Trends toward Professionalism
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on state assessments. As of 2013, forty-one states included student achievement in their teacher evaluation process.44 Overall, the trend toward raising the ceiling on teachers’ salaries and making distinctions based on merit should attract brighter students into the profession and keep good teachers from leaving classrooms for more competitive salaries in other fields because they will have the opportunity to earn higher wages.
2-2f Professional Learning Communities Professional Learning Community (PLC) In collaborative
groups, teachers and other colleagues work together to improve instruction for their students.
focus How do you believe movements toward increasing professionalism in teaching will affect you? Will you look for a position in a school that has a strong induction program for new teachers? Would you prefer a mediated-entry program similar to that in the medical profession, with intern and resident teacher levels, before you become a full-fledged professional teacher? How can you prepare yourself to effectively carry out the shared responsibilities of PLCs?
Many educational reforms, as we have seen, involve a movement toward teacher empowerment—increasing teachers’ participation in decisions that affect their own work and careers. One such reform is the Professional Learning Community (PLC), a collaborative effort among a school’s teachers and staff to improve student learning. PLCs use available school and district assessment data and student work to analyze results and establish goals for student progress. Collectively, they identify instructional strategies and best practices to incorporate into instruction in a systematic effort to enhance student achievement. Success of the PLC in enhancing student achievement depends on the commitment and persistence of the educators’ collaborative effort.45 The assumption underlying PLCs is that teams of educators are best suited to apply their professional expertise in the areas of curriculum planning, data analysis, content knowledge, teaching skills, research, and reflection to improve classroom instruction and student learning.46 Teachers are able to use their professional knowledge and experience in the school setting to collectively plan to change the educational environment. Dufour, a leading expert on PLCs, contends that most professions require such collaboration with colleagues, and PLCs provide a platform where teachers can collaborate in a coordinated and systematic effort to support the students they serve.47 The fate of PLCs requires that teachers are able to overcome the traditional school culture that fosters isolation. Teachers must be willing to take responsibility for directing their own behavior and invest the extra time necessary for an effective, collaborative PLC. To support this, school leaders must provide training in the skills necessary to make PLCs function and provide structured meeting time in the teachers’ schedules.48 Advocates of PLCs claim that teachers welcome the increased involvement because when they are implemented correctly, PLCs are the best hope for school improvement. Critics contend that PLCs actually challenge teacher autonomy and the traditional culture of schools by requiring collaboration with others. From this perspective, teachers should be able to act on their own with regard to what works in the classroom to improve student achievement. An inordinate amount of time, they say, is devoted to analyzing data, discussing remedies, and experimenting with instructional strategies.49 Expanding PLCs requires patience and a willingness to work collaboratively with others in the profession. Once in practice, however, upgrades in the instructional program should improve academic achievement and further enhance teachers’ professional status. 44 Kathryn M. Doherty and Sandi Jacobs, State of the States 2013: Connect the Dots (Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality, October 2103); and Deborah S. Delisle, Assistant Secretary, US Department of Education, correspondence to Chief State School Officers (August 21, 2014) at www2.ed.gov/policy/eseaflex/secretary-letters/cssoltr8212014.html (April 21, 2015). 45 SEDL, What Is a PLC? (April 2007) at www.sedl.org/pubs/sedl-letter/v19n01/what-is-a -plc.html (April 21, 2015). 46 Anne Kennedy, Angie Deuel, Tamara Holmlund Nelson, and David Slavit, “Requiring Collaboration or Distributing Leadership?” Phi Delta Kappan (May 2011), pp. 20–24; and “Study Identifies Habits of Highly Effective Professional Learning Communities,” Education Research Newsletter (n.d.) at www.ernweb.com/educational-research-articles/study-identifies-habits-of -highly-effective-professional-learning-communities/ (January 13, 2015). 47 Rick Dufour, “Work Together—But Only if You Want To,” Phi Delta Kappan (February 2011), pp. 57–61. 48 Rebecca A. Thessin and Joshua P. Starr, “Supporting the Growth of Effective Professional Learning Communities Districtwide,” Phi Delta Kappan (March 2011), pp. 48–54; and Learning Forward, “Standards for Professional Learning,” (n.d.), at http://learningforward.org /standards/learning-communities (January 13, 2015). 49 Karen Seashore Louis and Kyla Ahlstrom, “Principals as Cultural Leaders,” Phi Delta Kappan (February 2011), pp. 52–56; and Susan McLester, “Rick & Becky Dufour: Professional Learning Communities at Work,” District Administration (September 2012), pp. 61–70.
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