RSA2: What Is a “Professional Learning Community”?

Online Article

In the reading by DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many, the importance of both long-term district goals and short-term school goals was explained.  It is the job of each PLC to carry-out such goals and assess the effectiveness of the goals based on data and test scores.  As stated in Learning by Doing, “one of the most effective strategies for bringing district goals to life is to insist that all schools create goals that are specifically linked to district goals”.  Using SMART goals provides clarity when creating and achieving useful goals (DuFour, et, 2010, p. 157-158).  Additionally, the importance of a school’s focus on the effects of a change rather than the cause was described; “schools only continuously improve if they switch their focus from inputs to outcomes and from activities to results” (DuFour, et, 2010, p. 183).

In an article by Richard DuFour, the first sentence reads that a professional learning community must “focus on learning rather than teaching”.  Throughout the article, this point is stressed by including ways in which PLCs can shift their focus from teaching material to student comprehension and understanding of the material.  Additionally, DuFour’s article goes on to say that every teacher must “participate in an ongoing process of identifying the current level of student achievement, establishing a goal to improve the current level, working together to achieve that goal, and providing periodic evidence of progress”.  The article states that by having common assessments and a common curriculum, data analysis becomes much easier for all parties involved.

These readings not only have a common author, but they also have many other aspects in common.  For example, both articles stress setting attainable goals both district-wide and school-wide.  Additionally, both readings refer to challenges and barriers faced by PLCs.  One difference between the two is that the article What is a "Professional Learning Community"? by Richard DuFour goes into more detail on various topics including how to “remove barriers for success”.  One of the main barriers mentioned is how schools and PLCs must stop making excuses for failing to collaborate.  Teachers and schools must make time to set goals, implement interventions, analyze results, determine if the intervention was successful, and change the intervention if necessary.

References

DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2010). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work (2^nd ed., pp. 155-204, 247-266). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

DuFour, R. (2004).  What is a “professional learning community”? http://staffdev.mpls.k12.mn.us.