Blog
Maybe It’s Time to Press the Reset Button
There are many schools throughout the country that are committed to doing the “right work” and are demonstrating evidence of tremendous growth in both adult and student learning. There are many more schools, also with dedicated and hard-working educators, that have not been enjoying increased gains in student achievement and yet claim to be “doing PLCs.” Read more
Keeping the Ball Rolling: Maintaining Momentum and Urgency in a PLC
The generation of innovative ideas and practices are often propelled through attendance at professional learning sessions where engaging practitioners and experts share their knowledge. Participants leave energized and excited; ready to get back to their schools to implement the new learning. All too often, without a systematic and consistent approach present within the culture of their schools, much of this enthusiasm diminishes when day-to-day obstacles arise. Read more
Do the Right Work: Develop Your PLC Road Map
Highly-effective PLCs understand that collaboration is inherently neutral, and for the process to generate outcomes, collaborative teams must do the right work with a results orientation. The key is getting tight on the right things. Toward that end, schools and districts must remain focused on the following essential questions to promote accountability and ensure reciprocal accountability. Read more
PLC Team Efficacy: If We Think We Can, Can We?
You’ve probably heard the saying, “If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t. You’re always right!” (Not sure who originated that saying, but mothers everywhere seem to have adopted it!)... Read more
Experimentation Within a Professional Learning Community
One of the professional learning community’s critical questions is, “What do we do if the kids don’t know it?” The answer is the pyramid of interventions. The first and . . . Read more
Tracking Team-Based Interventions
Preparing for our upcoming conversation with Rick and Becky DuFouron the steps that highly functioning professional learning communities take to provide enrichment and remediation opportunities for . . . Read more
Tracking
We received a question from a social studies department regarding leveling, or tracking. The school had taken steps to eliminate remedial courses, and in the first year of implementation, the department was questioning the loss of remedial social studies classes. Some members expressed… Read more
Drilling Deeper in a Professional Learning Community
The term professional learning communityhas become enormously popular, but the actual practices that form the framework of the professional learning community concept are much less evident in most . . . Read more