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PLC+
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PLC+
Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design

June 2019 | 216 pages | Corwin
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What makes a powerful and results-driven Professional Learning Community (PLC)? The answer is collaborative work that expands the emphasis on student learning and leverages individual teacher efficacy into collective teacher efficacy. 

PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design calls for strong and effective PLCs plus—and that plus is YOU. Until now, the PLC movement has been focused almost exclusively on students and what they were or were not learning.  But keeping student learning at the forefront requires that we also recognize the vital role that you play in the equation of teaching and learning. This means that PLCs must take on two additional challenges: maximizing your individual expertise, while harnessing the power of the collaborative expertise you can develop with your peers. 

PLC+ is grounded in four cross-cutting themes—a focus on equity of access and opportunity, high expectations for all students, a commitment to building individual self-efficacy and the collective efficacy of the professional learning community and effective team activation and facilitation to move from discussion to action. The PLC+ framework supports educators in considering five essential questions as they work together to improve student learning:  
  1. Where are we going?
  2. Where are we now?
  3. How do we move learning forward?
  4. What did we learn today?
  5. Who benefited and who did not benefit?

The PLC+ framework leads educators to question practices as well as outcomes. It broadens the focus on student learning to encompass educational equity and teaching efficacy, and, in doing so, it leads educators to plan and implement learning communities that maximize individual expertise while harnessing the power of collaborative efficacy.

 
List of Videos
 
About the Authors
 
Acknowledgments
 
INTRODUCTION
So What Is a PLC?

 
The Story Behind PLCs

 
Adding the Examination of Teaching Practice to the PLC Story

 
The Five Key Questions

 
What You Will Find in This Book

 
 
1. PLC+: The Plus Is YOU
Teacher Credibility and Efficacy: The Foundation of the Strong PLC+

 
Facilitating Collaboration: Making the Plus Count

 
Building Collective Efficacy

 
The Hope for the PLC+

 
Conclusion

 
 
2. Question 1: Where Are We Going?
The Story Behind the Question

 
A PLC+ Team in Action

 
Analyzing the Standard(s)/Curriculum Expectations

 
The Role of Teacher Clarity in “Where Are We Going?”

 
Developing Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

 
It’s Not Just High School English

 
Moving Beyond a Single Day

 
Autonomy in Teaching

 
The Professional Learning of a PLC+

 
Conclusion

 
 
3. Question 2: Where Are We Now?
The Story Behind the Question

 
A PLC+ Team in Action

 
Deficit Thinking

 
Initial Assessments

 
Analyzing for Equity Gaps

 
Data Collection

 
Data Analysis Protocols

 
Addressing Bias in Data Collection and Analysis

 
Identifying the Common Challenge

 
Conclusion

 
 
4. Question 3: How Do We Move Learning Forward?
The Story Behind the Question

 
A PLC+ Team in Action

 
Evidence-Based Instructional Practices

 
Assignment Analysis

 
Compensatory and Adaptive Approaches

 
Moving Teacher Learning Forward

 
Learning Walks

 
Using Microteaching to Improve Teaching and Learning

 
Conclusion

 
 
5. Question 4: What Did We Learn Today?
The Story Behind the Question

 
A PLC+ Team in Action

 
Reflection

 
Expert Noticing

 
Common Assessments as Triggers for Reflection

 
Determining Impact of Instruction

 
Progress Versus Achievement

 
Conclusion

 
 
6. Question 5: Who Benefited and Who Did Not Benefit?
The Story Behind the Question

 
A PLC+ Team in Action

 
Equity Audit

 
Response to Intervention

 
Universal Screening and Ongoing Assessment

 
High-Quality Tier 1 Instruction

 
Supplemental and Intensive Interventions

 
Meeting the Needs of All Learners

 
The Professional Learning of PLC+

 
Conclusion

 
 
7. The Next Question in the PLC+ Framework
After the Fifth Question

 
Beyond a Single PLC+

 
 
References
 
Index
Key features

This book is about developing strong and effective PLCs, but this challenge is impossible without the next part of the story—the plus: supporting teachers in knowing what to do in the context of individual and collective efficacy, expectations, equity and the facilitation of learning, both for students and for staff.  We hold the following beliefs about the structure and function of teams as they work collaboratively to improve student learning:

  1. We must keep the equity of access and opportunity to learn at the forefront of each PLC+ collaborative team meeting.
  2. We must ensure that the dialogue provoked by the five questions is facilitated in such a way that the work of the PLC+ is not hindered or impeded.
  3. We must develop learning experiences that make our expectations for learning clear to all students.

The collaborative work of the PLC+ should leverage teachers’ individual efficacy into collective teacher efficacy. Honoring each of these beliefs requires deliberate practice and intentionality. In the following chapters we address how PLC’s can address each of the five guiding questions that drive the work:

  1. Where are we going?
  2. Where are we now?
  3. How do we move learning forward?
  4. What did we learn today?
  5. Who benefited and who did not benefit?

But before we engage in these questions, we need to take a moment and consider the ingredients that make up a strong PLC.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Table of Contents

Introduction

For instructors

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