Professional Learning Communities and Teacher Development

Introduction

A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a collection of teachers who choose to work together, or a social network of educators willing to share their experiences, advice, and materials. PLCs are grounded in a strong belief in teacher leadership and involvement in initiatives aimed at improving school performance. This aligns with the widely held view that enhancing classroom instruction is an essential element in raising student achievement.

How PLCs Lead to Professional Development of Teachers

Many PLCs operate on the understanding that one vital key to improving learning in schools is supporting job-embedded learning designed by educators themselves. The National Staff Development Council identifies PLCs as a core policy for school progress, with the primary objective of supporting better quality education as a means of enabling high-quality and continuous professional development. Similarly, other organizations advocating for improved education standards recognize PLCs as a vital element for effective professional growth within any comprehensive reform strategy.

PLCs are founded on two hypotheses connected to school improvement (Gamble, 2008). First, the framework holds that knowledge is rooted in the daily experiences teachers encounter and is best understood through meaningful reflection with others who share similar experiences. Second, actively involving teachers in PLCs increases their professional skills and improves student learning.

Benefits of PLCs to Students and Schools

PLCs are often organized by grade level and subject area. In most instances, a facilitator leads a PLC for one full year. This structure aids in the determination of SMART objectives, which integrate the learning process with goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. PLCs take into consideration the fundamental concepts students need to learn, and this must be accomplished within a defined timeframe, thereby eliminating unachievable goals. A portion of PLC students have been able to meet a targeted, increased score by the end of their second grade year.

PLCs typically agree on a common assessment tool — such as a quiz — as well as the timing and scoring of that assessment. The assessments used are either summative or formative (Gamble, 2008). Teachers are encouraged to expand their instructional repertoire by learning different classroom strategies from fellow PLC members. A third key element involves determining how to respond when students are not learning. PLCs commonly use an 80 percent test score as an informal benchmark for evaluating student understanding (LaFee, 2003).

In cases where only a few students score below 80 percent, the teacher whose students performed best takes over instruction for those learners, rather than requiring every teacher to re-teach the material individually. When most students fall below 80 percent, teachers can learn successful strategies from their PLC colleagues and make plans to reteach the lesson (LaFee, 2003). Working in PLCs gives teachers time to collaborate closely, enabling them to share strategies and techniques that have proven effective. When teachers work together rather than in isolation, students are more consistently prepared to advance to the next level — a dynamic that significantly enhances student achievement.

Working in a PLC gives teachers the opportunity to collaborate with their peers in service of student learning, which ultimately makes each teacher more effective. This collaborative model has helped foster a collective commitment to improving achievement for every student. Research has shown there is real power in group collaboration for enhancing student learning. PLCs also help establish a school culture in which teacher and student morale is high and attrition is low. This underscores the importance of providing teachers with opportunities to work together toward common solutions, which is essential to improving overall student performance.

Conclusion

Working in a PLC gives teachers the chance to collaborate with other educators, helping students learn more effectively and making teachers more capable in their practice. This has assisted in fostering a collective initiative to improve achievement for each student. The power of working in groups to enhance student learning is well established. By establishing a school culture characterized by high morale and low attrition, PLCs bring into focus the importance of offering teachers the opportunity to find common solutions — solutions that are necessary for sustained improvement in student performance.