Professional Learning Communities

What is a PLC?

A Professional Learning Community or PLC is a group of educators who teach the same class or grade level working collaboratively in an ongoing process 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 in continuous job-embedded learning for educators.

3 Big Ideas of a PLC

Focus on Learning

The fundamental purpose of a school is to ensure high levels of learning for all students. This focus on learning translates into four critical questions that drive the daily work of the school. In PLCs, educators demonstrate their commitment to helping all students learn by working collaboratively to address the following guiding questions:

1) What do we want students to learn?

What should each student know and be able to do as a result of each unit, grade level, or course?

2) How will we know if they have learned?

Are we monitoring each student’s learning on a timely basis?

3) What will we do if they don’t learn?

What systematic process is in place to provide additional time and support for students who are experiencing difficulty?

4) What will we do if they already know it?

What systemic process is in place to provide enrichment for those students who are already learning at high levels?

A Collaborative Culture

• No school can help all students achieve at high levels if teachers work in isolation.

• Schools improve when teachers are given the time and support to work together to clarify essential student learning outcomes, develop common assessments for learning, analyze evidence of student learning, and use that evidence to learn from one another.

Focus on Results

• PLCs measure their effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions.

• All programs, policies, and practices are continually assessed on the basis of their impact on student learning.

• All staff members receive relevant and timely information on their effectiveness in achieving intended results.

~ Adapted from the work of Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker and, Thomas Many