Delaware has kept the lines of communication open with teachers throughout the state during implementation. At the conclusion of the 2011–2012 school year, the department of education sent surveys to the state’s 8,800 educators in an effort to get feedback on the program. Almost 5,700 responded, with 95 percent of the responses coming from teachers. Eighty-seven percent of respondents indicated that the data-analysis process helped them to identify patterns of student need in their classroom and to differentiate their instruction. Seventy-seven percent reported that their team was characterized by a transparent, collaborative culture. The survey also included a section for open-ended responses that invited educators to present their impressions and recommendations for improvement of the process. Over 1,000 Delaware teachers offered their ideas. Once again, the department of education held focus groups of educators throughout the state to hear concerns, answer questions, and solicit ideas for improving the process (DDOE, 2012a).
The DDOE has continued to support LEAs and modeled the collaborative team process by scheduling monthly meetings with chief school officials. Superintendents agreed that they wanted these meetings to be devoted primarily to working in collaborative teams across LEAs. DDOE leadership or individual districts share their data with the group, identify concerns and challenges, and present their action steps for improvement. After the presentation, participants work in teams across LEAs to analyze the data and develop recommendations to support the presenting district or to consider how they might implement some of the ideas in their own districts. Superintendents have committed to learn together and help each other improve education throughout the state.
Delaware’s ultimate success will depend on quality implementation that focuses on changing the culture of the entire system—focused collaboration within schools, within districts, across districts, and between districts and the state. At the end of the day, systemic PLCs are just that—they fundamentally alter the entire culture of the system. Delaware has decidedly started down such a pathway to sustained improvement.
At the end of the day, systemic PLCs are just that—they fundamentally alter the entire culture of the system.
A Roadmap for Going Big
In this book, we present a roadmap for going big with PLCs. We begin with a focus on clarifying the meaning of the term professional learning community in chapter 1. We review the six characteristics, three big ideas, and four critical questions of a PLC. The main point of the chapter, however, and a point that we will reiterate throughout the book, is that the PLC process is specifically intended to impact the traditional culture of schooling in profound ways; it is an ongoing endeavor rather than a program to be implemented.
In chapter 2, we examine a critical challenge of any systemic reform: how do we achieve coherence and clarity? We address the elements of coherence, barriers to achieving coherence, strategies for achieving coherence, and the impact of strong coherence. We lay the foundation of systemic reform so that we can position PLCs as a crucial piece within whole-system reform.
In chapter 3, we examine the too-tight/too-loose dilemma. Should systemic change come from the top of the organization, or should it percolate from the bottom upward? We explore the rationale for both approaches and examine their impact, using real examples from the education landscape.
Chapter 4 provides leaders with guidelines for simultaneously loose and tight leadership. Our goal in this chapter is to help educators find and navigate in a loose and tight way using a real-world challenge facing educators in the United States today: how to effectively implement the Common Core State Standards within a systemic PLC.
Leaders often ask us how to sustain PLCs. This is the subject of chapter 5. We take what we have learned from experience and share the conditions for sustainability and how to recognize the warning signs that your PLC is faltering from day one onward.
In the afterword, we conclude with some key thoughts for taking action that will help you work on making PLCs systemic.
Making PLCs systemic requires people throughout the system to act in new ways and to contribute to the collective effort to make schools a better place for both student and adult learning. People must be willing to look in the mirror for solutions, rather than out of the window while waiting for others in the system to save them. As the Persian poet Rumi wrote in the 13th century, “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself” (Goodreads, 2013). Changing the world of education will require us to be wise. Let’s begin.
ONE
Clarity Precedes Competence
Marcus Buckingham (2005) advises that the one thing leaders of any organization must know to be effective is the importance of clarity. Well-intentioned people will be unable to implement the PLC process unless they have a deep, shared understanding of the conditions they are attempting to create, the ideas that should drive their work, and the obstacles they are likely to encounter as they move forward. In this chapter, we address these issues in an initial attempt to establish greater clarity about what the PLC process encompasses. We argue that every person in the system has an opportunity and an obligation to contribute to systemic PLCs.
It is complicated enough to implement the PLC process when administrators and staff throughout the system are very clear on what the process entails and its implications. It is impossible to implement the process when, as is so often the case, people are not clear on the most basic element: what does the term professional learning community mean? Many staff members and leaders use the term ambiguously and do none of the things that members of a PLC actually do. We need to begin, then, by clarifying the characteristics of a PLC, the underlying assumptions that drive the process, the challenges of implementation, and the need for individuals at all levels of the organization to contribute to the process.
What Is a Professional Learning Community?
One of the first challenges in using the PLC process systemically is establishing clarity across the system regarding what it means to be a PLC and what is involved in the process of becoming and sustaining a PLC. There are six characteristics of high-performing PLCs as described by Rick and his colleagues Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Tom Many (2010):
1. Shared mission (purpose), vision (clear direction), values (collective commitments), and goals (indicators, timelines, and targets), which are all focused on student learning
2. A collaborative culture with a focus on learning
3. Collective inquiry into best practice and current reality
4. Action orientation or “learning by doing”
5. A commitment to continuous improvement
6. A results orientation
Underpinning these six qualities are three big ideas, or assumptions, that serve as the core of the PLC process. These ideas help focus educators as they make the transition from traditional schools to PLCs:
1. A relentless focus on learning for all students—The fundamental purpose of the school is to ensure all students learn at high levels; the future success of students will depend to a great extent on how effective educators are in achieving that fundamental purpose. There must be no ambiguity or hedging regarding this commitment to learning. Educators must embrace this purpose and act in ways that demonstrate their commitment to it. Schools must also examine all existing practices, procedures, and policies in light of that fundamental purpose and ensure they align with and reinforce high levels of