A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a collaborative and ongoing approach to professional development and learning within an educational or professional setting. It involves educators or professionals coming together to engage in continuous learning, reflection, and improvement in order to enhance their practice and improve student or organizational outcomes.

1. PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
COMMUNITIES

2. SEE…THINK…WONDER
HELPS YOUR STUDENTS MAKE CAREFUL OBSERVATIONS AND THOUGHTFUL ANALYSIS

4. SEE…THINK…WONDER

5. LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
 Educators will define Professional Learning
Communities.
 Educators will Examine how PLC’s work in
schools
 Educators will describe the culture shift that
is necessary when moving toward PLC’s
 Educators will identify ways they can and will
implement PLC practices in their schools.

8. Students Teachers
Generation Alpha
(children of millennials)
Generation Z
(1995-2004)
Generation Y
(1980-1994)
Generation X
(1965-1979)
Baby Boomers
(1946-1964)
Retired

9. A LIST OF INFLUENCES ON ACHIEVEMENT
DR. JOHN HATTIE
INFLUENCE EFFECT SIZE
Collective Teacher Efficacy 1.57
Teacher Clarity 0.75
Feedback 0.75
Teacher-Student
Relationship
0.74
Classroom Management 0.52
Motivation 0.48
Teacher Expectations 0.43
The hinge point, an effect size of 0.4,
equates to approximately 1 year of
growth.

10. Professional Learning
Community (PLC)
“…a group of people who share a
concern, a set of problems, or passion
about a topic, who deepen their
knowledge and expertise in this area by
interacting on an ongoing basis.”
—Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002

11. FOCUS ON LEARNING
 Is your team always…….focused on student
learning? (graphic)
 Student learning should be at the center of every
team.

12. WHY DO WE NEED TO CHANGE?
 The “factory model” of education will not prepare
students to succeed in a knowledge-based global
economy.
 Previous attempts at reforming the American
educational system have failed.
 Past models focus on procedures rather then
results.

13. CHANGING THE FOCUS
Old Focus
 Every student can learn
 Focus on teaching
 Isolation
 Assessment OF learning
(Summative)
 Failure is an option
New Focus
 Every student will learn
 Focus on learning
 Collaboration
 Assessment FOR
learning (Formative)
 Failure is not an option

14. CULTURE SHIFTS IN A PLC
 Shift in Fundamental Purpose
…… From teaching to learning
 Shift in Use of Assessments
…… From summative to frequent formative
 Shift in the Work of Teachers
….. From isolation to collaboration
 Shift in Response When
Students Don’t Learn
….. From remediation to intervention

15. EFFECT SIZE
Collective Teacher
Efficacy
1.57
Teacher Clarity 0.75
Feedback 0.75
Teacher-Student
Relationship
0.74
Classroom Management 0.52
Motivation 0.48
Teacher Expectations

16. Establishing Learning Communities

17. WHAT IS A PROFESSIONAL
LEARNING COMMUNITY?
Educators committed to working collaboratively
in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and
action research in order to achieve better results
for the students they serve.
PLC’s operate under the assumption that the
key to improved learning for students is
continuous job-embedded learning for educators.
DuFour, DuFour, Eaker
2007 PLC Institute

18. CHARACTERISTICS OF PROFESSIONAL
LEARNING COMMUNITIES
 Shared mission, vision, values, goals
 Collaborative teams focused on learning
 Collective inquiry
 Action oriented
 Commitment to continuous improvement
 Results orientated
DuFour, DuFour, Eaker
2007 PLC Institute

19. ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS:
PLC FUNDAMENTALS
 What do we want students to learn?
▪ Essential Outcomes vs. Covering the Material
 How do we know if they learned it?
▪ Common Formative Assessments
▪ Data Driven Instruction
 What do we do when they don’t learn?
▪ Pyramid of Intervention
 What do we do when they do learn?
▪ Celebrate and Enrich

20. CHANGING THE CULTURE OF
EDUCATION
Even the grandest design eventually degenerates into hard
work.
Richard DuFour
May 2004
Professional Learning Communities represent a
shift from “doing” to “being.” PLC is not a
design, but rather change in how we think
about teaching and learning.

21. A CULTURE SHIFT
From
▪ A focus on teaching
▪ Teacher “covers” content
▪ Isolation
▪ Assessment of learning
▪ Determining the average of
students who got it
▪ Voluntary remediation
▪ Infrequent summative
assessments
▪ Specialization of knowledge
▪ “My kids”
To
▪ A focus on learning
▪ Students master essential learnings
▪ Collaboration
▪ Assessment for learning
▪ Looking at the needs of individual
students
▪ Direct, timely, systematic intervention
▪ Common Formative Assessments
▪ Sharing expertise
▪ “Our kids”

24. Students Teachers
Generation Alpha
(children of millennials)
Generation Z
(1995-2004)
Generation Y
(1980-1994)
Generation X
(1965-1979)
Baby Boomers
(1946-1964)
Retired

25. Students Teachers
Generation Alpha
(children of millennials)
Generation Z
(1995-2004)
Generation Y
(1980-1994)
Generation X
(1965-1979)
Baby Boomers
(1946-1964)
Retired

26. Students Teachers
Generation Alpha
(children of millennials)
Generation Z
(1995-2004)
Generation Y
(1980-1994)
Generation X
(1965-1979)
Baby Boomers
(1946-1964)
Retired

