Professional Learning Community
01 Jan 2010-pp 151-157
TL;DR: In many countries, policymakers view its potential for the capacity building needed to implement educational reform, while researchers are trying to gain greater nuanced and contextualized understanding of professional learning community as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: There is increasing consensus that the term professional learning community broadly refers to an inclusive and mutually supportive group of people with a collaborative, reflective, and growth-oriented approach toward investigating and learning more about their practice in order to improve students’ learning. In many countries, policymakers view its potential for the capacity building needed to implement educational reform, while researchers are trying to gain greater nuanced and contextualized understanding of professional learning community. This article probes the meaning and purpose of professional learning community, membership, identified characteristics, levels of impact, and process and processes of development.
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03 Apr 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identified and characterised existing approaches to integrated STEM education, both in formal and after-and out-of-school settings, and reviewed the evidence for the impact of integrated approaches on various student outcomes.
Abstract: STEM Integration in K-12 Education examines current efforts to connect the STEM disciplines in K-12 education This report identifies and characterizes existing approaches to integrated STEM education, both in formal and after- and out-of-school settings The report reviews the evidence for the impact of integrated approaches on various student outcomes, and it proposes a set of priority research questions to advance the understanding of integrated STEM education STEM Integration in K-12 Education proposes a framework to provide a common perspective and vocabulary for researchers, practitioners, and others to identify, discuss, and investigate specific integrated STEM initiatives within the K-12 education system of the United States STEM Integration in K-12 Education makes recommendations for designers of integrated STEM experiences, assessment developers, and researchers to design and document effective integrated STEM education This report will help to further their work and improve the chances that some forms of integrated STEM education will make a positive difference in student learning and interest and other valued outcomes
702 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a comprehensive synthesis of the theories currently available and their implications for the conceptualization and operationalization of the professional community concept including a meta-analysis of the studies that investigated the effect of professional community on student achievement.
Abstract: In the past 3 decades, the concept of professional community has gained considerable momentum in the theoretical and empirical studies in this field. At the same time, the concept has faced conceptual and methodological difficulties in that as yet no universal definition has been formulated and that its operationalization differs in the various empirical studies conducted on the subject. This study presents a comprehensive synthesis of the theories currently available and their implications for the conceptualization and operationalization of the professional community concept including a meta-analysis of the studies that investigated the effect of professional community on student achievement. Our meta-analysis reported a small but significant summary effect (d = .25, p < .05), indicating that within a school environment professional community could enhance student achievement. Furthermore, the need for the conceptual and empirical validation of the concept's key dimension was discussed.
333 citations
Cites background from "Professional Learning Community"
...Mostly, it is used to describe any combination of individuals with an interest in education (DuFour, 2004, cited in Cranston, 2007), sharing a set of common ideas and ideals (Sergiovanni, 1994)....
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...Many scholars have criticized the broad spectrum of the concept (eg, DuFour, 2004 ; Furman-Brown, 1999 ; Toole & Louis, 2002 ; Westheimer, 1999 ), as well as the weak elaboration of the “community” notion as one of its basic underlying constructs....
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...Many scholars have criticized the broad spectrum of the concept (e.g., DuFour, 2004; Furman-Brown, 1999; Toole & Louis, 2002; Westheimer, 1999), as well as the weak elaboration of the ‘‘community’’ notion as one of its basic underlying constructs....
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TL;DR: This paper conducted a quasi-experimental investigation of effects on achievement by grade-level teams focused on improving learning and found that stable school-based settings, distributed leadership, and explicit protocols are key to effective teacher teams.
Abstract: The authors conducted a quasi-experimental investigation of effects on achievement by grade-level teams focused on improving learning. For 2 years (Phase 1), principals-only training was provided. During the final 3 years (Phase 2), school-based training was provided for principals and teacher leaders on stabilizing team settings and using explicit protocols for grade-level meetings. Phase 1 produced no differences in achievement between experimental and comparable schools. During Phase 2, experimental group scores improved at a faster rate than at comparable schools and exhibited greater achievement growth over 3 years on state-mandated tests and an achievement index. Stable school-based settings, distributed leadership, and explicit protocols are key to effective teacher teams. The long-term sustainability of teacher teams depends on coherent and aligned district policies and practices.
