PLC Goals

Video Transcription

In this tutorial, we'll examine the importance and development of PLC goals. We'll begin with an overview of how SMART goals can be used within the context of a PLC. And then we'll take a closer look at the process of developing these SMART goals. Let's get started.

Before we begin our discussion of SMART goals, let's first understand why we want to establish these PLC goals in the first place. It's important for a PLC to work together as a team or as a community of practice to establish norms and a vision, a mission, and goals. This helps the PLC to manifest the features that are critical for success.

In fact, all highly effective site-based management teams engage in this cyclical process. It's important that these teams frequently revisit all of the elements in this cycle based upon data, like student academic data and social emotional data, including school culture information and student behavior information. And it's also important that the team regularly looks at these elements through the lens of feedback provided by teachers, students, and parents.

So let's take a closer look at the goals that are present in that cycle. PLC goals should be developed only after the vision and mission have been established and aligned in the PLC. Recall that the SMART acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, or Responsible, and Time-bound.

So the R in the acronym sometimes stands for Responsible when the action step is assigned to a specific person or specific group to carry out the goal. For example, in this SMART goal, the eighth grade mathematics teachers are the responsible party.

But here's an example of a SMART goal where the R would stand for Relevant. This goal does not specifically state who is responsible for meeting this goal. Instead, it just is relevant either to the district-wide goals or the school goals or to the students that it is impacting. But there is not a responsible party that is specifically identified.

Let's examine a process that you can use to develop SMART goals for your PLC. You should begin by referring to the vision and mission that you developed for your PLC because all of your SMART goals need to be aligned to both the vision and the mission.

To begin drafting your goals, define the actions that are going to be necessary in order to attain the vision and mission. And then write each of these actions as a statement. These statements are going to be turned into your SMART goals.

For each of these statements, then, you can ask, S-- what specifically do we want to accomplish? And what actions will get us there? For M, you can ask, how will we measure attainment of the goal? A-- is the goal attainable?

For R, ask, is this relevant? Or who is going to be responsible for carrying out the actions in the goal? And finally, for T, what's our timeline? How long are we going to work on the goal before we measure our progress and then adjust our actions if that is deemed necessary?

After writing your SMART goals, you need to check for alignment to the vision and the mission of your PLC. So you'll want to ask yourself whether the goal is connected to the vision and mission. How are they connected? And do I need to adjust the goal in any way? If you do identify any misalignment, simply edit the goal as necessary to create alignment.

So let's consider a sample situation. Recall the middle school math teachers who drafted a vision and mission for their PLC in an earlier tutorial. Let's go through the process of developing a SMART goal that is connected to the vision and the mission that they wrote.

Here was the vision statement that these teachers wrote for their PLC. We provide a world-class educational experience focused on the unique needs of our students and the 21st-century skills that will ensure their success in college and careers.

They wrote a mission statement for the PLC that was aligned with the vision statement. Through the use of differentiation techniques, research-based instructional strategies, and classroom technology, we will create a student-focused, high-quality educational experience for all students.

After reviewing the vision statement and mission statement, the next step for the team is to outline the steps that are going to get them to attainment of the vision and mission. This team determines that implementing differentiation techniques will help them in this endeavor, as will implementing research-based instructional strategies and using classroom technology effectively.

Let's write a SMART goal based on this first step, implementing differentiation techniques. For the S in the acronym, let's aim to implement three new differentiation techniques. For the M, lesson plans and personal reflections can be used to measure whether teachers are making progress towards meeting this goal. Observations might be another possible choice here.

For A, the team decides that, yes, they feel that this is an attainable goal. For R, this definitely is relevant to both the PLC vision and the PLC mission. For T, the timeline is that the teachers are going to actively monitor their progress throughout the school year with, again, that overall goal of implementing three techniques at some point during the course of the year.

So here is a possible SMART goal based on this action step. In the 2015-2016 school year, teachers will implement three new differentiation techniques in order to meet the needs of all students.

Let's close with some final thoughts. The thoughtful development of a vision and a mission and norms, or common commitments, and goals for a PLC is so important to the successful functioning of that team.

This process helps the PLC to function effectively in the context of developing and implementing school improvement plans and PLC action plans. This supports continuous improvement efforts in the school and district. And it creates a roadmap for improvement in a document that actually can be shared with the school community at large, if that's desired.

This roadmap includes detailed action steps that will guide the progress of the team. It includes a process for reflection. And it includes those visible outcomes that, again, can be shared with the school community as an acknowledgment of the progress that the team has made.

So here is your chance to stop and reflect. Try using the SMART acronym to write a goal that is related to your PLC's vision and mission. To dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure to check out the Additional Resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material. Thanks for joining me today. Have a great day.