"The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is developing the ability for school personnel to function as Professional Learning Communities.”

- DuFour & Eaker, 1998, “PLC At Work”

What are Professional Learning Teams?

Professional Learning Teams are groups of teachers who meet regularly as a team to analyze current levels of achievement, set SMART goals, identify essential and valued student learning, develop common formative assessments, share strategies, and research best practices. We accept learning as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning. We are committed to working together to achieve our collective purpose. We cultivate a collaborative culture through development of high-performing teams. We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions. Individuals, teams, and schools seek relevant data and information and use that information to promote continuous improvement.

Why collaborate in Professional Learning Teams?

“A team can make better decisions, solve more complex problems, and do more to enhance creativity and build skills than individuals working alone. They have become the vehicle for moving organizations into the future. Teams are not just nice to have. They are hard-core units of the production” (Blanchard, 2007). In order to achieve the goal of increased student achievement, members of the PLC need to answer the key questions.

These four questions will be at the heart of every PLC discussion. It is through the PLC process that teachers will develop a new understanding and apply it to their classroom to raise student achievement. Increased student achievement is the indicator of a successful PLC.

Question 1: What do we want our students to learn and be able to do?

The PLT should first review the course/grade level essential learnings, state standards and state/ national test specification documents. The discussion that occurs in the PLT regarding these documents will build shared knowledge and understanding of what the PLT wants all students to learn. As the PLT determines its focus, it is important to answer the focus question based on their area of greatest need.

What does a high-functioning PLT look like at the proficient stage of Question 1?

Analyze Essential Learnings:

All teachers collaborating to create or review state standards and content/ grade level essential standards for current courses as well as vertically articulated courses.
All teachers in PLT are teaching with essential standards in mind and communicating learning objectives to students.
All teachers demonstrating high levels of commitment to the essential standards, curriculum, students, and PLT members.

Determine Appropriate Pacing:

Teachers have established the essential learning for each unit of instruction and are committed to instructing their students according to the essential learning and to the team’s agreed-upon pacing guide.

Discuss and Share Instructional Strategies:

All teachers systematically share evidence-based effective instructional strategies and utilize newly learned strategies in their own classrooms.

Question 2: How will we know if each student has learned it?

The PLT collectively creates and aligns common assessments to measure student progress toward meeting the team goal. Both formative and summative assessments should be used to measure progress toward the goal. The formative assessments inform the teacher of student progress as the learning is happening. The formative assessments also provide students with feedback about their progress toward the goal. The summative assessments give the teacher and students a summary of the student learning.

What does a high-functioning PLT look like at the proficient stage of Question 2?

Create and Administer Assessments:

Every teacher has collaborated within the PLT to develop a series of common, formative and summative assessments.
Teachers are assessing student learning on a consistent and equitable basis.
Every teacher administers common formative and common summative assessments.

Align Assessments:

All assessments are entirely aligned with state standards and essential learning.
All assessments administered are consistent in format and rigor with those used by other teachers in the PLT.

Use Data to Evaluate Student Performance and Inform Instruction:

Teachers collaboratively create a common scoring system and consistently use it to measure proficiency.
Every teacher regularly uses results from common formative assessments to guide real-time instruction.
Teachers use results from common summative assessments, make decisions for future changes in content, instruction, and assessment.
Teachers assign grades to all summative assessments.

Question 3: How will we respond when some students don't?

The PLT uses the results of the common assessments and district assessments to determine which students need additional time and support in learning the essential skills. Collectively, the team develops a plan to support those students who are not making progress toward the goal.

What does a high-functioning PLT look like at the proficient stage of Question 3?

Determine Appropriate Intervention and Differentiation:

The PLT has a highly coordinated, sequential system of interventions in place.
The PLT identifies and makes plans for students to receive extra support even before they fail. Student achievement is monitored on a daily basis. Students who experience difficulty are required, rather than invited to put in extra time and utilize extra support.
If the current level of support is not sufficient, there is an increased amount of time and support provided.
All students are guaranteed access to this systematic intervention regardless of the teacher to whom they are assigned.
Teachers consistently differentiate curriculum components within each unit of study.

Question 4: How will we extend the learning when students do?

The PLT will use results of the common assessments and classroom exit tickets to determine which students need an extension of the learning. Just as the PLT provides additional time and support for those not learning the material, the PLT needs to engage the top students as well.

What does a high-functioning PLT look like at the proficient stage of Question 4?

Determine Appropriate Enrichment and Differentiation:

The PLT has a highly coordinated, sequential system of enrichment in place. The PLT identifies and makes plans for students who have already mastered the learning.
All students are guaranteed access to this systematic enrichment regardless of the teacher to whom they are assigned.
Teachers consistently differentiate curriculum components within each unit of study.

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