What Do PLCs Do?

the job done. The question is, have even these teachers, with their everyday magic, placed a ceiling on their growth and innovation at a certain point by going it alone? In PLCs, collaborative teams take collective responsibility for the learning of their students (DuFour et al., 2016). Collective responsibility implies being mutually accountable for their work. Collaborative team members hold one another accountable to teach the agreed-on curriculum, use team-developed common formative assessments, and reach the established learning goals. In high-performing PLCs, my students become our students. Taking collective responsibility allows teams to maximize the strengths of the individuals to ensure high levels of learning for all students.

A Focus on Results

The third big idea of a PLC is a focus on results—teams assess their effectiveness based on student results, not intentions (DuFour et al., 2016). There are many school parking lots paved with good intentions (DuFour, 2018). High-performing schools are no different. Because there are sometimes few external measurements holding these schools accountable for learning outcomes—and one could argue that many students in these schools will do relatively well regardless of how they are taught—it is easy to believe that great teaching is synonymous with great learning. Some schools fall into the trap of assuming that by hiring some of the most knowledgeable, experienced, engaging, and passionate teachers, students are learning at high levels. But are they? What’s the evidence? A commitment to the PLC process requires a commitment to monitoring student learning results.

What Do PLCs Do?

PLCs provide teachers with the time and structure to grow professionally by answering the four critical questions of learning (DuFour et al., 2016). These questions may seem simple, and they are, but they have proven to have a significant impact on student learning when a team of teachers asks and answers them regularly:

1. What knowledge, skills, and dispositions should every student acquire as a result of this unit, this course, or this grade level? 2. How will we know when each student has acquired the essential knowledge and skills? 3. How will we respond when some students do not learn? 4. How will we extend the learning for students who are already proficient? (DuFour et al., 2016, p. 36)