may encounter any number of potential challenges when implementing professional learning communities. For example:

A lack of support from the superintendent, principal, or other school leaders could lead to an inadequate investment of time, attention, and resources.

Inadequate training for group facilitators could produce ineffective facilitation, disorganized meetings, and an erosion of confidence in the process.

A lack of clear, explicit goals for group work can lead to unfocused conversations, misspent time, and general confusion about the purpose of the groups.

A dysfunctional school or faculty culture could contribute to tensions, conflicts, factions, and other issues that undermine the potential benefits of professional learning communities.

A lack of observable, measurable faculty progress or student-achievement gains can erode support, motivation, and enthusiasm for the process.

Highly divergent educational philosophies, belief systems, or learning styles can lead to disagreements that undermine the collegiality and sense of shared purpose typically required to make professional learning communities successful.

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A professional learning community, or PLC, is a group of educators that meets regularly, shares expertise, and works collaboratively to improve teaching skills and the academic performance of students. The term is also applied to schools or teaching faculties that use small-group collaboration as a form of professional development.

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Alison Morris

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Alison Morris

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Alison Morris

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may04/vol61/num08/What-is-a-Professional-Learning-Community%C2%A2.aspx

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/PLC.pdf

https://www.edutopia.org/professional-learning-communities-collaboration-how-to

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Kelly
https://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/td/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/05/46950518_ml-1030x753.jpg

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https://www.edutopia.org/professional-learning-communities-collaboration-how-to

http://www.mass.gov/edu/government/departments-and-boards/ese/programs/accountability/tools-and-resources/professional-learning-communities/plc-modules/module-1/what-a-plc-is-and-is-not.html

https://www.teachers.ab.ca/Publications/ATA%20Magazine/Volume%2083/Number%204/Articles/Pages/one%20school%20on%20its%20way.aspx

https://www.teachers.ab.ca/PUBLICATIONS/ATA%20MAGAZINE/VOLUME%2083/NUMBER%204/ARTICLES/Pages/empowering%20teachers%20in%20school%20improvement.aspx

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Kelly Cruz

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Kelly Cruz

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Ignite!  Professional Learning Communities

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Danielle Tremblay

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Danielle Tremblay

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Professional Learning Communities: A Focus on Student Learning

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Danielle Tremblay

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https://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/best-practices-for-professional-learning-communities.shtml

http://shickey.github.io/2014/10/26/how-to-run-a-successful-plc/

https://www.activelylearn.com/post/build-effective-plcs

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Christina Despoudis

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Christina Despoudis

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Professional Learning Community - Google Search

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A Professional Learning Community is when a group of educators, which can also include the principal, superintendent, support staff and parents, gather together weekly or bi-weekly to achieve improved student achievement.

During these meetings components of the PLC must be met in order to achieve maximum success, they include, ensuring learning for all students, focusing on results, relationships and collaborative inquiry.

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PDF Version

Professional Learning Communities are becoming more prevalent in Ontario. The term has many different interpretations and the implementation of Professional Learning Communities has deviated from the original research definitions. The Professional Learning Community is an organizational model that links the success of the school to the presence of the following factors: the importance of workplace factors (resources, climate, shared vision, good leadership), institutional support for teacher learning, opportunities for teachers to work collaboratively, and shared decision-making.

A Professional Learning Community focuses on three things: student learning, the development of a school culture that fosters professional collaboration, and results.

Although ETFO recognizes the potential of this new structure, it is becoming increasingly aware of situations where the Professional Learning Community is not collaborative, where shared decision-making is not the norm, where the PLC is under-resourced, and the focus is only on improving student results on EQAO tests.

ETFO has developed policy on Professional Learning Communities.

