Professional Learning Communities

What does it mean for us as Speech Language Pathologists?

Session Objectives

Establish norms for a speech/language professional learning community

Panel discussion, ask and answer session from those SLPs already participating in PLCs

Review research, ASHA’s position as well as JCPS’ position regarding PLCs

Develop a plan of actionBegin working in our PLCsShare out work and thoughts

PLC Norms

• Norms represent commitments developed by each team to guide members in working together.

• These are commitments NOT beliefs.

• They are to be reviewed at the beginning and end of each meeting

• Less is more

Examples• We will maintain a positive tone • We will not complain unless we

can offer a solution• We will begin and end each

meeting on time and stay fully engaged throughout

• We will contribute equally to the workload of the team

• We will listen respectfully and consider matters from another’s perspective.

Professional Learning Communities at Work 2006 Plan Book Solutions

Panel Discussion

What does the research say about PLCs?

• Identifying Teacher Benefits

A PLC can contribute to instructional improvement and school reform (Annenberg, n.d.; Little, 2003). PLCs can be most effective when their purpose is to enhance teacher effectiveness for the ultimate benefit of students (Stoll et al., 2006). By participating in PLCs, teachers may experience a variety of benefits that contribute to improved student achievement, including:

Reduction of isolation

• Increased commitment to the mission and goals of the school

• Shared responsibility for student success

• Greater job satisfaction and higher morale

• Lower rates of absenteeism (Hord, 1997)

• Sustained school improvement efforts also have been attributed to PLCs (DuFour & Eaker, 1998).

• Researchers (Hughes & Kritsonis, 2007) selected a sample of schools from a database of schools with staff who had attended PLC workshops and that were possibly implementing PLCs. During a three-year period, 90.6 percent of these schools reported an increase in standardized math scores; 81.3 percent reported an increase in English/language arts scores between 5 points and 26 points.

• Case studies of three elementary schools showed that during a five-year period, students from minority and low-income families improved their scores on state achievement tests from less than 50 percent proficient to 75 percent proficient. Strahan (2003) conducted interviews to examine the role of a collaborative professional culture on instructional improvement and found that working collaboratively in PLCs was a characteristic of these schools.

• Using multiple sources of data from a four-year evaluation of PLCs in an urban district, Supovitz (2002) found that an explicit focus on instructional improvement is necessary for PLCs to have a positive impact on improving teaching and learning. Without such focus, PLCs may have a positive effect on culture and teachers' feelings of well-being, but not necessarily on student achievement. Researchers found similar results in another large urban district (Supovitz & Christman, 2003).The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement Copyright © 2009 Learning Point Associates.

What does ASHA say about PLCs?• Our notion of rational thinking in schools is akin to professional learning

communities (PLCs). Much has been written about PLCs in schools (e.g., DuFour & Eaker, 1998; Hord & Sommers, 2008). Though the concept may define itself (i.e., a group of professionals coming together to learn within a supportive, self-created community), there are five components that characterize effective PLCs. The first is shared beliefs, which ensures a focus on student learning. This focus creates a self-aware, self-critical school community. The next component is shared and supportive leadership, which differs from traditional views of school leadership in that administrators and teachers hold shared power and authority for making decisions. Another critical component of PLCs is collective learning. Collective learning results in collegial relationships that produce creative and appropriate solutions to problems. The fourth component, supportive conditions, refers to both structural (e.g., scheduling) and relational (e.g., respect) factors. The final component of PLCs

is shared personal practice, in which team members give and receive feedback with the purpose of improved outcomes for everyone involved. Shared personal practice also helps confront the issue of isolation in schools (Hord & Sommers, 2008).

Mary Kristen Clark and Perry Flynn Rational Thinking in School-Based Practice Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, Jan 2011; 42: 73 - 76.

• Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are invaluable members of school communities, and in particular, IEP teams. Rational,

team-based thinking can become the norm for IEP teams that engage in generative dialogue (Little & Horn, 2007). Because many of the functions of IEP teams are explicitly laid out by IDEIA (2004), we suggest that teams practice using this dialogue during the following phases: assessment, planning, implementation, and progress monitoring. We describe the uncertainties that can be raised at each phase and how these uncertainties can be explored. Confronting uncertainties may not only lead to collective learning for the professionals involved, but also to better student outcomes

Mary Kristen Clark and Perry Flynn Rational Thinking in School-Based Practice Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, Jan 2011; 42: 73 - 76.

• SLPs indicated that they benefit greatly from their participation in PLCs. They increase their understanding of general education practices, procedures, and curriculum and gain better understanding of the communication demands of general education. They form stronger relationships with staff members. They also report that because of their involvement in PLCs, teachers and administrators have a better understanding of the role, skills, and expertise of the SLP, as well as the differences between weaknesses and disorders. In PLCs, colleagues may view SLPs as stronger members of the educational teams and invite them to collaborate more often both within the classroom and within team meetings and other building events.

• In conclusion, when PLCs are operating efficiently, they provide many benefits to teachers, SLPs, and, most importantly, to students

Professional Learning Communities, Real Experiences of School Based SLPs Deborah Dixon Perspectives in School Based Issues June 2013 vo. 14, no 2 33-34

The SLP's Guide to PLCsJudy Rudebusch and JoAnn Wiechmann

• A PLC is an infrastructure and a way of working together that results in continuous school improvement (Hord, 1997a).

Perspectives in School Based Issues June 2013 vol. 14 no. 2 22-27

• Moving Forward Through PLCs• With introduction of the Common Core State Standards (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010) in

almost all states there is a renewed sense of urgency for SLPs to focus on educational relevance in service delivery. Participating in one or more PLCs creates a way to move forward in the delivery of quality, relevant, effective delivery of SLP services in schools. Speech-language pathologists have a variety of options for involvement in PLCs.

• At the campus level, SLPs can participate in a grade-level PLC focused on improving language-to-literacy connections and improving academic language; a multigrade-level PLC collaborating on ways to ensure a coherent learning pathway for their students for college and career readiness in thinking and communication skills; or a special interest PLC of English as a second language teachers focused on providing interventions for students who seem stuck or on a plateau in English language acquisition.

• At the district level, SLPs can participate with other SLPs in a PLC to conduct action research regarding intensity and treatment dose to maximize treatment effects for certain types of intervention; work with other SLPs to collect information about treatment effectiveness for a newly purchased program; or study the benefits of a service delivery model that combines individual and group sessions for certain types of communication disorders.

• At the state or national level, SLPs can participate in PLCs that systematically investigate workload issues, standards-based intervention, prevention through response to intervention models, or use of consistent eligibility and dismissal guidelines. Whatever the configuration, the work of the PLC is data-informed, standards-driven, and focused on instruction, equity, and results.

Perspectives in School Based Issues June 2013 vo. 14 no.2 22-27

Working as a Team: The New Conception of ProfessionalismPatti Banks & Richard Knunth

Perspectives in School Based Issues June 2013 vol 14 no.2 22-27

• In this article, we advocate for the importance of participation in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) by related service providers in educational settings (e.g., speech-language pathologists). The article views PLCs as the vehicle for establishing norms of collaboration as an essential element of professional work for teachers and therapists in educational settings

What does JCPS say about PLCs?Focus Area: Stakeholder

Involvement/EngagementGoal 3: Parents, community, & partners enrich students’ educational experiences & support their success3.7 Build capacity for schools to develop Professional Learning Communities with cohorts of teachers and administrators who share a collective vision for and shared ownership of achievement for each child.

Vision 2015 (adopted May 29, 2012)

Focus Area: Safe, resourced, supported, and equipped schools

Goal 4: All schools are staffed, resourced, and equipped to support student needs

4.10 Create a system of support for collaboration in Professional Learning Communities

Vision 2015 (adopted May 29, 2012)

What are we going to do?

1. Follow our principal’s directive regarding PLCs in our building.

2. Become a member of the Speech/Language PLC

3. Attend your 1st S/L PLC –decide our focus4. We will have regional face to face PLC

meetings in January and March 5. In February, and April we will have on line PLC

meetings

A few things to think about from

Art TweediePLC District Coach

The Office Of Research, Evaluation & AccountabilityKissimmee, FL

If we continue to take in data as we have always taken in data,

Then we will continue to think as we have always thought.

If we continue to think as we have always thought,

Then we will continue to believe as we have always believed.

If we continue to believe as we have always believed,

Then we will continue to act as we have always acted,

Then we will continue to get what we have always gotten.

An Act Of Futility

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Professional Learning Communities…..

•Ensure that students learn

•Focus on results

•Create a culture of collaboration(and actually collaborate)

Art TweediePLC District CoachThe Office Of Research, Evaluation & AccountabilityKissimmee, FL

DuFour, Richard. 2004. “What Is A Professional Learning Community?”

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A Professional Learning Community Is NOT……

• just one more thing to add to our already-busy schedule.

• a book-of-the-month club or study program.

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Art TweediePLC District CoachThe Office Of Research, Evaluation & AccountabilityKissimmee, FL

A Shift In Fundamental Purpose

From…… To……

a focus on teaching a focus on learning

A Shift In Use Of Assessments

From…… To……

isolated assessments collaborative on-going assessments

A Shift In Response When Students Don’t Learn

From…… To……

remediation intervention

A Shift In the Work Of Teachers

From…… To……

isolation collaboration

,

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Art TweediePLC District CoachThe Office Of Research, Evaluation & AccountabilityKissimmee, FL

Which Champion Works Within A PLC?

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Art TweediePLC District CoachThe Office Of Research, Evaluation & AccountabilityKissimmee, FL

PLC Meets

Focus

Using data,the team

creates a lessonplan and acommon

assessment

Strategies

Teacher instructs using effectivestrategies from

the team’s focusmeeting

PLC Meets

Assessment

The teamconductscommon

assessmentthen meets

to analyze dataand discussstrategies

Response

Teacher remediatesor enriches based

on the pre-determinedproficiency level

The Team Cycle

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For us common assessments only

Use evidence based practices as SLPs

Are the common assessments looking at what we really want them to look at?

No enrichment portion

Art TweediePLC District CoachThe Office Of Research, Evaluation & AccountabilityKissimmee, FL

How is this going to work?

• Start off easy• What common assessments could we create

to assist with students who we believe have mastered their skills?

• Where, once created, should these common assessments be stored?

Break into Regions

Objectives1. What do we want students to learn? (instructional focus)2. Shared instructional methods and strategies3. How will we know they learned it? (common

assessments, proficiency level)4. What do we do with students who did not meet

proficiency?5. What do we do with students who did meet proficiency?6. Any questions, concerns, or professional development

needs.

Share our discussions

Session Objectives—Did we meet them?

Establish norms for a speech/language professional learning community

Panel discussion, ask and answer session from those SLPs already participating in PLCs

Review research, ASHA’s position as well as JCPS’ position regarding PLCs

Develop a plan of actionBegin working in our PLCsShare out work and thoughts