Professional Learning Communities and Collaboration

Video Transcription

Hello, and thank you for joining me for Professional Learning Communities and Collaboration. After today's tutorial, we will be able to answer the following essential questions. What is the history and purpose of the professional learning community, and how does the professional learning community support collaboration for continuous school improvement and increased student achievement?

Let's look at the history of professional learning communities. Professional learning communities gained popularity in the '80s and '90s as school improvement structures, but they've actually been around since the '60s. And this was a result of Susan Rosenholtz's 1989 study where she found that schools that built a culture of teacher collaboration are focused on student achievement. And this resulted in academic gains for the students. This was based on her study of 78 schools.

In 1993, Judith Warren Little and Milbry McLauchlin also performed a study, and they found that organizations were most effective when demonstrating the tenets of the professional learning community. And these just include shared norms, beliefs, having collaboration, having respect, having reflective practices, and having cycles of continuous improvement, as well as a commitment to professional growth.

In 1995, Fred Newmann and Gary Wehlage conducted a study of 1,200 schools, and they found that schools with teachers who had shared commitments, shared values, et cetera, ended up sharing the responsibility for student learning, which, in turn, of course, produced higher achieving students. In 1995, Sharon Kruse, Karen Seashore Louis, and Anthony Bryk also found that schools with high student achievement gave teachers the opportunities for reflective dialogue and collaboration.

Additionally, the teachers had the shared commitment to student learning, and they openly communicated with one another and shared best practices. And then in 1998, the book, Professional Learning Communities At Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement, was published. This book was written by Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker.

According to Professional Learning Communities at Work, when a school functions as a professional learning community, its members collectively pursue a shared mission, vision, values, and goals, work interdependently in collaborative teams focused on learning, engage in ongoing collective inquiry into best practices, and the current reality of student achievement and the prevailing practices of the school, demonstrate an action orientation and experimentation, participate in systematic processes to promote continuous improvement, and maintain an unrelenting focus on results.

Professional learning communities also supports work of various researchers, including Michael Fullan from University of Ontario, and the rest of the people on this slide. Feel free to pause the slideshow, write down their names, and conduct some further research. Rick and Becky DuFour, the last ones on this list, are experts in professional learning communities in the school. And Rick DuFour actually came up with the three big ideas associated with PLCs.

The first of these is ensuring that all students can learn. According to DuFour, in addition to being systematic and school-wide, the professional learning communities' response to students who experienced difficulty is timely. The school quickly identify students who need additional time and support based on intervention rather than remediation. The plan provides students with help as soon as they experience difficulty, rather than relying on summer school, retention, and remedial courses.

And it's directive-- instead of inviting students to seek additional help, the systematic plan requires students to devote extra time and receive additional assistance until they've mastered the necessary concepts. Step two is a culture of collaboration. This is the idea of, they're not your students or my students. They're all our students.

And it has a focus on collaborating for school improvement. This includes setting goals, reviewing progress towards the goal, adjusting accordingly-- if something's not working, changing it. If something is working really well, doing more of that-- and celebrating success. There is also a focus on removing barriers to success. These might be people who aren't working well. These might be distractions in the school day, et cetera.

The third step is a focus on results. And according to Cassie Erkens, what gets measured gets done. The focus of this step is hard work and commitment and a focus on measurement and collecting data to support your findings. A couple of tips-- remember that a professional learning community is just not something you do. It has to be a commitment, and it has to be a commitment to a collaborative culture that's focused on students.

You have to make the time to really have a PLC in your work. You can't just talk the talk. You have to walk the walk. This means looking at a problem, creating SMART goals or creating goals using the PDSA format. It means collecting data. It means meeting as a group and evaluating what's working and what's not. So it isn't simply having professional development. It's having it in a meaningful and purposeful way.

So how can you institute a PLC at your school? Well, step one is you should work with a team, and the team should create a shared mission, vision, and goal. And remember, when you're writing these goals, they should be SMART goals, designed at achieving continuous improvement. Last, you have to have a regular opportunity to meet and collaborate with members of the PLC. With all of this in mind, in what ways will your school benefit from instituting PLCs?

Today, we discuss, what is the history and purpose of the professional learning community, and how does the professional learning community support collaboration for continuous school improvement and increased student achievement? As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you may want to explore the Additional Resources section that accompanies this video presentation. This is where you'll find links to resources chosen to help you deepen your learning and explore ways to apply your newly acquired skillset. Thank you for joining me, and happy teaching.