Building A PLC In Schools

PLCs are 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 (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2006). The PLCs should be crafted around the idea of cultivating a sense of shared responsibility between all stakeholders.

I agree, we often mistake PLCs for when teachers meet with other teachers. In my opinion, in order to have a successful PLC, you need to see student growth as well as have action steps to move the students forward. This is very different than when teachers meet with other teachers to discuss issues, but do not come out with action steps.

A. School Improvement Initiatives: We discussed two school improvement initiatives: 1. Professional Learning Communities’ (PLC) continue to dominate the intervention and improvement discussion. This year the San Juan School District (SJSD) schools went from district based PLC’s

One thing that is a for certain in education is changes will take place. Education mirrors the world we live in, and that is, change is inevitable. However, this process is not always accepted by the entire staff of a school and may be found burdensome to others. As a teacher leader, when certain changes in the school take place regarding a rule, the entire staff needs to come together to ensure the rule is being implemented and enforced. One such change that is happening at my school is the once a week mandatory meeting of all PLC teams. The decision to implement mandatory PLC meetings did not go over well with all teachers. When a school makes a rule or policy change, there are parts of the organization, such as the political, human resource, and cultural perspective that feel the effect.

Overall, high rates of teacher turnover have direct monetary costs and alter the distribution of teacher experience and skill across districts. Dr. Maxwell, the Superintendent of PGCPS formed a Transition Team from which four subcommittees were formed one being the Teaching and Learning Committee (TL). The TL examined research on professional literature to answer the question and determined that in order for students to receive the high-quality education that prepares them to succeed in post-secondary opportunities, staff members must have instructional resources and professional learning opportunities to build their capacities

Teachers today face a number of challenges that contribute to a lack of job satisfaction, leaving schools for other professions that are more lucrative, low comparative compensation, and poor working conditions:

Since my first day of grade school I have dreamt of becoming a teacher. It was not until my junior year of high school that my dream grew into a passion for wanting to teaching in an urban environment. During a field tip to a Chicago Public School, I observed that the students where clearly in an underfunded and disadvantaged environment compared to my own experience in school. The moment that I saw that teacher earning respect and influencing her students, it was obvious to me that these teachers were the most influential factor in the classroom. The teacher’s attitude and ability to influence was more important than any other resource.

The case study of the Branden Smith and his first year in the Parkland School District is a prime example of what can happen when there is a lack a control and guidance in the educational setting from an administrative perspective. Branden’s mentality is soon completely altered and jarred from optimism to pessimism within a matter of months after working in the Parkland district. He has formed a common mentality amongst many teachers that teach in an urban setting develop which I like to refer to as “Urban Fatigue”. Urban Fatigue is a mental, physical, and emotional state that you often find teachers in the urban school settings develop over time. This state seems to be far more progressive amongst teachers in the urban school setting than teachers in the suburban school settings. I attribute this fatigue to the fact that many teachers in the urban settings often are challenged with more disciplinary and behavioral issues, lack of parent support, lack of departmental and district funding, and overall structural issues within the learning environment and community. These factors attribute to the concept of “Urban Fatigue”. The case study of Branden Smith is an example of what can happen when the factors of “Urban Fatigue” set in due to a lack of school cultural, climate, and structural framework are not fully implemented by the administrative parties.

We also know that disruptive behavior interferes with overall classroom functioning and individual student academic achievement (Atkins, Hoagwood, Kutash, & Seidman, 2010), and effective classroom management can reduce disruptions and improve learning (Reid, Gonzalez, Nordness, Trout, & Epstein, 2004). There is growing evidence that implementing EBIs to promote positive student behaviors may reduce emotional exhaustion and similar constructs among educators (e.g., Ross, Romer, & Horner, 2012). However, much less is known about the driving factors behind this association, and whether the same effect occurs in urban schools, where higher levels of teacher stress and numerous organizational barriers are often reported (Shernoff et al., 2011). Organizational barriers (e.g., school leadership and teacher collegiality) are particularly significant due to their frequent association with teacher stress (Dorman, 2003). The current study advances understanding of stress and satisfaction among teachers in urban schools by examining predictors at three levels (individual, classroom, school-wide) and how training in and use of EBIs may impact them.

Teachers working in inner city high schools in the United States face enormous challenges. Their students, most of whom come from economically disadvantaged minority families and often do not speak English as a first language, present a daunting array of educational needs for teachers and schools. Resources and school structures are seldom sufficient for the task. Despite such conditions, some urban high school teachers persist for many years in the classroom and experience success and satisfaction in their work. Through a survey and extended interviews, this study identifies three broad factors that motivated a group of these teachers to remain in inner city classrooms for more than 12 years: (1) the students, (2) professional and personal

There are many contributing factors to low teacher turnover, however, the main issue is a lack of support and respect for our teachers. Instead of working on maintaining and providing support for our current educators, the conversation usually surrounds expensive and often ineffective recruitment programs. The harsh fact is that it is very expensive to live in our valley and the current teacher salary/benefits are not enough to attract top talent. We need to have a serious conversation with our teachers in order to learn what incentives they need to be successful in their roles as well as to maintain a comfortable living. Teachers are the one profession that truly molds the future of our

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are communities of educators who work and meet together to collaborate. Their goal is to make sure students are learning the content everyone is teaching. A “highly effective” learning community involves educators who are willing to work with others. Educators who do not make excuses for why students are not learning, and they view growth as positive thing. In effective PLCs, staff members meet on a regular basis, these meetings can be formal and informal. One big takeaway is to ensure teachers are not working in isolation. Members of the PLC work with one another to analyze student work and data, and use that information to better serve those that are not meeting the objectives.

Some teachers are naturally hesitant to try new things, but I present the program as a trial run, the teachers know that if we implement something that’s not working we will examine steps to fix it together.” My principal does a great job with this, she listens to the teacher’s ideas or suggestions and will find solutions to any problem. Next, I asked, “What are some benefits and challenges of PLCs?” Ms. Alexander paused and thought for a moment, “the benefits are that teachers work together with a purpose, they talk about student learning, and the teachers share the same vision. The challenge is maintaining consistency across the board and motivating every teacher to stay committed.” I have witnessed the challenge with maintaining consistency on a few occasions at my school. For instance, teachers were randomly grouped together for a teambuilding activity, in which teachers had to share with their group members common challenges they face every school year. The group members then developed a short list of tips or strategies that the teacher could use to remedy whatever challenges they were facing. As

As the logic of action model (figure 1) shows, implementing PLCs in schools and districts can ultimately lead to improved student outcomes. First, by reforming the current culture around professional development and aligning teacher planning periods according to grade and subject, teachers will be able to attend PLC meetings consistently. Following this step, there are two different routes in the logic model that both work to increase teaching quality within the school. The combination of the effects from both strands will then amplify improvements in student outcomes.

Administrators and teachers must work together to develop the PLC plan addressing the needs of their students. This means administrators need to trust teachers and allow them to work in a way that is autonomous from leadership. Delegating more responsibilities to staff was a way of creating a more knowledgeable community that could cope with the diversity of demands created by schools moving from being relatively simple organizations to highly complex ones. It was also recognized as in accord with the rhetoric of distributed leadership recommended as a strategy for school improvement and raising pupil attainment (Bolam et al. 2005, Webb, et al.