Professional learning communities (PLCs) are groups of educators dedicated to enhancing student learning through shared responsibility and collaboration. They serve as a strategy for school improvement, fostering a culture that focuses on effective teaching practices and student outcomes. The document emphasizes the importance of PLCs in increasing teacher capacity and transforming educational environments.

1. The term professional learning community describes a collegial group of administrators and school staff who are united in their commitment to student learning. Hord (1997b) notes, "As an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen as a powerful staff-development approach and a potent strategy for school change and improvement." Professional Learning Communities1Professional LearningCommunities

2. They function as an effective strategy for building school capacity around core issues of teaching and learning (Darling-Hammond, 1995)

3. They can serve as a mechanism to transform school culture.Professional Learning Communities2Why are professional learning communities important ?

4. …connect teachers with information, strategies and best practices.Professional Learning Communities3In other words, PLCs…

5. Schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student backgroundsRobert Marzano, What Works in Schools, 2003Professional Learning Communities4SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

6. To understand how collaborative communities (PLCs) can impact teacher learning and student achievement.To understand the role we will play in PLCs. To shift our thinking from teaching to learningProfessional Learning Communities5Our Objectives Today

7. Culturally Responsive TeachingEffective Instructional StrategiesExamining DataProfessional Learning Communities6Key Focus Areas

8. Building BasedContent BasedInterdisciplinaryProfessional Learning Communities7Types of PLCs at CHS

9. *PLCs will meet on Tuesdays (second faculty mtg. of the month)Professional Learning Communities8How will PLCs be organized, and when will we meet?

10. Focus on student performanceCollaborate with colleagues during PLC timeBecome students of teaching and consumers of researchAccept responsibility for implementing systems thatenable each student to be successfulProfessional Learning Communities9So, what’s my role?

11. Book Study Groups

12. Effective Instructional Strategies

13. Data Analysis

14. The Achievement Gap (Race and Equity in the Classroom)

15. Action Research

16. Developing Interdisciplinary Units

17. Cornell Note Taking