235 citations
Cites background from "Professional Learning Community"
...Third, there is substantial variation in definitions and practices of teacher learning teams or communities in the literature (Dufour, 2004; Vescio et al., 2008)....
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TL;DR: This paper found that elementary teachers who participated in a long-term, intense (over 100 contact hours annually) science professional development program displayed significant gains in their science teaching self-efficacy.
Abstract: Because of increasing calls for school accountability, an increased emphasis placed on the role of the teacher, and theoretical connections between teacher beliefs and classroom action, a critical need exists to examine teacher professional development programs to determine their impact on teacher belief systems, teaching practices, and student learning. The primary goal of this study was to assess elementary teachers’ science teaching efficacy as they participated in a large-scale professional development program and to determine the relationship of these beliefs with student learning. It was found that elementary teachers who participated in a long-term, intense (over 100 contact hours annually) science professional development program displayed significant gains in their science teaching self-efficacy. Several background variables were found to be predictive of teacher beliefs including how often teachers spend teaching science. Males tended to display more positive beliefs than their female counterpar...
227 citations
Cites background from "Professional Learning Community"
...The sources of effective functioning defined by Bandura are inherent in current teacher professional learning community models (Dufour, 2005)....
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss aspects of professional learning communities that could be incorporated into Adult Basic Education programs to improve teaching and learning and identify promising practices in professional development norms as they are shifting toward collaborative practice, where passive and individual practices are inadequate to prepare teachers to integrate the academic skills that learners need for both workforce and college readiness.
Abstract: This article reviews teacher professional development norms as they are shifting toward collaborative practice. It is posed that passive and individual practices are inadequate to prepare teachers to integrate the academic skills that learners need for both workforce and college readiness. Promising practices in professional development are identified. Specifically, learning in a professional community is considered to be more effective than traditional professional development methods. This paper discusses aspects of professional learning communities that could be incorporated into Adult Basic Education programs to improve teaching and learning.IntroductionTeacher learning has gone through a "reform" movement over the past decade as prevailing belief links high-quality professional development (PD) to higher-quality teaching and high-quality teaching to student achievement (Borko, 2004; Smith, 2010; Desimone, 2009; Darling-Hammond, Wei & Andree, 2010; Yoon, Duncan, Lee, Scarloss & Shapely, 2007). Appropriate conditions and characteristics of PD augment the potential for depth of understanding that leads to change in teaching practice. This is a shift from passive and intermittent PD to that which is active, consistent, based in the teaching environment, and supported by peers in a professional learning community (PLC). PLCs that have demonstrated success are comprised of teachers from the same school who have autonomy to select their learning objectives and have gone through training on how to collaborate (Mindich & Lieberman, 2012).Learning communities thrive when all participants are invested in the work they are doing. If members of a learning group do not feel comfortable together, they may not be able to offer or receive feedback in a constructive manner. Difference of opinion and critical analysis of work should be discussed in an environment in which all have contributed to the organization of the group. This can be achieved in part with a needs assessment at the beginning of a group's time together. If a formal or informal needs assessment is conducted to organize and plan the group's work together, a group can become cohesive. If cohesion of the group does not happen, members are not able to honestly critique one another and the cycle of feedback and improvement will not take place which undermines the potential for a PLC to improve teaching.Knight (2011) lists seven partnership principles that outline a healthy group learning environment in which teachers are personally motivated (see Table 1). Attending to these seven principles invites dialogue between group members to facilitate an equitable working environment. This dialogue allows participants to construct a learning environment that is relevant to each. The foundation of the partnership principles is that people are motivated by goals that are their own. When all are committed to common goals resistance to constructive criticism is diminished (Knight, 2011). PLCs that attend to these principles invite honest feedback and can motivate teachers to innovate together.After a PLC is formed, collaboration should happen cyclically as teachers work together to identify needs for improvement and act upon those needs. These groups must commit to working together over the course of a semester or longer with the goal of professional improvement. The length of time is important, but more important is the process. Teachers should look critically at student work and data to identify specific gaps in student learning. Ideally, teachers work together in cycles to revise lessons and implement them with observation and feedback (Jaquith, Mindich, Wei, & DarlingHammond, 2010). The mission of a PLC is to gain a deeper understanding of how students learn content and then to apply that understanding to how content is taught.A PLC should understand all phases of a project that make up the cycle of continuous improvement (see Figure 1). …
206 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: Identity in practice, modes of belonging, participation and non-participation, and learning communities: a guide to understanding identity in practice.
