Three Attributes of Professional Learning Communities

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are scalable practices in pedagogy that can mean different things in different contexts. Some institutions implement the concept through planning activities for each educational department. Others use the concept to enhance curriculum and interaction between teachers, students, and administrators. Regardless of its implementation, some key attributes of such communities remain the same. 1. Ensuring management buy-in: PLCs are characterized by strong support from the schools management. For example, Nardos King, Principal at Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria, Virginia, has taken the lead in creating PLCs at her school by ensuring time is given to collaborative learning teams (CLTs) for all departments during school days. According to Nardos King, the teams share best practices and make data-driven decisions through use of common assessments. 2. Harnessing the power of a group: As illustrated in the previous example, multidisciplinary groups of teachers and students constitute the base of PLCs. The idea is to implement a learning organization where organizational creativity is enhanced and multiplied through interactions between various constituents and stakeholders in the educational process. 3. Working toward a result-focused solution: PLCs are characterized by teams that work together to achieve goals. To this end, teachers assign personal improvement goals for each student and work together, with other teachers and students, to achieve those goals. Once the goals are achieved, the focus and goal posts shift.