27. Students Teachers
Generation Alpha
(children of millennials)
Generation Z
(1995-2004)
Generation Y
(1980-1994)
Generation X
(1965-1979)
Baby Boomers
(1946-1964)
Retired

28. Students Teachers
Generation Alpha
(children of millennials)
Generation Z
(1995-2004)
Generation Y
(1980-1994)
Generation X
(1965-1979)
Baby Boomers
(1946-1964)
Retired

30. Building a Foundation for Collaboration
 Establishing Group Norms:
 A set of mutually decided expectations regarding
how meeting time will be spent, how disagreements
will be addressed, and how all discourse among
participants will be conducted.
 Teams decide norms together, and doing so is team
building in itself.
 Group norms once decided, need to be reviewed
constantly, at the start of each meeting.
 Until the norms become the culture of the PLC
meetings, they should be constantly reviewed and
occasionally updated.

31. Building a Foundation for Collaboration
 Establishing Group Norms:
 The effectiveness of group norms is directly
proportional to the willingness of team members to
respectfully call each other on infractions of those
norms.
 The PLC coach is not solely responsible to enforce the
norms. All members are.

32. PLC Members’ Code of Discourse
1.Be honest.
2.Be respectful.
3.Dare to disagree.
4.Put students first.
5.Don’t take comments
personally.
6.Don’t offer comments
personally.
7. Celebrate
successes.
8. Don’t be stubborn.
9. Trust the process.
10.If you see
something, say
something
11. Leave your ego at
the door, but bring your
brains inside.

33. TEAM STRUCTURES
 The best team structure is a team of teachers who
teach the same course/subject or grade level. These
teachers have a natural common interest in exploring
the critical questions of learning (curriculum,
assessment, instruction).
 Horizontal teams: Teachers who teach the same
course or grade level ( content-specific or
interdisciplinary teams)

34. Establishing PLC Teams
 Rule of Thumb:
If teachers are subject-specific in what they teach,
their PLC are also subject-specific.
If teachers teach multiple subjects ( e.g.Preschool)
within a grade level, their PLCs are organized
by grade level.

35.  The interdisciplinary team can be an effective
structure for collaboration, but an adjustment has to be
made.
 The team should create an overarching curricular
goal that team members will work together
interdependently to achieve.
e.g. to increase student achievement (in Math,
Science, Social Studies, English) by
becoming more effective in teaching nonfiction
writing.

36.  The interdisciplinary team can then address these
questions as they work together to achieve their goal:
* How can we integrate nonfiction writing into
each of our different subject areas?
* What criteria will we use in assessing the
quality of student writing?
* How will we know if we are applying the
criteria consistently?
* What are the most effective ways to teach
nonfiction writing?

37.  Is there a member of the team with expertise in this
area who can help the rest of us become more
effective in teaching nonfiction writing?
 How will we know if our students are becoming better
writers?
 How will we know if the focus on writing is impacting
achievement in our respective subject areas?
 What strategies will we use for students who struggle
with nonfiction writing?
 How can we enrich the learning experience for
students who are already capable writers?

38.  Vertical teams: Teachers who teach the same content
over different grade levels (primary team, intermediate
team, etc.)above and/or below their students.
 For example, the only Gr.1 Math teacher could team
up with the Gr.2 and Gr.3 Math teachers.
 Or, the GS P.E. teacher could team up with the HS P.E
teacher.

39. Vertical teams could work together to:
 - Clarify the essential outcomes for students
in the different grade levels (e.g. Gr.1,2,3
Math)
 Develop assessments for the students in
each grade level
 Analyze the results of each assessment
 Offer suggestions for improving results.

40. Logical links: Teachers who pursue
learning outcomes linked to their areas of
expertise
Electronic teams: Teachers who use
technology ro create powerful
partnerships with colleagues across time
and space.

41. Establishing PLC Teams
Pre-School PLCs – organized by
grade level
Elementary PLCs – organized by
subject area
Or both - Teachers serve on a
subject-specific PLC and also
on a grade specific PLC

42. Establishing PLC Teams
 Rule of Thumb:
If teachers are subject-specific in what they teach,
their PLC are also subject-specific.
If teachers teach multiple subjects ( e.g.Preschool)
within a grade level, their PLCs are organized
by grade level.

43. Establishing PLC Teams
 For MAPEH, TLE: If few, disperse them to the
academic subject PLCs. Usually, they can offer insights
on performance-based assessments. Otherwise,
subject-specific.
 Rule of Thumb:
 Consider what works best toward using collaboration as
a means to improve teacher practice and student
achievement.

44. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPTIONS FOR TEACHERS
Lesson Study
Peer Coaching
Mentoring
Action Research
Study Groups
Professional Book Talks
Conversations about Student Work

47. OUR CHALLENGES

48. IN A PERFECT WORLD, PLC’S WOULD BE A
BUILT ON A SHARED VISION, FROM THE
COMMUNITY TO THE SCHOOL BUILDING.
 District-wide or Building-based Initiative
 Team by Team - Grass Roots Effort

49. ARE YOU READY?
You cannot wait for the stars to align!
If you want to BE a Professional
Learning Community, you
must begin doing the work of a
Professional Learning
Community NOW!

50. GROUP WORK:
 Using what you have learned about PLC’s, identify
two ways that you could incorporate PLC practices
into a team that you are currently a part of.