"A group of education professionals who share common visions, values, and goals, and work collaboratively using inquiry, experimentation, and innovation to improve teaching and student learning."

participation in a PLC is voluntary;

Professional Learning Communities are based on collegiality, respect for member professionalism and autonomy;

Professional Learning Communities are a means for teachers to generate knowledge regarding teaching and learning;

Professional Learning Communities are based upon an evidence-based, shared decision-making model;

Professional Learning Communities foster teacher empowerment and leadership development;

professional development opportunities during the school day on the role and function of a PLC are provided by district school boards prior to, and throughout the development of a Professional Learning Community;

funding is provided by school boards for a PLC to access professional learning opportunities and resources, and enable teachers to meet and collaborate during the school day, exclusive of teacher preparation time and nutrition/lunch breaks;

teacher self-directed learning is included in any professional development associated with a Professional Learning Community;

a PLC should focus on all areas of the curriculum, with emphasis on the development of the whole child; and

no aspect of teacher participation in a Professional Learning Community is used for teacher performance appraisal.

respects your autonomy;

works on a shared-decision making model;

uses data to improve teaching and learning;

provides professional development within the school day;

provides for individual and collective teacher professional development;

provides available resources;

defines clear responsibilities; and

does not use participation as criteria in the teacher performance appraisal process.

For more information, contact Professional Relations Staff at 416-962-3836 or 1-888-838-3836 at the provincial office.

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ETFO | Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

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PDF Version Professional Learning Communities are becoming more prevalent in Ontario. The term has many different interpretations and the implementation of Professional Learning Communities has deviated from the original research definitions.

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How to Create a Professional Learning Community

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It takes careful planning to form a useful and functional PLC, but once the foundation is built, the benefits will soon be evident.

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Best Practices for Professional Learning Communities | Education World

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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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Wonderful news has emerged for those seeking to improve student achievement. Two different comprehensive syntheses of research on the factors impacting student learning have come to the same conclusion: the most important variable in the achievement of students is the quality of instruction they receive on a daily basis (Marzano, 2003; Hattie, 2009). To ensure students learn at higher levels, simply improve teaching.

The question remains, "How?" The challenge is particularly daunting in the traditional K-12 culture which regards each school as a series of independent kingdoms (classrooms) staffed by relatively autonomous subcontractors (teachers) who are responsible only for what happens inside their individual classrooms. In this culture of isolation, the individual teacher becomes the focus of improvement.

School districts typically create elaborate teacher supervision plans in the hope that superiors can evaluate subordinates into better performance. Teachers are provided financial incentives to pursue random graduate courses at varied colleges and universities or to attend a myriad of disconnected workshops. Districts have continued with these traditional strategies despite compelling evidence that they have little impact on the quality of teaching.

Furthermore, the assumption behind this approach - improving the effectiveness of an individual teacher will improve the organization - is patently false. The intense focus on the individual discounts the conditions and constraints of the systems within which they work. As W. Edwards Deming observed, put a good person in a bad system and the system will win every time.

Systems Thinking

A "systems approach" to school improvement represents the antithesis of a culture based on individual isolation and independence. Systems thinking concentrates on interdependent relationships, connections, and interactions of the component parts of a larger system. The focus is on creating powerful systems that promote the continuous improvement of the entire organization.

The Professional Learning Community at Work (PLC) model offers a systems approach to school improvement. Teachers are organized into grade level, course specific, or interdisciplinary collaborative teams in which educators work interdependently to achieve common goals for which members are mutually accountable. A process is put in place to ensure teams clarify the essential learnings for each course, grade level, and unit of instruction; establish consistent pacing; create frequent common assessments to monitor student learning, and agree on the criteria they will use to judge the quality of student work. Each team then uses the evidence of student learning to identify individual students who need additional time and support, to discover problematic areas of the curriculum that require the attention of the team, and to help each member become aware of his or her instructional strengths and weaknesses.

The collaboration and interdependence of these horizontal teams extends to vertical teams as well. If a fundamental goal of the third grade mathematics program is to prepare students for success in fourth grade mathematics, third grade teachers must work closely with fourth grade teachers if they are to achieve that goal.

