What Is a Professional Learning Community

Once the team’s vision had been established, we became very honest about our personal and professional strengths and our target areas of growth. From this conversation, the team was able to clearly define the focus and responsibilities of the PLC Leader and individual team members. The meeting was successful and everyone is excited about working together. Our vision will remain in the forefront of our meetings, reminding us to always provide a climate in our classrooms that fosters thoughtful and respectful consideration of all viewpoints.

This PLC has begun to make assertions as to where student’s needs are, however their assertions would be more valid had they presented concrete data to prove their assertions. Should this PLC had used data to support their assumptions through a common formative assessment, and then analyze that data, they would become much more effective than they already

Making a school successful takes more than individual effort, it takes teamwork. Individuals need to work together towards shared goals and commitments focusing on meeting the academic and social needs of all pupils in the school.

BES feels like they have the perfect setup for Professional Learning Communities because they have the right number of teachers for each grade level. Burge said: “this makes our school unique, because no other school in the district has four teachers for each grade. Most elementary schools have one, maybe two classes per grade. Blanding Elementary school is the largest primary school in the district, no other school in the district has four teachers per grade level, which according to Burge is an ideal number for effective PLC’s. Grade level teachers met every week, at a set time for 50 minutes, and discuss students, common assessments, and analyze their own teaching methods in order to improve. The school feels like they have done really well, but there is always room to improve. Burge attributes schoolwide growth and success to PLC work: “Some of the teams are really awesome, and some still struggle, but they are working hard, and they are working together, which breeds success (March 9, 2017).” The principal has spent time training the PLC’s to ensure focus and

Assessment Principles. Learning outcomes 2, 3, 4 and 5 must be assessed in the work

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.

Roberts, S. & Pruitt, E. (2003). Schools as Professional Learning Communities: Collaborative Activities and Strategies for Professional Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

During our second Bear Creek visit, I observed the English Language Arts Professional Learning Community also known as ELA. When I first heard about the PLC, I was surprised because it is a brilliant concept. I never knew this existed. The English Language Arts PLC ran smoothly because the teacher that was presenting knew the standard she was going to focus on and how she was going to present the content to the students. All of the ELA teachers also had a schedule about how the meeting was going to flow so that no one was confused. They also used technology to present the standards and the content so that all of the teachers could see and make suggestions and ask questions. One teacher was questioned about why she chose a particular book

Progress is the key element of the math PLC at Mary B. Neal Elementary. The progress will provide vital information to the PLC and administration of the school. Concerning the progress and how it will be monitored, the members will create a monitor sheet. Bi-weekly, the team will meet to review the data of the math classes. During these meetings, members will analyze the progress of all students and see where the misconceptions are within the student data. The PLC will also monitor and assess how often staff members are using a guided math approach to math instruction. With peer observations, the members of the PLC will be able to determine which staff members are effectively using guided math and which need more assistance. Currently, Mary

Collaboration between teachers is a key component to professional development that will lead to higher student achievement. There is a need for schools to set up time for teachers to be able to collaborate together. This allows for teachers to help each other, matchup content, teach each other new and best practices, troubleshoot student issues just to name a few of the areas that collaboration time can help foster within a school. The key is to build time for teachers to be able to collaborate during the school day or week. This collaboration time needs to be between grade levels, departments, and cross curricular when needed. For many schools this is an afterthought to the school schedule or a fleeting thought after the master schedule is completed. A principal needs to keep an open mind to any strategy that will enable the teachers to be able to collaborate for the good of the students and the school.

Policies in early childhood setting support to protect children, families, educators and management. A range of professional disciplines, including teaching, learning, health, education and welfare, influences policy in the early childhood sector (Waniganayake et al, 2012). The purpose of this assessment is to discuss and understand the legislative, regulatory and ethical requirements, with the strength and issues of Serendipity Early Childhood Outdoor Environment policy and their overarching philosophy. The main aim is to determine where the strength and issues subsist, such as environment, safety, interaction and collaboration. These are supported with evidence from guiding framework, state and Commonwealth legislation and related frameworks.

Traditionally, teacher development typically occurs through trial and error in the isolated confinements of each teacher’s classroom with some periodic whole-group professional development (Goddard & Goddard, 2007). Within the past few decades, many schools and districts, including ours, have considered and experimented with Professional Learning Communities (PLC) as an alternative framework in guiding a more efficient development program for their teachers. PLCs are focused on enhancing student learning through developing teacher practices. The concept of PLC relies on using structured collaborative sessions amongst teachers within the school to build internal capacity. Through PLCs, teachers critically reflect on current

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.

Byrd, J. T., & Luthy, M. R. (2010). Improving group dynamics- Creating a team charter. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 14(1), 13–26

This is the most difficult step for schools, however, when working together, with urgency and a mindset to improve, total transformation will occur.