So what is a Professional Learning Community or PLC? One might describe it as an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve (DuFour, 2004). PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators. The PLC process is not a program. It cannot be purchased, nor can it be implemented by anyone other than the staff themselves. Most importantly, it is ongoing—a continuous, never-ending process of conducting schooling that has a profound impact on the structure and culture of the school and the assumptions and practices of the professionals within it.

The very essence of a learning community is a focus on and a commitment to the learning of each student. When a school or district functions as a PLC, educators within the organization embrace high levels of learning for all students as both the reason the organization exists and the fundamental responsibility of those who work within it. Members work together to clarify exactly what each student must learn, monitor each student’s learning on a timely basis, provide systematic interventions that ensure students receive additional time and support for learning when they struggle, and extend and enrich learning when students have already mastered the intended outcomes.

In a PLC, collaboration represents a systematic process in which teachers work together interdependently in order to impact their classroom practices in ways that will lead to better instruction for their students, for their team and for their school. The teams in a PLC engage in collective inquiry into both best practices in teaching and best practices in learning.

You may recall reading about the dialogue I initiated with the teachers back in February about Professional Learning Communities, and what it would take to implement the process in the Orcas Island School District. It was agreed upon by administration and staff that the primary obstacle was the lack of a dedicated window of time for planning and collaboration. In an effort to overcome this obstacle and fully implement PLCs for our students, we have built a 2:05 p.m. release on Wednesdays into the 2015-16 school calendar.  Every Wednesday, students will be released from school and buses will run one hour early at 2:05 p.m. The dedication of one hour each week to devote to PLCs will not add days to the academic calendar, nor will it take away from instructional time.  Instruction only stands to improve as a result of a dedicated window of time for teachers to learn, collaborate, evaluate and improve the instructional process for our students!

Eric Webb

Superintendent

Orcas Island School District