The Purpose of Professional Learning Communities

A PLC is educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research in order to achieve better results for the students they serve.

What is the purpose of Professional Learning Communities in Anoka-Hennepin?

The PLC's continually answer the following guiding (corollary) questions:

1.  What is it we want students to learn?

2.  How will we know when each student has demonstrated the essential learning?

3.  How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?

4.  How will we deepen the understanding for students who have already demonstrated the essential learning?

Then the goals of the Anoka-Hennepin Secondary Schools are:

  • To create collaborative teams that will design common formative and summative assessments that are aligned to the Course Understandings/Essential Learner Outcomes.
  • To collaborate on the results to improve instruction by sharing successful instructional strategies that are supported by the data.
  • To design interventions for students who have not demonstrated learning as shown by the data and to provide the opportunity to show successful learning of the Course Understandings/Essential Learner Outcomes without penalty.
  • To design and provide additional learning opportunities for students who have demonstrated learning as shown by the data to deepen their understanding.

 

What Professional Learning Communities/Collaborative Teams Do

Expectations:

PLC

  • Assess current reality
  • Establish Norms
  • Write and turn in building S.M.A.R.T. goal(s) and Action Plan
  • Write and turn in building deliverables

Collaborative Teams

  • Assess current reality
  • Establish Norms
  • Write and turn in building S.M.A.R.T. goal(s) and Action Plan
  • Write and turn in building deliverables

Curriculum- What is it we want students to learn?    

  • Thorough understanding of the standards
  • Level of mastery determined for critical indicators and shared with teachers, students, and parents
  • Common course sequence
  • Exemplars provided when applicable

Assessment-How will we know when each student has demonstrated the essential learning?

  • Pre-assessments (KWL, "Thumbs up, Thumbs down", survey, etc.) are created, utilized and analyzed
  • Formatives created, utilized and analyzed, with the intent of becoming common
  • Common summative created, utilized and analyzed

Instruction-How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?  How will we deepen the learning for students who have already demonstrated the essential learning? 

  • Data used to improve instruction to reach all students' needs
  • Data used to improve instruction by building on team's strengths and addressing team's weaknesses
  • Data used to identify at-risk students who need additional time and support and utilize school structures to ensure they receive the support