“We have known for nearly a quarter of a
century that self-managed teams are far more productive than any other form of
organizing…by joining with others we can accomplish something important that we
could not accomplish alone.”
(Wheatley, 1999, pp.152-153)
The above quote comes from “Learning
By Doing”, written in 2010 by DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many, and is used to
substantiate the assertion that we should use teams as our basic working
structure in schools. The teams formed
are called Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs. These PLCs are formed to look at what we want
students to learn, how we will know that each student learned, how we will
respond to students who need extra help learning, and how we can extend and
enrich the learning for students who have demonstrated proficiency.
These lofty goals are attainable,
and models for their effectiveness can be found scattered throughout the
country. One such school system where
PLCs have taken root and shown fruit is the Wake County Public School System
(WCPSS) in North Carolina. The concept
was introduced in the 1960s to lessen teacher isolation and strengthen
instructional practices. Since, it has
continued to evolve, with a survey on 2008-2009 showing “a strong level of
support for the PLC concept (71% to 89% of survey respondents agreed or
strongly agreed with statements pertaining to each of the six core PLC theme).”
(Jackl, 2009) This school district has
taken a research based idea, stuck with it to refine the practice (for more
than forty years), and seen the fruits of that stick-with-it-ness. Seventy-six percent of teachers surveyed
found that time spent in their PLC was helping their students learn more; this
from the 2008-2009 survey.
This district is following the PLC
model outlined in the DuFour literature.
The author is cited many times in the WCPSS study, and the main
considerations for PLSs, as outlined in “Learning By Doing”, are evident. These include setting SMART goals, teams
norming their working structures, remedial and enrichment learning initiatives
being devised, and common formative assessments being implemented.
Given the focus, time, structure and
support the WCPSS has devoted to full implementation of PLCs, I’d say they are
on the leading edged of this work. I
feel significantly behind the curve!
It’s 2012 and I’ve only learned what a PLC is in the last month. Chicago Public Schools are not currently
implementing PLCs formally, though I infer that there are some high performing
and motivated schools where they are viable, whether called PLC or called by
some other name. It seems clear that the
concept of teachers setting norms and regular meeting times to work on
attainable and measurable goals will increase student performance. The idea of reciprocal accountability keeps
surfacing in my mind when I think of Chicago’s initiative to implement best
practices. I’ll conclude this post with
this quote- We believe it is insincere for any district or school leader to
stress the importance of collaboration and then fail to provide time for it.
(Dufour, Dufour, Aeker, & Many, pp. 124)