A Systematic Approach to Intervention

Because the traditional approach to schooling has considered the individual classroom teacher the primary agent for ensuring student learning, what happens when students' struggles have been left to the discretion of each teacher. It is widely understood (and accepted) that some teachers will allow students to turn in a late homework assignment: some will not. Some teachers will allow a student to re-take a test: some will not. Some teachers will come early and stay late to provide assistance to students; some will not and others cannot. Some teachers will insist that students continue working on a paper or project until it meets an acceptable standard: some will assign a failing grade and move on. Schools have played a form of educational lottery with the lives of their students because what happens when students struggle will depend on the idiosyncrasies of the teacher to whom they are assigned.

The PLC concept demands a systematic approach to intervention. It eschews the randomness of traditional practice and guarantees all students will be the beneficiaries of a coordinated, methodical, multi-layered, fluid plan of intervention-regardless of the teacher to whom they are assigned. This plan will:

Provide students with additional time and support for learning if the current level of time and support is not leading to their success,

Ensure timely assistance, with support provided as soon as there is evidence a student is experiencing difficulty, and

Require rather than invite students to utilize the extra time and support.

The District as a PLC

The PLC concept also extends beyond the individual school when district leaders become emphatic about certain conditions that must be evident in all schools. Those conditions should include:

Each school must demonstrate a commitment to high levels of learning for all students.

Teachers must be organized into teams and given time to collaborate.

Teams must provide students with a guaranteed and viable curriculum for every course and grade level, must develop frequent and varied common assessments, and use the evidence of student learning to fuel the continuous improvement of both the team and each of its members.

The school must create a system of intervention that provide students with additional time and support when they experience difficulty in their learning.

The school must have a plan for extending and enriching the learning of students who are proficient, a plan that gives more students greater access to more challenging curriculum and the support to ensure their success in that curriculum.

Although district leaders are "tight" on these essential elements of an effective PLC, they are "loose" in allowing each school the autonomy to create its own strategies for creating these conditions. They create processes to enable schools to learn from and support one another. Traditional administrative meetings are transformed into an intense collaborative effort where a principal presents all available evidence regarding student learning in his or her school, discusses steps the school has taken to promote the various elements of the PLC concept, celebrates the progress that has been made, and calls attention to areas of concern. The other principals and central office staff then brainstorm solutions to problems and offer strategies that may have worked in other schools. Action research and ongoing learning are the norm. Leaders at all levels are expected to take an interest in and contribute to the success of every school.

But isn't it about the Individual Teacher?

The PLC process does not diminish the significance of the individual teacher. If the classroom teacher remains the most important factor in student learning, the challenge facing schools is, "How can we persuade our teachers to embrace more effective instructional strategies?" The most powerful strategy of persuasion is presenting teachers with irrefutable evidence of consistently better results. As one research study concluded, "Nothing changes the mind like the hard cold world hitting it in the face with actual real-life data" (Patterson, et. al., p.51). The transparency of results from the frequent common assessments that serve as the lynchpin of the PLC process provides that ongoing evidence of effectiveness. When teachers see that students taught by a colleague consistently perform at higher levels on team-developed assessments, they become more receptive to changes in their instructional practice. Furthermore, the positive peer pressure of the collaborative team process fosters improvement. Most educators are moved to seek new practices rather than continually preventing their team from achieving its goals because of their poor results.

Conclusion

After synthesizing over 800 meta-analyses on the factors that impact student achievement, John Hattie concluded that the best way to improve schools was to organize teachers into collaborative teams that clarify what each student must learn and the indicators of learning the team will track, to gather evidence of that learning on an ongoing basis, and to analyze the results together so that they could learn which instructional strategies were working and which were not. In other words, he urged schools to function as Professional Learning Communities. Robert Marzano came to a similar conclusion when he described the PLC concept as "one of the most powerful initiatives for school improvement I have seen in the last decade." The quality of the individual teacher remains paramount in student learning, and the PLC concept is our best strategy for creating the system that ensures more good teaching in more classrooms more of the time.
References
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to student achievement. New York: Routledge.

Marzano, R. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Patterson, K., Grenny,J. Maxfield, D., McMillan, R, & Switzler, A. (2008). Influencer: The power to change anything. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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Professional Learning Communities: The Key to Improved Teaching and Learning

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Wonderful news has emerged for those seeking to improve student achievement. Two different comprehensive syntheses of research on the factors impacting student learning have come to the same conclusion: the most important variable in the achievement of students is the quality of instruction they receive on a daily basis (Marzano, 2003; Hattie, 2009).

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Teachers Teaching Teachers – Professional Learning Community (PLC) – ProEd Foundation

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Sorry... this seems to be a popular image... but this is what we seemed to follow for our Math CPLCs this year.

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Omaha Public Schools turn to Office 365 to streamline professional development

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http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Professional_Learning.pdf

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/PLC.pdf

http://www.allthingsplc.info/about

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http://www.ascd.org/Default.aspx

http://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/june_2005/plc.asp

http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Employees/PRSMattersBulletin/Pages/Professional%20Learning%20Communities.aspx

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The debate is just warming up and it promises to be lively. Are we seeing the start of another school-improvement bandwagon? Or will professional learning communities endure - enabling schools to become models of reflective and collaborative continuous improvement?

The idea of professional learning communities originated decades ago in connection with effective business organization. Peter Senge coined the term learning organization in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990). He defined the learning organization as a place where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free and where people continually learn how to learn together.

In Canadian education, professors Coral Mitchell and Larry Sackney have defined a professional learning community (PLC) as one where teachers and administrators take an active, reflective, collaborative, learning-oriented and growth-promoting approach to the mysteries and challenges of teaching and learning. PLC has come to mean schools where the entire staff is involved in data-based decision making about student needs, where they define school goals and directions to meet those needs and engage in ongoing study, discussion, testing and reflection to change their practice.

The ideals surrounding PLCs are neither new nor unique. In his 2001 book on educational change, education theorist Michael Fullan argues that after years of top-down reform, schools are suffering from overload and that any success is "in spite of the system."

Fullan says collegiality best supports true improvement. He advocates that teaching should be collective and reflective, not an individual activity. He states that successful schools value consistent standards, and successful teachers trust and appreciate others and ask for and share expertise.

Avis Glaze, Ontario's Chief Student Achievement Officer and CEO of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat at the Ministry of Education, believes that ongoing learning and reflection are pivotal in the practice of true professionals.

"Teachers learn with and from one another," says Glaze. Professional learning communities are about collegiality among individuals who can discuss what works and share resources that can make a difference. They are results-oriented and use research to guide their decisions. "When we build PLCs, we embed learning to ensure a lasting effect on both student achievement and organizational effectiveness."

The question is: Can PLCs help implement lasting and significant change that will truly improve student learning? We decided to look at the realities of PLCs in the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB.

On the ground

"Education tends to be rather conservative, and many educators see change initiatives as fads that come and go," says Debbie Kasman, principal of Courtice North PS. "As a result, we don't often make major, long-lasting changes in our schools."

But Kasman wanted her school to be a professional learning community and staff members are now working to that end.

"Teachers have always worked with colleagues to some degree, but the majority most often work alone, within their classrooms," explains Paul Reid, Courtice North's vice-principal, who believes that some of the most successful classrooms, divisions and schools are those where teachers work collaboratively, dropping their guard to share both frustrations and successes. "Instead of personal islands, we envision a community of teachers focused on a common goal."

Last fall, CNPS staff reviewed board-assessment data, diagnostic early-literacy assessments, primary division-running records and EQAO results to identify their greatest area of need (GAN). Kasman talks about the role of the data: "We value assessment for learning, not assessment of learning." From this process the area of need was identified. Courtice North would address students' reading skills, which they saw as key to success in all subjects.

Echoing Fullan's belief that "real change depends on what teachers do and think," Kasman emphasizes that administration did not direct the decision: "Teachers chose the goal and have made program changes to reflect what the data tells them our students need."

The next step was to set measurable goals that addressed their GAN. Junior teachers set a target of five per cent improvement in reading scores across Grades 4 to 6 by the end of June 2005. The goal was simple and linked to student assessments - not mother-hood statements about improving school tone.

"This initiative has given me a clear idea of where we are going," says Grade 6 teacher Jennifer Pym-Murphy. Now in her seventh year of teaching and the school's lead Junior literacy teacher, Pym-Murphy feels that the school-wide goal has made it easier to focus curriculum and that students are benefiting. "I can work toward these goals every day in my own classroom."

Primary teachers grouped kindergarten students according to needs for differentiated instruction. "We had five groups, each working with a different teacher daily for 20 minutes," says Erica Luck, the school's early literacy teacher. "Two even went ahead with a Grade 1 class because that best met their needs. It was fantastic."

Committing resources

Now, teachers envision school-wide programming where students are grouped according to needs and skill levels to receive targeted instruction in specific subject areas - rather than working in strict grade-level classrooms.

Kasman acknowledges, "It is a challenge to create time for teachers to discuss, learn and reflect during the school day." Finding time is one of the most difficult aspects of sustaining a school-wide PLC. But there are creative ways to do it when the administration sees it as a priority.

At Courtice North this year, Kasman allocated money for supply teachers. She and Reid also covered classes when necessary to release teachers during the day. As well, Luck spent some of her time at the school covering classes, so that colleagues could work together or sit in on other classes.

"When it's made a priority, a lot can be done," says Kasman. "But there's no question that we need to be creative in carving out time during the school day."

Teachers were freed for PD sessions with Luck on building capacity by sharing, and demonstrating and modeling new instructional practices. Junior teachers learned about running records and guided reading (usually the domain of Primary teachers) and Primary teachers examined student-achievement data to make decisions around student intervention. Supply teachers were also used to free staff time to develop the school's mission, vision and values statements. Next year's timetable provides same-grade teachers with common planning times.

It is important to distinguish between professional development and a professional learning community. Assessment and evaluation guru Rick Stiggins argues that workshops alone will not produce sustained and meaningful improvement because they do not permit experimentation with new ideas in real classrooms and the vital sharing of experiences with colleagues. Kasman agrees, saying that teachers often view PD workshops as "add-ons" or "something that is done to them." If they don't buy into the workshop content and make a concerted effort to take the new idea back to the classroom, then the odds of PD affecting teachers' practice are pretty slim.

In a PLC, teachers choose their professional development and choices are not made in isolation. They learn about a new idea, try it in their classrooms, reflect on it, talk about the results with their colleagues, and then fine-tune it and try it again. If it works, they stay with it and find ways to improve it; if it doesn't work, they try something else. In a PLC, Stiggins explains, teachers conduct action research in their classrooms, looking for ways to improve student achievement. They do this with the support of their colleagues. Indeed, a successful PLC requires commitment and can help to produce it.

In the fall of 2004, members of Courtice North's school council were planning to raise money for a new playground. When they learned about the school's reading focus they decided to support that initiative instead, and bought sets of books for each of the guided reading levels. "It's fantastic that our school council is on board and can support our work in such a helpful and tangible way," Kasman enthuses.

Pym-Murphy describes the difference in school culture in just one year: "I feel less isolated because I'm part of something bigger. It's not just me in my classroom; I know that my colleagues down the hall are working towards the same goal. We are working together more and there's more sharing among grades and levels."

"Our PLC is about opening classroom doors and talking, sharing and planning together," explains Kasman. "It's about hearing a new idea and feeling comfortable enough, safe enough and supported enough to try it. It's exciting!"

Variations on a team

PLCs have commonalities but are different from learning teams (see Mapping the Journey to Student Success, Professionally Speaking, September 2004). The reflective experimentation and collaborative approaches are similar, but learning teams are not necessarily school-based or school-wide. Members of a learning team focus on particular areas of responsibility - a common grade, division or subject area - and may address specific needs - how students can best learn and apply a new math concept, for example.

