Professional Learning Community is a "buzz-term" that seems to be everywhere these days. Just about every district in San Diego (including my former and current districts) has jumped on the PLC bandwagon and claims to have adopted the tenets of the professional learning community model.
My current district just paid several thousand dollars to send ten of us to the California PLC Summit and, I must admit, the information was top-notch (as well as the presenters including the State Superintendent and Rick DuFour, the "inventor" of the PLC). Everyone left pumped and ready to make it a reality tomorrow.
However, my previous district jumped into the PLC movement without any real plan and the result was a disaster. I can remember my principal standing up at a staff meeting and explaining to us that "every group that is currently meeting is a PLC now." To those of you who know something of how PLC's actually operate, you understand that she had no idea what she was talking about. Due to this initial experience, it's been four years, and only one of the four middle schools has actually adopted the PLC program, while the other three go through the motions.
Just curious... What is your experience with professional learning communities? Complete success, mixed results, or disaster? Was it tough to sell to your staff members? How did admin. support the process (if at all)?
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Several yearsv ago, ourvschool district adopted the Whole Faculty Study Group Concept created by Carlene Murphy. This is her version of PLC. She is big here in Gerogia and is the founder of the Gerogia Staff Development Council.
These PLC or "WFSG have really changed the way many of our schools do business. However, it seems we are also falling into just becoming a group of teachers on a "committee" as well. Some groups seem to want to be more proactive in figuring out how to create higher achieving students, by looking at the data and developing ways strategies that could beneft students, while other groups only plan for pep rallies and fun activities for the faculty.
Our principal is very set in his ways and he may be accepting these WFSG only because it is something the county expects all schools to have in place. So, he really isn't committed to the idea, so we haven't even met this year, and it appears it is beginning to fizzle out.
It is unfortunate if that does happen. Teachers have become less isloated and we share more across grade levels too. Teachers seem to be overwhelmed this year, so no one has mentioned it. They may be glad that we haven't been called for yet another meeting!
The High School in our county is also going through a metamorphasis as well. It is a 3000+ school that is currently attempting to break down into smaller learning academies, so their WFSG's have been put on hold as well. It really is unfortunate that the WFSG is the first thing to go when so many other things seem to take over...new academies, learning the Pyamids of Interventions and (I didn't mention before) a restructure of our Alt school as well).
As school ideaologies seem to be cyclical, my hope is that we bring these PLC back once all the dust settles. Good luck with yours!
Renni Wooden
I guess I don't have a vote at this point, since I'm brand new in my district, but in my old one this was always the problem... They would find the best curricular "cure all" since sliced bread and stick with it... for about a year. Then, the powers that be would find a new focus and not exactly sweep the previous one under the rug, but it would quickly lose emphasis.
In no particular order in the 11 years I was with the district:
1. Total Quality Education
2. Balanced Literacy
3. Edusoft
4. Small Learning Communities
5. Understanding Poverty
6. Marzano's Strategies
7. Professional Learning Communities
8. Character Education
It's not a bad list, but any one of these could and should be a district focus for five years or so to really get it off the ground. The "shake and bake" approach to fully implementing any of these in a year is ridiculous and, ultimately, a waste of money since you'll never do any of these programs justice in that amount of time.
I hope your principal and staff stick with PLC’s a little longer. I really do believe that it’s a paradigm that has the potential to transform student learning.
Good luck
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