It is hard to make too much out of the importance of collaborative teams in the improvement process. It is just as important, though, to highlight that collaboration does not lead to better results unless people are paying attention to the right issues. Collaboration is a means to an end, not the end itself. In a lot of schools, staff members are willing to work together on a diversity of themes as long as the focus of the discussion stops at their classroom door. "In a PLC, collaboration represents a systematic process in which teachers work together interdependently in order to impact their classroom practice in ways that will lead to better results for their students, for their team, and for their school" (About PLCs, n.d.).
The trend toward establishing professional learning communities in schools has not been without its struggles. Everyone from grade level teams to state departments of education is framing their work in terms of professional learning communities. Yet, using the term PLC does not demonstrate that a learning community does, in fact, exist. In order to prevent the PLC model from the same dismal fate as other well intentioned...
Ultimately, however, educators must critically examine the results of their efforts in terms of student achievement. To demonstrate results professional learning communities must be able to articulate their outcomes in terms of data that indicate changed teaching practices and improved student learning, something they have not yet established as common practice (Vescio, Ross & Adams, 2006).
References
About PLCs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.allthingsplc.info/about/aboutPLC.php
Professional Learning Communities. (2009). Retreived from http://www.centerforcsri.org/plc/program.html
The 3 Big Ideas. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.academyofsingaporeteachers.moe.gov.sg/cos/o.x?c=/ast/pagetree&func=v iew&rid=1069406
Vescio, V., Ross, D. & Adams, a. (2006). A review of research on professional learning communities: What do we know? Retrieved from http://www.nsrfharmony.org/research.vescio_ross_adams.pdf
