PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES: WORKING TOGETHER FOR INCREASED STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

In a previous blog, I explained the importance of various school support systems, specifically:

• Professional Learning Communities (PLC)

• Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)

• Positive Behavior Interventions Systems (PBIS)

When programs and procedures for these support systems are implemented with fidelity, the result is collective teacher efficacy and student achievement.

Because of this, we will take a closer look at the importance of Professional Learning Communities and the positive impacts they have on teachers and students.

WHAT ARE PLCs: Professional Learning Communities?

Unfortunately, I often hear from teachers, “PLCs don’t work. PLCs are a waste of time”. My response to those teachers is, “Then you’re not part of a true PLC, or you aren’t doing it right.”

“It's easy for districts, schools, and educators to get lost in “shiny object syndrome,” pursuing the latest educational trends only to abandon them for the next fad. We cannot “program” our way out of low achievement but we can design high impact instruction that will. In decades of research and experience, however, we have found that when PLCs are implemented consistently, intentionally, and energetically, the results are far-reaching."

-Advanced Collaborative Solutions

WITHOUT DATA, IT'S JUST YOUR OPINION

See the positive effects of a high functioning PLC at the end of this blog post.

A Professional Learning Community is a group of educators that meets on a regular basis to share expertise, analyze student data, and work collaboratively together to improve their own teaching practices thus increasing student achievement.

ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE PLCs

COLLECTIVE COMMITMENTS AND A SHARED MISSION AND VISION

Being a PLC begins with a common vision and purpose. Every member of a PLC should be able to communicate that vision in a mission statement and wholeheartedly believe in that mission. When all members of a PLC share a common goal and have a plan to achieve that goal, nothing can hold them back. 

My school’s mission statement:

COLLABORATION

The common goal of a PLC is student achievement. True student achievement for ALL students, in ALL grades, in ALL classrooms can only happen through the collaboration of ALL educators.

No one works in isolation. No one closes their classroom door and teaches without regard to what is happening in all the other classrooms at their school. What is done by ONE teacher affects the achievement of ALL students. 

A CYCLE OF INQUIRY

A collaborative group of educators is always working towards learning MORE. Learning MORE about their students’ current levels of achievement. Learning MORE about best teaching practices.

Together they work towards a common goal of improving their own teaching practices to improve student achievement. This is done through a cycle which includes the following steps:

• DETERMINE AN AREA OF ACADEMIC NEED

• DETERMINE THE TEACHING PRACTICES THAT WILL BEST ADDRESS STUDENT LEARNING

• IMPLEMENT TEACHING STRATEGIES & COLLECT DATA THAT MEASURES STUDENT MASTERY

• ANALYZE DATA TO DECIDE WHAT WORKED & WHAT DIDN’T WORK

• ADJUST TEACHING PRACTICES AS NEEDED

•  …BEGIN AGAIN!

WHAT DO WE WANT STUDENTS TO LEARN & HOW WILL WE KNOW THEY HAVE LEARNED IT?

Answering these two questions relies on a process of analyzing all academic standards for your grade level.  This is done collaboratively as a grade level team.

STEP 1

UNPACK THE STANDARDS to understand which skills and concepts students need to learn in order to be successful.

STEP 2

SELECT PRIORITY STANDARDS based on the criteria of Readiness, Endurance, Assessment, and Leverage.

Priority Standards (Power Standards, Essential Standards) are the standards that teachers should spend the majority of their teaching time on for in-depth instruction.

All other standards are supporting standards. This collaborative process helps teachers to deepen their knowledge of what students need to master and determine the best way to provide instruction.

STEP 3

COMMON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Grade level teachers determine LEARNING TARGETS based on the priority standards. During the teaching process for each learning target, formative assessments are administered to students to check their learning. The key to common formative assessments is that they are COMMON, used by all teachers in a grade level.

STEP 4

DATA ANALYSIS

Teachers analyze the data from formative assessments to determine which students have mastered the learning target and which students are in need of reteaching or intervention. P

art of this process is discussing the teaching practices used for the students showing mastery. If a teacher used a strategy that produced a high percentage of student mastery, that strategy should be used by ALL teachers with the same learning target as their focus. Teachers learn from each other to ensure optimal student achievement!

STEP 5

INTERVENTION & EXTENSION

Teachers provide intervention to students who have not mastered an essential learning target. Instruction happens in small groups as a reteach. For students who show mastery and present potential for high level thinking skills, extension can be provided. This will be discussed in more detail in the blog about Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).

Teachers who are part of a true Professional Learning Community are building shared knowledge by learning together with the common goal of increasing student achievement. High performing collaborative teacher teams do not stick to the status quo. They are continuously learning and growing to provide the best instruction for their students!

To prove this statement, view the increase in student achievement after PLC practices were implemented at my school site in 2018 with FULL implementation by 2023.

The scores below are from 2019 (pre-COVID) to spring 2023. It is important to note that proficiency growth started at a slow rate before 2019. The data below was charted to show the large achievement growth of students despite COVID. 

No learning loss was experienced from COVID distance learning because essential support systems were in place to ensure that did not happen.

Read more about MTSS on the blog HERE!