Abstract: This book presents a theory of learning that starts with the assumption that engagement in social practice is the fundamental process by which we get to know what we know and by which we become who we are. The primary unit of analysis of this process is neither the individual nor social institutions, but the informal 'communities of practice' that people form as they pursue shared enterprises over time. To give a social account of learning, the theory explores in a systematic way the intersection of issues of community, social practice, meaning, and identity. The result is a broad framework for thinking about learning as a process of social participation. This ambitious but thoroughly accessible framework has relevance for the practitioner as well as the theoretician, presented with all the breadth, depth, and rigor necessary to address such a complex and yet profoundly human topic.
30,397 citations
TL;DR: The capacity is a complex blend of motivation, skill, positive learning, organizational conditions and culture, and infrastructure of support as mentioned in this paper, which gives individuals, groups, whole school communities and school systems the power to get involved in and sustain learning over time.
Abstract: International evidence suggests that educational reform’s progress
depends on teachers’ individual and collective capacity and its link with schoolwide
capacity for promoting pupils’ learning. Building capacity is therefore
critical. Capacity is a complex blend of motivation, skill, positive learning,
organisational conditions and culture, and infrastructure of support. Put together,
it gives individuals, groups, whole school communities and school systems the
power to get involved in and sustain learning over time. Developing professional
learning communities appears to hold considerable promise for capacity building
for sustainable improvement. As such, it has become a ‘hot topic’ in many
countries.
1,897 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2003
1,830 citations
"Professional Learning Community" refers background in this paper
...Even school districts that devote tremendous time and energy to designing the intended curriculum often pay little attention to the implemented curriculum (what teachers actually teach) and even less to the attained curriculum (what students learn) (Marzano, 2003)....
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: This paper examined formas destacadas de colegialidad and analiza sus perspectivas de alterar las condiciones fundamentales de privacidad in la ensenanza.
Abstract: La ensenanza ha perdurado en gran medida como un conjunto de individuos emprendedores cuya autonomia se basa en normas de privacidad y no interferencia y se sustenta en la organizacion misma del trabajo docente. Este articulo examina formas destacadas de colegialidad y analiza sus perspectivas de alterar las condiciones fundamentales de privacidad en la ensenanza.
1,628 citations
Book•
20 Oct 2001
TL;DR: This paper found that departmental cultures play a crucial role in classroom settings and expectations, and that social studies teachers described their students as "apathetic and unwilling to work" while English teachers described the same students as bright, interesting, and energetic.
Abstract: American high schools have never been under more pressure to reform: student populations are more diverse than ever, resources are limited, and teachers are expected to teach to high standards for all students. While many reformers look for change at the state or district level, the authors here argue that the most local contexts?schools, departments, and communities?matter the most to how well teachers perform in the classroom and how satisfied they are professionally. Their findings?based on one of the most extensive research projects ever done on secondary teaching?show that departmental cultures play a crucial role in classroom settings and expectations. In the same school, for example, social studies teachers described their students as "apathetic and unwilling to work," while English teachers described the same students as "bright, interesting, and energetic." With wide-ranging implications for educational practice and policy, this unprecedented look into teacher communities is essential reading for educators, administrators, and all those concerned with U. S. High Schools.
1,197 citations