What Is A 'Professional Learning Community?'

Dr. Wendy Ghiora – Posting #59 – July 30, 2010

What is a “Professional Learning Community?” Is this yet another fad de jour someone has come up with to wreak havoc on school administrators and teachers? Or is it a research-based workable solution to the downward spiral that seems to be submerging many of our schools beyond the point of no return?
A professional learning community (PLC) is an extended learning opportunity to foster collaborative learning among colleagues within a particular work environment or field. It is often used in schools as a way to organize teachers into working groups. (Web definition)

The three components of a Professional Learning Community are:
1. A Focus on student learning rather than teaching: You haven't taught until the students have learned.
2. Collaborative grade and subject-alike problem solving: With supervision and direction given by a knowledgeable facilitator, teachers work together to plan solutions to problems that hinder student success. This includes creating uniform lesson plans that all teachers then use, test, and provide feedback about. Collaborative problem solving is also called, "Continuous Improvement."
3. Accountability for results. Because the school develops its own plans for improvement, it takes full responsibility for the results. To create a professional learning community, focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively, and hold yourself accountable for results.

Richard DuFour, one of the pioneers of PLC’s advises:

As the school moves forward as a Professional Learning Community every professional in the building must engage with colleagues in the ongoing exploration of three crucial questions that drive the work of those within a professional learning community:
What do we want each student to learn?
How will we know when each student has learned it?
How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?
The answer to the third question separates learning communities from traditional schools.

In the weeks to come, we will investigate exactly how “the answer to the third question separates learning communities from traditional schools.” Anyone care to conjecture?

Today, I’d like to share this Success Story with you from a middle school right here in Orange County, California.

Pioneer Middle School
May 29, 2007
By: Mike Mattos, principal (Tustin, CA)
In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins asks, “Why try for greatness? If you’re doing something you care that much about, and you believe in its purpose deeply enough, then it is impossible to imagine not trying to make it great. It’s just a given. Greatness is not a function of circumstance….it is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.” Three years ago, the staff of Pioneer Middle School faced this very choice…would we settle for being a good school for most students, or would we be a great school for all students? With an unquestionable passion for our students and learning, our staff’s decision was “a given”.

Collectively, we worked with the Pioneer community to create our current mission: To maximize every student’s academic potential and personal responsibility. This singular purpose is firmly grounded in our fundamental belief that all students can learn at high levels. We believe it is not merely our job to teach; instead, it is our steadfast responsibility to ensure that all students learn. While our mission is quite simple in concept, its creation and implementation has proven to be powerful and dynamic.

To ensure high levels of learning for all students, we work collaboratively as a professional learning community to identify essential standards, share best instructional practices, create common assessments, and analyze student assessment data. Failure is not an option, so we have developed a “Pyramid of Interventions” to provide additional time and support for all students. We meet weekly with at-risk students to monitor progress and to provide additional help if needed. Because our mission is to maximize every student’s academic potential, our focus extends beyond assuring grade-level proficiency, and challenges students to master more rigorous curriculum. Over half of our students take accelerated level coursework, including honors language arts, geometry, foreign language, and science. At Pioneer, it is “cool” to be smart, to help others, and to take pride in your school. Last semester, almost half our students received Principal’s Honor Roll (3.5 GPA or higher) and over 900 students were recognized for their school achievement.

While academic success is important, we also believe that middle school should be a place for all students to explore new disciplines, to experience new opportunities, and to have fun learning. To this end, all students set quarterly, “REAL Wildcat” goals for academic achievement, extra-curricular involvement, exploration, leadership, and service. Currently over 100 students participate in student government, over 700 students in our fine arts programs (band, orchestra, chorus, art), over 800 students in our sports programs, and over 1000 students in academic competitions. Grade-level programs transition our students from the nurturing attributes of elementary school to the flexible and age-appropriate expectations of future high school students. Eighth grade mentors meet weekly with our sixth grade students to teach them the “Wildcat Way”, helping to prepare them for success at Pioneer, in high school, and beyond.

Steadily, we are making our mission a reality. Over the past two years, Pioneer’s state test scores rank in the top three middle schools in Orange County and top 2% in the state. Recently, Pioneer was named a 2007 California Distinguished School. While our staff is honored by these recognitions, what we most celebrate is the knowledge that we are ensuring the learning and future success of our students.

I am anxious to receive feedback on what you think of Professional Learning Communities so far. I’ll have more on this for you in the weeks to come.

No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson