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Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement
This research-based resource guides you through recommendations drawn from the best practices found today in schools nationwide for continuously improving school performance. Coming from the perspectives of both a distinguished Dean of Education and one of America s most widely acclaimed practitioners, Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement provides specific, practical, how to information about transforming schools into results-oriented professional learning communities.
Teacher preparation
School leadership
Professional development programs
School-parent partnerships
Assessment practices
Professional Learning Communities at Work will guide you through:
Teacher preparation
School leadership
Professional development programs
School-parent partnerships
Assessment practices
358 pages, Perfect Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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141 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 24, 2023
This book leaves my head spinning with so much to think about in regards to my own role within the public education profession.
March 8, 2009
Since I had a great week of seeing the results of enhancing student achievement,
My Reflections as a teacher of elementary school special education special day 4th/5th combination SLD-SDC. 3-8-09
It has been two years since I’ve been either inspired or required to write a reflection as a teacher.
This past week was a complicated and mixed emotion filled week at school. There were highs and lows as a teacher.
The week of March 2, 2009 had the following planned events:
4th Grade Writing assignment – State Assessment
5th Grade OCR Unit 3
5th Grade Ice Cream Party and Samovar exhibit
Voyager Passport Benchmark 2 - Late – was due on 2-16-09.
Upgrading all 18 IEP’s with page 5 current progress data (4X18) X 3=216 upgrades. DONE!!!!
Working on IEP of Raxxxx. (Did the assessing last week.)
School Charity drive –final result = 94% participation in room 27. Only Exxxx refused (although he had brought $2 for the drive but refused to donate it. ) Oh well.
Unplanned:
Learning at 1:30pm on Friday that our AP Cxxxx is without a job, at the time were writing a letter to Mxxxx requesting that he keep both the Principal and the AP for the next school year.
Exxxxx was part of 3 separate episodes that ultimately got him suspended from room 27 on Friday. On Wednesday, one was a fight at recess with primarily Jxxxx and Hxxx, then with help from Jxx and Exxx. Sxxxx tried to join the fray but was stopped in the nick of time by Ms. H my TA. I think Sxxx would have preferred to get in trouble and be part of the fight. After the fight I had to write a one page review. I told the class that any future note would simply be “foolish boys doing foolish things”. But that was not meant to be. On Thursday morning, at 7:48 am but Axxxx and Exxxx were separately entering the room joking and talking. Room 27 rule is to leave the playground behavior on the playground and enter the room ready to work (ala Dr. Harry Wong.) In the hallway somehow Axxxx’s left cheek was hit. Axxxx thought, at first, by the hand of Exxxxx, and later, possibly mistakenly by Exxxxx swinging his backpack.
I took both down and Ms. H decided, after Solomonic reviewing, to give Exxxxxx a 2 hour suspension in her office with school work. Next day, at 7:45am, Axxxxx reported to me that Exxxx THREATENED Axxxx with getting beat up once 4th grade Axxxxx eventually gets to middle school in 1 ½ years. This threat earned Exxxx the entire day of class suspension in Ms. C’s class. As fate would have it, there was a surprise lunch party (unbeknownst to Ms. C since a Mom surprised her with a pizza party in the room (I learned of this when Ms. C cancelled her order for lunch that we in 5th grade were treating her to at lunch time.
Reflections:
It is easy to dwell on challenging behavior and to spend more time than it deserves. As a teacher, one must look at the entire situation. In the case of the “assault” on Thur and the “threat” on Friday, I believe that as Axxxxx’s teacher, I would be remiss doing nothing that was documentable. Same for the “threat”. I also believe this is equally true for the administration. Doing nothing would not give a good signal to any of the involved parties or to the students that witness such behavior.
But, to only be concerned with legal ramifications takes away from the academic purposes we purportedly stand for and follow.
So, the great news is that this was an amazing academic week.
4th Grade Writing assignment – State Assessment. I looked at some of the writing and was pleasantly shocked when I read Cxxxx’s essay and he was “right on” an event that rarely occurs.
5th Grade OCR Unit 3 All but 2 students wrote multi-paragraphs for the writing assignment. Both Unit 1 and Unit 2 there was 0% writing two or more paragraphs although we’ve reviewed this from “day one”. Now it finally sunk in!!!!!!! Oh happy day!!
The reading fluency sky-rocketed from the prior 6 weeks. More on the fluency hen I discuss the Voyager Passport success!!! In the Unit 3 Checking skills, my class had 70% of my class above target and 10% close to target with only two students at below basic level. Voyager Passport Benchmark 2 - Late – was due on 2-16-09. But the results were staggering!!!
The following percentages in improvement: 25, 48, 61, 51, 44, 30, 41, 36, 13, 42, 37, 43, 14, 30, 22, and 10% even for Exxxxx. These are remarkable numbers. Already went up from 18 words per minute wpm to 46wpm. Hensy from 58wpm to 101wpm. The principal asked what I attribute the growth. Its not just one thing. I think having 3 small groups at all times is key. I think using the mandatory for special ed Voyager Passport at a level more in keeping with the student’s IEP current level is helpful. And we should get more growth. Two weeks ago we instituted a computer corner with 4 students per day each getting 20 minutes of VP Ticket to READ program, a program they love. I expect wonderful results. For the far below basic readers, it spends needed time on phonics in an approach free from embarrassment or peer pressure. Genius approach. Thanks Voyager!!.
And finally, our School Charity drive –final result = 94% participation in room 27. Only Exxxx refused to turn in the $2.00 he brought for the charity drive once he got suspended to Ms. C’s class. In the debate of “nature v. nurture” there is no doubt in my mind that modeling charity and giving by parents makes all the difference. This is an area of “nurture”. I believe teachers are “in loco parentis” in general and in the area of giving, we need to do the modeling. In my class I said we ALL have to give. We needed to decide the minimum each student was to contribute, on the theory that lots of people have less than us and lots of people have more than us. We can’t worry about those with more than us but we must worry about those with less than us. Room 27 came up with a nickel as the minimum. (Last year the minimum was a dime.)
Its been quite a week. The fluency and writing successes are amazing!!!!!
Sure is nice to have this week.
THE END
************************************************************
Currently, all teachers at my school are reading this book for weekly professional development. I looked through Google for some reviews. Most were positive. Here's a good summary:
A LITERATURE REVIEW
Author: Rosemary Reichstetter, Ed.D.
SUMMARY
Summarizing a nonexhaustive review of the literature, the following definition is suggested for a
professional learning community:
A professional learning community is made up of team members who regularly
collaborate toward continued improvement in meeting learner needs through a
shared curricular-focused vision. Facilitating this effort are:
• supportive leadership and structural conditions,
• collective challenging, questioning, and reflecting on team-designed lessons
and instructional practices/experiences, and
• team decisions on essential learning outcomes and intervention/enrichment
activities based on results of common formative student assessments.
-----
Thus far, I've liked the examples best. More to follow.
12-31-08 update: seems that without all buying into the "community" aspect of PLC, it won't succeed. Our school has some obstacles - a few very negative teachers who could be devils advocate against winning and keeping $5 mil at the LOTTO.
My Reflections as a teacher of elementary school special education special day 4th/5th combination SLD-SDC. 3-8-09
It has been two years since I’ve been either inspired or required to write a reflection as a teacher.
This past week was a complicated and mixed emotion filled week at school. There were highs and lows as a teacher.
The week of March 2, 2009 had the following planned events:
4th Grade Writing assignment – State Assessment
5th Grade OCR Unit 3
5th Grade Ice Cream Party and Samovar exhibit
Voyager Passport Benchmark 2 - Late – was due on 2-16-09.
Upgrading all 18 IEP’s with page 5 current progress data (4X18) X 3=216 upgrades. DONE!!!!
Working on IEP of Raxxxx. (Did the assessing last week.)
School Charity drive –final result = 94% participation in room 27. Only Exxxx refused (although he had brought $2 for the drive but refused to donate it. ) Oh well.
Unplanned:
Learning at 1:30pm on Friday that our AP Cxxxx is without a job, at the time were writing a letter to Mxxxx requesting that he keep both the Principal and the AP for the next school year.
Exxxxx was part of 3 separate episodes that ultimately got him suspended from room 27 on Friday. On Wednesday, one was a fight at recess with primarily Jxxxx and Hxxx, then with help from Jxx and Exxx. Sxxxx tried to join the fray but was stopped in the nick of time by Ms. H my TA. I think Sxxx would have preferred to get in trouble and be part of the fight. After the fight I had to write a one page review. I told the class that any future note would simply be “foolish boys doing foolish things”. But that was not meant to be. On Thursday morning, at 7:48 am but Axxxx and Exxxx were separately entering the room joking and talking. Room 27 rule is to leave the playground behavior on the playground and enter the room ready to work (ala Dr. Harry Wong.) In the hallway somehow Axxxx’s left cheek was hit. Axxxx thought, at first, by the hand of Exxxxx, and later, possibly mistakenly by Exxxxx swinging his backpack.
I took both down and Ms. H decided, after Solomonic reviewing, to give Exxxxxx a 2 hour suspension in her office with school work. Next day, at 7:45am, Axxxxx reported to me that Exxxx THREATENED Axxxx with getting beat up once 4th grade Axxxxx eventually gets to middle school in 1 ½ years. This threat earned Exxxx the entire day of class suspension in Ms. C’s class. As fate would have it, there was a surprise lunch party (unbeknownst to Ms. C since a Mom surprised her with a pizza party in the room (I learned of this when Ms. C cancelled her order for lunch that we in 5th grade were treating her to at lunch time.
Reflections:
It is easy to dwell on challenging behavior and to spend more time than it deserves. As a teacher, one must look at the entire situation. In the case of the “assault” on Thur and the “threat” on Friday, I believe that as Axxxxx’s teacher, I would be remiss doing nothing that was documentable. Same for the “threat”. I also believe this is equally true for the administration. Doing nothing would not give a good signal to any of the involved parties or to the students that witness such behavior.
But, to only be concerned with legal ramifications takes away from the academic purposes we purportedly stand for and follow.
So, the great news is that this was an amazing academic week.
4th Grade Writing assignment – State Assessment. I looked at some of the writing and was pleasantly shocked when I read Cxxxx’s essay and he was “right on” an event that rarely occurs.
5th Grade OCR Unit 3 All but 2 students wrote multi-paragraphs for the writing assignment. Both Unit 1 and Unit 2 there was 0% writing two or more paragraphs although we’ve reviewed this from “day one”. Now it finally sunk in!!!!!!! Oh happy day!!
The reading fluency sky-rocketed from the prior 6 weeks. More on the fluency hen I discuss the Voyager Passport success!!! In the Unit 3 Checking skills, my class had 70% of my class above target and 10% close to target with only two students at below basic level. Voyager Passport Benchmark 2 - Late – was due on 2-16-09. But the results were staggering!!!
The following percentages in improvement: 25, 48, 61, 51, 44, 30, 41, 36, 13, 42, 37, 43, 14, 30, 22, and 10% even for Exxxxx. These are remarkable numbers. Already went up from 18 words per minute wpm to 46wpm. Hensy from 58wpm to 101wpm. The principal asked what I attribute the growth. Its not just one thing. I think having 3 small groups at all times is key. I think using the mandatory for special ed Voyager Passport at a level more in keeping with the student’s IEP current level is helpful. And we should get more growth. Two weeks ago we instituted a computer corner with 4 students per day each getting 20 minutes of VP Ticket to READ program, a program they love. I expect wonderful results. For the far below basic readers, it spends needed time on phonics in an approach free from embarrassment or peer pressure. Genius approach. Thanks Voyager!!.
And finally, our School Charity drive –final result = 94% participation in room 27. Only Exxxx refused to turn in the $2.00 he brought for the charity drive once he got suspended to Ms. C’s class. In the debate of “nature v. nurture” there is no doubt in my mind that modeling charity and giving by parents makes all the difference. This is an area of “nurture”. I believe teachers are “in loco parentis” in general and in the area of giving, we need to do the modeling. In my class I said we ALL have to give. We needed to decide the minimum each student was to contribute, on the theory that lots of people have less than us and lots of people have more than us. We can’t worry about those with more than us but we must worry about those with less than us. Room 27 came up with a nickel as the minimum. (Last year the minimum was a dime.)
Its been quite a week. The fluency and writing successes are amazing!!!!!
Sure is nice to have this week.
THE END
************************************************************
Currently, all teachers at my school are reading this book for weekly professional development. I looked through Google for some reviews. Most were positive. Here's a good summary:
A LITERATURE REVIEW
Author: Rosemary Reichstetter, Ed.D.
SUMMARY
Summarizing a nonexhaustive review of the literature, the following definition is suggested for a
professional learning community:
A professional learning community is made up of team members who regularly
collaborate toward continued improvement in meeting learner needs through a
shared curricular-focused vision. Facilitating this effort are:
• supportive leadership and structural conditions,
• collective challenging, questioning, and reflecting on team-designed lessons
and instructional practices/experiences, and
• team decisions on essential learning outcomes and intervention/enrichment
activities based on results of common formative student assessments.
-----
Thus far, I've liked the examples best. More to follow.
12-31-08 update: seems that without all buying into the "community" aspect of PLC, it won't succeed. Our school has some obstacles - a few very negative teachers who could be devils advocate against winning and keeping $5 mil at the LOTTO.
July 27, 2017
Out of date book on school systems change, do not read.
October 10, 2010
This is the book that introduced me to the concept of a professional learning community. It was one of the first books we read as a staff. I used it as a referrence for years. I had always believed that I had mastery over my life and that I could meet challenges as they came up. Because of this book, I came to believe that "our collective staff had the capacity to create a better future for our school". An excellent read!
January 23, 2016
Professional Learning Communities at Work presents research-based recommendations drawn from the best practices found today in schools nationwide for continuously improving school performance. Coming from the perspectives of both a distinguished dean of education and one of America s most widely acclaimed practitioners, this resource provides specific, practical, how-to information about transforming schools into results-oriented professional learning communities." Shelfari.com Helpful
November 4, 2021
This book has it all for managing the change process from the lens of building a professional learning community. Includes lots of practical guides and templates. Keeps a positive tone, while not underestimating the difficulty of the process. Well-written and down to earth, from two authors with both practical experience and grounded in the research. There are also videos and an on-line course based on the ideas presented in this book.
April 7, 2008
This is a great, very informative book for schools looking to makes changes and proceed into the future with eyes wide open to issues facing most schools. It arms you with through provoking information to help teachers and administrators alike create an environment that is ready to tackle the ever changing dynamic of kids today.
July 1, 2008
I haven't exactly read this one cover to cover, but it does provide a fantastic background and many practical ideas as to how to do this PLC thing in schools.
Read
February 19, 2011I will revisit this book again this summer, I believe.
June 18, 2012
A great resource for those in the education field looking to improve yourself, your classroom and your school. Also a great resource for those of us tired of feeling alone in the classroom.
March 28, 2017
There is nothing profound in this book...all common sense. Then again I read it almost 20 years after its publication date...
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews