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This format will truly assist teams of teachers/leaders to reflect on the current status of their work and collaborate with each other to work towards a plan of action. Consequently, this will lead to stop and reflect mid-way to either continue, stop and revise, then arrive to a final product. Reflection is a must throughout this work.

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I really like the switch to more of a growth mindset and how to support students not just one size fits all.

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I really like the switch to more of a growth mindset and how to support students not just one size fits all.

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This sheet provides clear structures and encourages reflection and "belly dipping" into the reality of where the team/students are.

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Checking out the sample playlist that have been created is a great resource. #Changingthe game!

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The  MAP Data Template could be very useful for school-wide use!!!

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Additional Rubrics and Continuums....Good information regarding how to survey teams and create positive team structures. (PLC Survey, Team norms...etc.)

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Additional Rubrics and Continuums....Good information regarding how to survey teams and create positive team structures. (PLC Survey, Team norms...etc.)

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I want our building to embrace the simplicity of true collaboration 1. What do we want them to know2. How will we know they are learning 3. What do we do when they don’t get it 4. What do we do for those who already get it. Simple and fundamental :)

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I like the idea of helping teachers more explicitly use data to help inform their instructional decisions and student interventions.

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Powerful statement from the four questions:

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Powerful statement from the four questions:

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"Teaching without learning is just presenting" CLTs keeping focus on "What do you want students to know? How will we know they have mastered it? What will we do collectively, collaboratively to support students that didn't master the content?
How are we extending/enriching the learning of those who already know it?

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What questions are adults focused on at your school

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What questions are adults focused on at your school

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Is it what am I going to teach and how am I going to teach it? How much time will I spend on each topic??
Or questions that move the focus to learning
1. What will students learn
2. How will we know if they have learned or?
3. How will we respond if they learnedly it
4. What will we do if they already know it?

These questions came up often in the building of PLCs 9-10 years ago in lcps with a focus on collaborative planning but are even more powerful when we think about personalized learning

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From the article, it is clear that well-structured PLCs, that are focused on the six-steps, can provide staff with in-job training that is more effective than one-shot PD that occurs once a month.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. A culture that supports collaboration;

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

3. Shared beliefs and behaviors.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shared Beliefs and Behaviors

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

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

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

Teachers receive respect and consideration as people; and

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

Additional key beliefs and practices include:

A relentless commitment to improvement;

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

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

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

A value placed on ongoing learning (continuous inquiry).

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

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

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

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

Related resources

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

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Best Practices for Professional Learning Communities

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

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Surveys to measure the temperature of CLTs and PLCs and reflect on successes and areas of improvement

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It is important to set these norms to take in to consideration how every member of your team learns and communicates effectively and reveal obstacles to continued open dialogue.

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Helpful graphic to share w/teachers to learn how to better formally review data.
Data driven decisions by Ed Elements.

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I think this survey would be a useful tool for PLCs to assess where they are currently and how to find more consistency.

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PLC - All teams are potentially dysfunctional

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PLC - All teams are potentially dysfunctional

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Lack of Norms
Lack of Team Goals
Lack of Trust
Lack of Essential Learning Outcomes

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I agree that the rubrics and continuums would begin an important conversation amongst the PLC team.

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The Team SMART Goal Setting Plan document would be helpful for our teams in creating their goal. I believe it would be a useful resource.

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The vocabulary sheet would be very helpful for new teachers to our school to help them better understand the process

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I like the idea of the mid-year survey for staff in PLCs. It would be a great way to gather information about where they are and what they are comfortable with and where they can focus moving forward.

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I enjoyed the data protocols and how they outlined ways to have conversations around student data

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Having PLCs complete the rubrics or continuums to assess what they are doing well and what they can improve upon will allow teachers to reflect on their own use of planning time

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With our continued work with PBL we have worked towards integrating ways to effectively grade and assess our PBL experiences. I think this would be an effective tool to bring back to our staff to aid them in their growth of developing PBAs and assessing the work of the students.

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I would like our teams to utilize this tool to determine how effective they are working as teams.

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As we dive deeper into PBL we need to become more effective with our use of PBA.

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“No one teacher has all the skills, knowledge, and time necessary to meet the needs of all students assigned to his or her classes.”  We can no longer work in isolation if we want every child to succeed.  So why NOT collaborate?”

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“No one teacher has all the skills, knowledge, and time necessary to meet the needs of all students assigned to his or her classes.”  We can no longer work in isolation if we want every child to succeed.  So why NOT collaborate?”

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I would have the teachers view the 4 essential questions video.

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The rubrics for collaboration could be useful for CLTs who need extra support on how to collaborate and sustaining it throughout the year and beyond.

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The rubric for assessing how well we collaborate to help students achieve a higher level of performance is a good tool for schools to use.

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Try using agendas.

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What do we do when they don't learn? One of the 4 essential questions

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What do we do when they don't learn? One of the 4 essential questions

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I like to talk more about our intervention strategies with our ITs and CLT's when we have students That fall in this category of not learning. Another important piece to understand is this is not based on a grade but through assessments that check for deeper learning and understanding no regurgitated facts

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All Things Assessment would be beneficial for teachers at my school as we continue to look for better ways to assess the work of our students as we dig deeper with PBL.

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I would like to take back the PLC continuum to lead some discussions, reflections, and planning for our professional learning growth as a school. 

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I would like to take back the PLC continuum to lead some discussions, reflections, and planning for our professional learning growth as a school. 

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I like the templates we can use to help CLTs to develop norms and structures within the team meetings

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I would take back the Rubrics and Continuums for teachers to self-assess individually where they think they are as a team, and then compare their answers. This would be helpful for PLCs who have new members this year.  Veteran PLCs could then focus on deeper learning.

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I think it would be useful to show staff some same agendas that they might use as a model for creating their own CLT running agendas.