Professional Learning Communities (PLCS) & what students don’t know

Teachers intent on engaging students, structure their classroom environments so learners can’t hide when they arrive. The new CA standards recommend that students read, write and speak every day in every class.

These state standards are used to design the district’s intended curriculum. The implemented curriculum is what teachers actually teach and the attained curriculum is what students really learn (Marzano, 2003).

After several weeks of instruction, students have taken several assessments already. As teachers grade and record these results, they have to make decisions about pacing. When teachers have less than desirable test results, they have to decide whether to grade the test on a curve, reteach and test again or give numerous students a failing grade. Some teachers give an “F” and move on while other keep reminding and expecting papers and projects completed even if the deadline has passed. Sometimes struggling students actually need to be transferred to an easier course in order to find success, but usually teachers have conversations with them to motivate greater effort.

Schools that function as a Professional Learning Community work to ensure learning for all students and develop a coordinated strategy to respond when some students do not learn. They quickly identify struggling students and intervene for those that require more time and support.

In order to improve teaching and learning with PLCS, teachers need to be willing to look at their practices to see if they’re getting the desired results. Did they offer enough accessible learning opportunities for most to master the new content? These can be tough questions to consider in a group setting unless rapport is strong.

Relationships are built so that teachers can talk about what needs fixing. Praise helps to build relationships amongst members of a PLC. The invitation in PLCS is for teachers to shift the focus from what they are teaching to observations of the impact their instruction is having on learning. As teachers collect and analyze data, they are looking for the high impact practices.

Teachers can more easily monitor student progress throughout the lesson when learning is made visible. This means students are expected to engage in multiple academic conversations every period as well as create written artifacts representing their thinking about the topic that day.

PLCS should be designed to look at these artifacts and focus on collective improvement. Building teacher expertise is the goal and learning how to measure growth rather than achievement is key.

Educators learn to focus on what impact their teaching is having on student learning. Newer teachers worry about if they’re doing it right while veteran teachers are often concerned about if students are getting it right.

Researcher and author, John Hattie, best known for his book about Visible Learning, emphasized the importance of collecting data and offering teacher feedback to students. In a recent interview about his latest book, he stated that his focus has shifted to how learners receive feedback. Their willingness to look at what they don’t know and ask more questions about how to get to the learning target determine their success.

He reported that on average in the 12,000 classrooms studied, teachers talked 89% of the class period. He said, “The power of teaching is in the art of listening.” One clear way to improve instruction is by increasing student talk time.

He advised, “Ask students what they don’t understand.” Then he suggested that teachers really listen to what students say. He emphasized that teacher feedback should help students understand what they don’t know and where to go next.

This Professional Learning Community approach will most likely take three to five years to produce measurable improvement so patient persistence is required. As individual teachers move past the isolation of their classroom and develop ways to collaborate as Professional Learning Communities (PLC) the school culture can change dramatically as students learn to navigate what they don’t know.