RSA #1: Professional
Learning Community in Relation to School Effectiveness
A Call to End Teacher
Autonomy
Rick DuFour’s article, “Work Together But Only if You Want
To,” directs the teaching community to end working in isolation and the “every
man for himself” attitude. A teacher
working alone is simply not professional and provides limitations to all school
stakeholders.
He further petitions administration to create an
infrastructure to allow teachers and principals to have the time and space to
work together and focus on school improvement.
Furthermore, DuFour encourages school officials to “embed professional
collaboration in the routine practice of the school” (pg 58). Expecting teachers to “work together but only
if they want to” will not suffice in true collaboration.
When teachers work in an effective partnership using the PLC
model, DuFour states that research shows that student achievement increases.
During meetings, not only to the teachers share ideas and teaching strategies,
they co-labor to support the learning of all students, not as individual
classrooms. The PLC practice is
systematic to aid in struggling students to receive the support they need to
succeed.
DuFour added that the PLC process is difficult and
challenging, but necessary to build school capacity and focus on learning.
Do PLC’s Make Schools
Effective?
In
the Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Anna Kristín Sigurðardóttir conducted a scientific study in
two schools to find out if professional learning communities increase the school’s
levels of effectiveness. Specifically,
it was found that during the PLC, teachers were sharing different teaching
methods, “students outcomes increased dramatically” (Sigurðardóttir, 2010, pg
11).
Sigurðardóttir notes that administration should
provide additional professional development and allow more opportunities for
teachers to work together such as team-teaching.
It
Begins with Administration
Both authors come to many of the same
conclusions through out the two readings.
They both commented that policymakers must aid in creating a more collective
environment for teachers to come together. Sigurðardóttir called this philosophy
a “more collaborative atmosphere” (pg14). In addition, they liked the idea of
sharing the workload among the team with various shared responsibilities. They
are in agreement that the focus of the PLC is student learning. Lastly, Sigurðardóttir’s scientific research
based findings further support DuFour’s ideas of his article.
References
Sigurðardóttir, A. (2010). Professional
Learning Community in Relation to School Effectiveness. Scandinavian Journal Of Educational
Research, 54(5), 395-412. Retrieved from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=db9a285f-f7c3-431b-b0d6-cdb805c2d5c4%40sessionmgr4004&vid=2&hid=4107
DuFour, Rick. Work Together But Only if You Want To. Kapplan
Magazine 92, no 5 (February 2011): 57-61.
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