WHAT IS A PLC?

The basic premise of a Professional Learning Community is to answer four basic questions.

1. What do we want each student to learn?

2. How will we know when each student has learned it?

3. How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?

4. How will we respond when a student already knows it?

Big Idea #1:  Ensure That Students Learn

The PLC models from the assumption that the core mission of formal education is not simply to ensure that they learn.  This simple shift--from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning--has a profound impact on schools.

Big Idea #2:  A Culture of Collaboration

Educators who are building a PLC recognize that they must work together to achieve their collective purpose of learning for all.Therefore, they create structures to promote a collaborative culture.

Big Idea #3:  A Focus on Results

PLCs judge their effectiveness on the basis of results.  Working together to improve student achievement becomes the routine work of everyone in the school.  Every teacher team participates in an ongoing process of identifying the current level of student achievement, establishing a goal to improve current level, working together to achieve that goal, and providing periodic evidence of progress.