A PLC, on the other hand, may integrate various learning teams to address school-wide challenges. A PLC requires collaboration and communication throughout a whole school and a collective responsibility for every child.

Some schools may never become PLCs, while their learning teams continue to address specific needs and projects. In the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB many teachers participate in such teams. For example, teachers from various schools might work together to improve teaching and learning for students with autism.

"Many ideals of PLCs are followed," says Joan James, vice-principal at Dr. LB Powers PS. "But this group is less formal. These teachers are enjoying the process and benefits of their learning team, both personally and professionally, and of course their students are benefiting as well."

In 2003, 36 early literacy teachers conducted a self-guided book study using a literacy teaching strategy called a literature circle. This year, the team moved online to study another text and continue professional conversations. Although teachers miss the face-to-face contact, they find it more convenient. They go online when it suits them and have time to be more thoughtful about their opinions and others' comments.

Mitchell and Sackney contend that one of the most important factors for successful PLCs is investment in professional development that is directly and explicitly linked to classroom practice and school goals. Effective PD requires time, professional collaboration and collaborative discourse structured around teaching and learning.

Embedding change

The SMART Schools work of DuFour and Eaker contend that if a change initiative is to be sustained, the elements of that change must be embedded in the culture.

This September, Ron Tansley will become principal of Clarington Central - the first new secondary school built in the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB in 33 years. He relishes the opportunity to define a PLC culture at the new school from the beginning.

Last year, Tansley worked with parents and the school's future department heads to develop guiding principles for the school. "I am looking forward to working with staff who will be empowered to make data-informed decisions that reflect our guiding principles and focus on improving learning for all students."

Strong leadership is an essential component of a PLC. The principal must give clear signals that professional learning is important and allocate sufficient time and resources. But saying that a school will become a professional learning community does not make it so. A truly successful PLC thrives when collegial reflection, study, discussion, experimentation, preparation and evaluation of teaching materials become the norm. An exercise imposed by an administrator in search of a solution is not enough.

Schools can begin the process - establishing guiding principles and putting posters up on their walls - but until curriculum, rules and initiatives reflect the process and until teachers completely buy into and value them, there can be no meaningful and lasting change.

Mitchell and Sackney observe that creating a PLC is a daunting and complicated task that requires fundamentally different ways of being a teacher and thinking about teaching and learning. It requires that teachers put themselves on the line and expose knowledge gaps to their colleagues and then work together to address them.

Based on what's happening in schools in Kawartha Pine Ridge, the efforts are worth the work and the results are paying dividends, both for students and teachers.

For a bibliography of related readings, visit this issue of Professionally Speaking online at www.oct.ca.

Six steps to a Plc culture

A National Education Service workshop summarizes the steps to achieving a school culture that supports a professional learning community:

Define mission, vision, values and goals

There is a collective commitment to guiding principles that articulate and interconnect what staff members believe and what governs their actions and behaviour.

Ensure collective inquiry and constantly question what is being done

Professionals seek innovative methods of teaching and learning and support each other as they test them. They co-ordinate their actions to ensure that the work of individuals contributes to the common goals identified by staff.

Develop a common purpose

Collaborative teams of teachers learn from each other and create momentum that drives improvement. They build a school structure that supports improvement, while administration supports their work with creative scheduling that allows them to find team time during the school day. Strategies may include timetabling for common planning time, using paraprofessionals and parent volunteers, combined classes, school-wide activities, theme and team teaching and purchasing supply teachers.

Focus on action and experimentation

All learning is pragmatic and quickly turned into action. Teaching strategies and learning theories are thoroughly tested in classrooms, results are monitored and assessed, and findings are shared with colleagues.

Value continuous improvement

Teachers are never content with the status quo and constantly seek better ways. Innovation and experimentation are the norm.

