What is plc in education

While collaborative teams are an essential part of the PLC process, the sum is greater than the individual parts. Much of the work of a PLC cannot be done by a team but instead requires a schoolwide or districtwide effort. So we believe it is helpful to think of the school or district as the PLC and the various collaborative teams as the building blocks of the PLC. Second, once again, the PLC process has a pervasive and ongoing impact on the structure and culture of the school.

If educators meet with peers on a regular basis only to return to business as usual, they are not functioning as a PLC. So the PLC process is much more than a meeting. So, what is a PLC? We argue that it is 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.

PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators. The following section examines the elements of the PLC process more closely.

The very essence of a learning community is a focus on and a commitment to the learning of each student. When a school or district functions as a PLC, educators within the organization embrace high levels of learning for all students as both the reason the organization exists and the fundamental responsibility of those who work within it.

In order to achieve this purpose, the members of a PLC create and are guided by a clear and compelling vision of what the organization must become in order to help all students learn. They make collective commitments clarifying what each member will do to create such an organization, and they use results-oriented goals to mark their progress.

A corollary assumption is that if the organization is to become more effective in helping all students learn, the adults in the organization must also be continually learning. PLC make this happen by prioritizing standards using specific criteria and then unpacking those standards , analyzing the nouns and verbs in the standards to understand which skills and concepts students will need to learn in order to be successful. Teachers identify what is hard to teach and what is hard to learn in the standards so that they can anticipate interventions and extensions.

In order to achieve success for students, we do need some common practices. However, by agreeing as a team on what should be tightly aligned, we can set the stage for teacher autonomy and exploration of the art of teaching and instructional practice. A PLC is constantly trying out new strategies to improve student learning, so individuals within the team must be given space to innovate. This is where the PLC should be only loosely aligned. Teachers can never know what teaching works best for their students unless they are given the freedom to try out new strategies.

Building a PLC is a proven way for schools to increase student learning by creating a culture that is:. Found in all effective PLCs are 10 principles that bring together the best available research on school improvement:.

Evidence from best practice research suggests that for a culture of collaborative professionalism to take root in a school, its leader must commit to all 10 principles of effective PLCs. Instructional leaders are classroom-based learning specialists who work directly with teachers to improve classroom practice. They are released from classroom duties to:. Effective PLCs use data about the impact of PLC implementation on teacher practice and student perception to track progress and identify areas for improvement.

PLC leaders work with other PLC schools in their geographic area to share effective practice and solve common problems. Over time these networks of 'middle leaders' will bring together common school improvement priorities. Creating a culture of working collaboratively to continuously improve teaching and learning is at the heart of the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes FISO. The FISO Framework is used by all Victorian government schools to focus their efforts on key areas known to have the greatest impact on school improvement.

Like any school-improvement strategy or program, the quality of the design and execution will typically determine the results achieved. If meetings are poorly facilitated and conversations lapse into complaints about policies or personalities, or if educators fail to turn group learning into actual changes in instructional techniques, professional learning communities are less likely to be successful.

In addition, administrators and teachers may encounter any number of potential challenges when implementing professional learning communities. While the specific activities and goals of a professional learning community may vary widely from school to school, the following are a few examples of common activities that may take place in meetings: Discussing teacher work: Participants collectively review lesson plans or assessments that have been used in a class, and then offer critical feedback and recommendations for improvement.

Discussing student work: Participants look at examples of student work turned in for a class, and then offer recommendations on how lessons or teaching approaches may be modified to improve the quality of student work. Discussing student data: Participants analyze student-performance data from a class to identify trends—such as which students are consistently failing or underperforming—and collaboratively develop proactive teaching and support strategies to help students who may be struggling academically.

Discussing professional literature: Participants select a text to read, such as a research study or an article about a specialized instructional technique, and then engage in a structured conversation about the text and how it can help inform or improve their teaching.

Reform Professional learning communities are nearly always an intentional school-improvement strategy designed to reduce professional isolation, foster greater faculty collaboration, and spread the expertise and insights of individual teachers throughout a school.

While professional learning communities may take a wide variety of forms from school to school, they tend to share a variety of common features: Teachers will likely meet regularly—every other week or every month, for example—and work together to improve and diversify their instructional techniques. For example, they may agree to identify and monitor student learning needs in their classes, conduct observations of their colleagues while they teach and give them constructive feedback, collaboratively develop and refine lessons and instructional techniques, and improve the support strategies they use to help students.

Time for meetings is often scheduled during the school day, and participation in a professional learning community may be an expected teaching responsibility, not an optional activity that competes with out-of-school personal time. Groups generally work toward common goals and expectations that are agreed upon in advance. Groups may even create mission and vision statements or a set of shared beliefs and values.