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    Professional learning communities

    Educators work together toward a shared purpose - improved student learning

    By Shirley Hord
    January 2009
    We can all agree that the purpose of schools is student learning, and that the most significant factor in whether students learn well is teaching quality. Further, teaching quality is improved through continuous professional learning. The context most supportive of the learning of professionals is the professional learning community (Hord & Hirsh, 2008). Here I define what happens in the professional learning community and what makes such communities possible. THE LEARNING First what is the community learning? “It is vital that … staff members understand the linkage between learning with students in the classroom and learning with colleagues” (Lambert, 2003, p. 21). Members of the community thoughtfully study multiple sources of student data to discover where students are performing well, and thus where staff members can

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    References

    Brooks, J.G. & Brooks, M.G. (1993). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

    Burns, M., Menchaca, M., & Dimock, V. (2001). Applying technology to restructuring and learning. Paper presented at the 2002 Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) Conference, Pedagogy Track: Teachers and CSCL, Boulder, Colo.

    Gilbert, E. (2006). Eat, pray, love: One woman’s search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia. New York: Viking.

    Hord, S.M. & Hirsh, S.A. (2008). Making the promise a reality. In A.M. Blankstein, P.D. Houston, & R.W. Cole (Eds.), Sustaining professional learning communities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

    Lambert, L. (2003). Leadership capacity for lasting school improvement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

    Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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