Seek results

No matter how well-intentioned the efforts, only results count. They must be observable and measurable. Assessment and re-evaluation are constant and rigorous.

For more information on the SMART Schools conferences and the National Educational Service, visit www.lnesc.org.

Linguistic Minorities

by Gabrielle Barkany

In the minority setting of Ontario's French-language schools, professional learning communities may offer some of the additional support needed by teachers working to strengthen students' language skills.

Over the past five years, several French-language district school boards have established frameworks to encourage teaching methods that respect students' individual learning styles and improve achievement. Sources of inspiration have been research on reflective practice conducted by Americans Robert Eaker and Richard DuFour and Quebec educator Jacques Tardif's observations on constructivism.

Teachers and administrators work together - sharing responsibility for creating educational projects at their school. "We try to set up educational projects that reflect the realities of the francophone minority and address needs that differ from region to region," explains Gyslaine Hunter-Perreault, superintendent of Conseil scolaire public Centre-Sud-Ouest.

School staff members compile class profiles that look at students' academic results and performance in provincial tests as well as their social and emotional needs, before developing school- and grade-specific strategies.

"A student's success is not the concern of only one teacher but of all our teachers."

"A school in the heart of Toronto may focus on improving the written French - spelling, grammar, syntax - of its multi-ethnic students," notes Hunter-Perreault. "Whereas a school in Sarnia might focus on improving its students' oral communication because their environment is much more anglicized."

At École élémentaire l'Héritage in St. Catharines, the professional learning community has set goals around literacy. "Part of the success of professional learning communities is that staff members share responsibility for the students and they own the results," explains Kamel Fodil, who is principal at l'Héritage. "A student's academic success is not the concern of only one teacher but of all our teachers."

For more than a year now, the Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l'Est ontarien (CSDCEO) has encouraged professional learning communities and teams, which are addressing literacy and numeracy issues in individual schools. One goal is to increase performance in provincial testing and improve reading and vocabulary - especially among boys.

New projects are now bringing together elementary and secondary teachers to discuss ways of providing more continuity and decreasing redundancy between levels.

There are many considered teaching and learning strategies that can improve student achievement and help teachers to hone their practice. But, to be fully effective, learning communities require commitment and continuity.

"If we want to engage teachers, first we have to convince them that we are not there to judge their work, but to support them in improving learning," says Jean-Pierre Dufour, director of educational services for CSDCEO.

"Successful practices also need flexible calendars, financial resources and time," says Dufour, adding that research indicates that such projects need five to seven years to do well.

Factors such as high staff turnover - at many schools one in five of the teachers is new every year - can make sustained implementation difficult. But since success usually makes both students and teachers happier, boards have reason to hope that team-building will also help to increase job satisfaction - encouraging teachers to stay in the same school.

Bibliography

Donahoe, T, "Finding the Way: Structure, time and culture in school improvement," Phi Delta Kappan (75-4).

DuFour, Richard and Robert Eaker, Professional Learning Communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement (Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service, 1998).

DuFour Richard and Robert Eaker, Communautés d'apprentissage professionnelles: méthodes d'amélioration du rendement scolaire (Bloomington, IN: National Education Service, 2004).

DuFour, Richard, Robert Eaker and Rebecca DuFour, Premiers pas: Transformation culturelle de l'école en communauté d'apprentissage professionnelle (Bloomington, IN: National Education Service, 2004).

Fullan, Michael, Leading in a Culture of Change (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001).

Fullan, Michael, The New Meaning of Educational Change (New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 3rd edition, 2001).

McLaughlin, M.W. and J.E. Talbert, Professional Communities and the Work of High School Teaching (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001).

Mitchell, C. and L. Sackney, "Building Capacity for a Learning Community," Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (# 19, February 24, 2001).

Mitchell, C. and L. Sackney, Profound Improvement: Building capacity for a learning community (Lisse, NL: Swets & Zeitlinger, 2000).

