Explaining Professional Learning Communities

Originally published on: August 10, 2007

The 2007 school calendar includes accommodations for Professional Learning Communities.

Parents and students will notice a significant change in this year's school calendar as there will be early dismissals for PLCs.

PLCs, or Professional Learning Communities, are school improvement models aimed at improving student learning for each individual student.

In order to ensure that every student is learning, teachers will meet regularly in groups, or PLCs,  to focus on individual and overall student learning.

Teams of teachers will look at students' achievement to see if they are performing at their grade level.

The teams will focus on the answers to four important questions:

• What do we want each student to learn?
• How will we know when each student has learned it?
• How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?
• How will we respond when a student has already learned essential knowledge and skills?

At the beginning of the school year, and then at weekly, monthly, and quarterly meetings, teachers will gather information and data about every student on their literacy and math skills.
If a student needs individual help, teachers will be scheduling extra time to work with that student.

Riley Elementary was one of the LPS pilot schools for PLCs last year. The kindergarten teachers made up one PLC group. They set a goal that by January every kindergartner should know the alphabet, which is an important part of the kindergarten curriculum and essential for learning to read.

Through their PLC meetings, they kept track of who knew the alphabet and who needed extra help. Parent volunteers, 5th grade mentors, and other staff members worked with the ones who needed extra study time. The whole school celebrated when every kindergartner, all 53 children, had learned their alphabet by December.

This is just one example of what a PLC does. It helps teachers keep close track of individual students and where they are in learning specific skills. PLCs give teachers time to plan for helping students who are not learning, and to provide extra materials to students who have already mastered a skill.

Why are there early release dates? PLCs require time dedicated for this dialogue to occur. The most effective collaboration comes from time set aside specifically for this purpose, separate from traditional teaching and planning time. These collaborative teams need an extended period of time to focus on individual needs and to work together toward solutions.

What are the early release dates? Elementary and middle schools will dismiss 80 minutes early one day a month (except for December) for PLC days. High schools will release one hour early each Tuesday of the school year for PLC days.

Is my child losing instructional time because of PLCs? No. There is no loss of instructional time for students. High schools have extended the length of the other four weekdays, while elementary and middle schools have added one day to the school calendar to account for the early release time.