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The focus of this research study was to better understand the development of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) culture within an urban middle school campus and to analyze if the intervention, intended to develop a campus PLC culture, had any positive or negative impact on student achievement. This mixed-methods research study utilized pre and post surveys and interviews with campus educators to delve into the perceptions of the development of a PLC culture within the middle school campus. Furthermore, student academic performance was explored through the analysis of state academic performance reports.The first significant finding of this study was that the results of the concurrent method of data analysis affirmed that, potentially because of this intervention during the 2018-2019 academic school year, the middle school of this study did commence the development of a professional learning community culture. The second significant finding was that based on the data analyzed of student performance for the three previous academic years, student achievement did increase academically when accounting all students and all contents. Furthermore, both math and English language arts had the lowest percentage of students not meeting grade level standards since 2016. Finally, the largest subpopulation within the school campus, English Learner students, demonstrated large gains at 23 percentage points over the last three years in the academic performance tier of approaching grade level or above. This increase in academic performance by the students did ultimately lead to the campus performance rating to increase positively, as measured by the state of Texas.
Provides specific information on how to transform schools into results-oriented professional learning communities, describing the best practices that have been used by schools nationwide.
This 10th-anniversary sequel to the authors’ best-selling book Professional Learning Communities at WorkTM: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement merges research, practice, and passion. The most extensive, practical, and authoritative PLC resource to date, it goes further than ever before into best practices for deep implementation, explores the commitment/consensus issue, and celebrates successes of educators who are making the journey.
In the third edition of Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work®, authors Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, Thomas W. Many, and Mike Mattos provide educators with a comprehensive, bestselling guide to transforming their schools into professional learning communities (PLCs). In this revised version, contributor and Canadian educator Karen Power has adapted the third edition for Canadian educators, emphasizing how Canadian educators can effectively improve learning for each student across their unique and widely diverse provinces and territories. Rewritten so that the scenarios, research, and language appropriately meet the needs of Canadian educators, this version is packed with real-world strategies and advice that will assist readers in transforming their school or district into a successful PLC.
Are you a K–8 principal ready to implement the PLC at WorkTM process? Two experienced practitioners show you how to explore the critical components needed to lay the foundation of a PLC, including how to develop a structure that supports collaborative teams, how to focus on effective monitoring strategies, how to reflect on your communication effectiveness, and more.
In this sequel to Total Instructional Alignment, the author peels back complex layers of the change process to reveal the five big ideas at the core of successful schools. Focus on these foundational ideas to simplify decision making and eliminate distractions from your efforts to promote effective teaching and learning. Teachers and administrators alike will appreciate this straightforward approach to solid leadership for school improvement.
Author's abstract: In a September 2 Education Week Commentary, Kahlenberg (2009) identified 5,000 schools across the nation categorized as failing or low-performing schools. A significant amount of attention and resources are dedicated to transform low-performing schools to high-performing schools promoting student achievement. Because of the increasing demand that low-performing schools be turned around, Georgia schools that do not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) two consecutive years for the same indicator are placed in Needs Improvement (NI) status and face escalating consequences from the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE). In the midst of all of the demands to meet local and state requirements, there were school personnel who made structural or organizational changes by implementing professional learning communities to achieve the desired outcome of improving student achievement and became high-performing schools. Conversely, there were school personnel that made structural or organizational changes by implementing professional learning communities to achieve the desired outcome of improving student achievement, yet remained in low-performing status. This research focused on six middle schools in Georgia, in which the five critical elements of a professional learning community were implemented as a response to school reform. Of the six middle schools, three schools were selected because they were recognized as high-performing. Simultaneously, three middle schools were selected because they had yet to meet all of the criteria of a high-performing school and were labeled as low-performing. The researcher examined real-life implementations of critical elements of a professional learning community in these high-performing and low-performing middle schools to determine if there were significant differences or patterns that existed among or between the two groups of schools. This research was approached using a mixed method design. The quantitative data were gathered and analyzed adopting the Olivier, Hipp, and Huffman (2009) survey instrument, Professional Learning Communities Assessment - Revised (PLCA-R). The qualitative data were gathered and analyzed by conducting recorded semi-structured focus group interviews and individual interviews, observing and documenting PLCs, and collecting and reviewing artifacts.
Continuous and sustainable school improvement requires three ingredients: a shared language, an empowered leadership group, and time. This book offers a clear process for bringing these essential ingredients together.
When teachers use data effectively, students see results. Learning Forward is a leader in understanding and advancing professional learning that leads to student success. This series explores Learning Forward’s seven Standards for Professional Learning, which outline the characteristics of effective professional learning. In this volume, the authors explore the crucial function of data for designing, implementing, and evaluating professional learning. The book’s features include: An original "think piece" by Thomas Guskey on using data in deliberate and thoughtful ways in the context of professional learning Specific implementation strategies that focus on analyzing student, educator, and system data and assessing progress A detailed case study of one district’s journey to successful use of data and how it led to measurable improvement in student achievement Learning to collect, analyze and use data is an essential component of professional development. When schools are able to make data work for them, students are the ones who benefit.
For nearly two decades, schools throughout the United States and beyond have utilized the Professional Learning Community (PLC) model to foster teacher collaboration in hopes of improving student achievement outcomes. At the turn of the century, much of the research suggested a positive relationship between student achievement outcomes and the implementation of PLC’s in the school setting. The more recent research suggests little to no relationship between PLC’s and student achievement outcomes. In an effort to bring clarity to the conflicting research, data was collected from a sample of 12 schools which included 275 teachers and nearly 6,000 students. Teacher survey data was collected using Olivier, Hipp, and Huffman’s (2010) Professional Learning Community Assessment – Revised (PLCA-R) survey instrument, which deconstructs PLC’s into six elements. Student state assessment data in mathematics and reading in grades seven and eight was also collected. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed statically significant differences between the 12 buildings in both PLCA-R and state assessment data; therefore, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to determine whether any of these differences could be attributed to any of the six PLCA-R elements. After controlling for the effects of student and school-level covariates, HLM analyses revealed that none of the variance in student achievement data could be attributed any of the six PLCA-R elements. The analyses also indicated low socioeconomic status had a profound impact in explaining student achievement variance. Future studies should consider a multi-region or multi-state sample to capture more variation between buildings. Moreover, future researchers would be wise to consider a six to ten point Likert scale to capture what may potentially be a larger degree of PLC implementation variance.