Schmoker, M., "Tipping Point: From feckless reform to substantive instructional improvement," Phi Delta Kappan (85-6, February 2004).

Schmoker, M., The Results Fieldbook: Practical Strategies from Dramatically Improved Schools (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001).

Schmoker, M., Results: The Key to continuous school improvement (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1996).

Senge, P.M., A. Kleiner, C. Roberts, R. Ross, G. Roth and B. Smith, The Dance of Change: The Challenges to sustaining momentum in learning organizations (New York: Doubleday, 1999).

Senge, P., A. Kleiner and C. Roberts (eds), The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization (New York: Doubleday, 1994).

Senge, P., The Fifth Discipline: The Art and practice of the learning organization (New York: Currency Doubleday, 1990).

Stiggins, R., "Assessment, Student Confidence and School Success," Phi Delta Kappan (November 1999).

Tardif, Jacques, Pour un enseignement stratégique (Montréal: Éditions Logique, 1992).

Tardif, Jacques, L'apprentissage d'abord (Montréal: Éditions Logique, 1994).

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pour parler profession

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The debate is just warming up and it promises to be lively. Are we seeing the start of another school-improvement bandwagon? Or will professional learning communities endure - enabling schools to become models of reflective and collaborative continuous improvement? The idea of professional learning communities originated decades ago in connection with effective business organization.

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professional learning communities - Google Search

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Adam McCabe

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Adam McCabe

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Adam McCabe

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Adam McCabe

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"I'm interested in developing professional learning communities (PLCs) in my school. I'm excited about the philosophy, but I'm wondering how hard it would be to implement this program school-wide?"

A.

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have been around for more than twenty years. Today there are many definitions of what PLCs actually are and how they operate.

How PLCs began

At the beginning the basic idea of PLCs was to shift the focus in schools from teaching to learning. Teachers would work collaboratively to improve instruction. Intervention, rather than remediation, would help students who were having difficulty.

As a principal, I was once part of an early initiative to implement a PLC program in my school district. Teachers were trained in three waves over the year with follow-up training scheduled in subsequent years. The district began the initiative with a state grant, but when the grant ended, it was difficult to find funding in the annual budget to continue training. As a result, while we saw residual benefits for students from teacher collaboration, a general commitment to the program was hard to sustain.

What is a PLC today?

Over the years a simpler and perhaps more manageable definition of PLCs has emerged. Today it more often refers to groups of teachers who work together to study new developments in education, review data, implement best practices, and give one another feedback and support. Of course, teachers must have a degree of autonomy to make instructional decisions. They also have to have time to meet.

To me, the beauty of today's PLCs is that you can start small. Begin with teachers who are invested in learning more about their craft, implementing new ideas, and supporting one another's efforts. Teachers can form their own professional learning communities, and there may be several groups in a school that coalesce around the idea of collaboration to improve instruction. Studies indicate that when PLCs work they not only increase student achievement, but also improve teacher morale. Researchers caution, however, that unless teachers buy into the ideas and the goals and strategies are clear, some will see PLCs as "just another meeting."

Writing in EdWeek Teacher, Rick DuFour, one of the originators of the PLC movement, notes that PLCs are still viable if done right. There are literally dozens of books to help you navigate this initiative if you choose to proceed. One is DuFour's Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work.

Join our Facebook group for more conversation about and insights into the challenges of school leadership.

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What is a PLC? How it Can Benefit Your School?

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"I'm interested in developing professional learning communities (PLCs) in my school. I'm excited about the philosophy, but I'm wondering how hard it would be to implement this program school-wide?" Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have been around for more than twenty years. Today there are many definitions of what PLCs actually are and how they operate.

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Adam McCabe

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How to Create a Professional Learning Community

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It takes careful planning to form a useful and functional PLC, but once the foundation is built, the benefits will soon be evident.

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Adam McCabe

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Best Practices for Professional Learning Communities | Education World

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What is a PLC? And how can schools get the most “bang for the buck” from this proven approach to school improvement?