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The professional learning community
recognizes that its members must engage in the ongoing study and constant
practice that characterize an organization committed to continuous
improvement. This is a community where educators create an environment
that fosters mutual cooperation, emotional support, and personal growth as
they work together to achieve what they cannot accomplish alone. |
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Professional Learning Communities focus on three significant questions in
order to improve the culture of learning:
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What do we want each student to learn?
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How will we know when each student has
learned it? |
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How will we respond when a student
experiences difficulty in learning? |
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How
do we use PLC to
Ensure That
Students Learn?
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When
a school functions as a professional learning community, teachers have a
coordinated strategy when students do not learn. The staff designs
strategies to ensure that struggling students receive additional time and
support, no matter who their teacher is. |
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The
purpose of Professional Learning Communities is to create solutions that
are systematic and school wide. |
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How
do we use PLC to
Create a
Culture of Collaboration?
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Educators who are building a professional learning community recognize
that they must work together to achieve their collective purpose of
learning for all. Therefore, they create structures to promote a
collaborative culture, for example, time designated for collaboration and
professional development. |
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The
powerful collaboration that characterizes professional learning
communities is a systematic process in which teachers work together to
analyze and improve their classroom practice. |
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How
do we use PLC to
Focus on
Results?
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Teachers stop using
averages to analyze student performance and begin to focus on the success
of each student. |
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Adapted from: DuFour, R.
Eaker, R., & DuFour, R. (Eds.) (2005). On common ground: The power of
professional learning communities. Bloominton, IN: National
Education Service. |
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