ESTABLISHING A CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CULTURE

Mary Kent
Grand Canyon University: EAD 513
7/12/16

ESTABLISHING A CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CULTURE

In todays educational world, gone are the days where teachers instruct in isolation. A
movement towards collaboration and working towards developing the capacity of students and
staff is now the norm. In keeping with this idea, a progressive way to achieve this is through the
use of a Professional Learning Community. Within this professional community, teachers and
staff share leadership and collaborate to enable academic success to occur. This paper will reflect
how utilizing shared leadership and implementing opportunities for collaboration within a
Professional Learning Community model will effectively enable staff to share best practices and
ultimately increase student academic achievement.
Sharing Best Practices in Professional Learning Communities
An establishment of a Professional Learning Community within a school is critical in
achieving success for students and building teacher leaders. Administrators must provide
opportunities for staff to learn from each others expertise and engage in professional dialogue to
enhance teaching strategies that contribute towards academic achievement in students. When
teachers are afforded the opportunity to collaborate regarding instructional practices, student
learning increases (Goddard, Miller, Larson & Goddard, 2010). Professional learning can then be
shared by meeting within a Professional Learning Community. According to Wilhelm (2013),
principals must train teachers into their new teacher leader role, in order for the effective
development of skills needed for shared leadership and to establish an effective Professional
Learning Community. During these team meetings, teacher leaders will pave the way for future
growth and sustain the schools vision and mission. For example, training should include the
topics of data analysis to identify student needs and trends, determining research-based strategies
for instructional improvement, and evaluating the results of attempted implementation of those

ESTABLISHING A CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CULTURE

strategies (Wilhelm, 2013). Additionally, sharing best practices can also occur with the entire
staff during district professional development teacher workshops offered throughout the year.
Embedding Shared Information into Classroom Practices
This sharing of valuable information is not complete without the ability to implement this
newfound knowledge and/or strategies into teacher practice. Particular ways to incorporate this
shared information would be to provide evidence in the form of lesson objectives and noted in
lesson plans. While meeting within the Professional Learning Community, dialogue surrounding
the students needs and identification of sound teaching strategies to target those needs would
further promote the students success academically. Administrators will note how the shared
information is embedded into classroom practice during teacher observations and lesson plans.
Providing Reflective Feedback
A critical factor for growth is the ability to reflect and evaluate the status of a current
situation. From an educational standpoint, teachers must be able to discuss their students and
teaching methods in order to consider the effectiveness of these teaching methods. A helpful way
to provide this feedback is through the use of a form to document and guide teacher discussions
within the Professional Learning Community framework. For example, some key areas to
incorporate into this form would include discussions of best practices, implementation
successes/failures, analyzing common assessments and data analysis, and planning for future
instruction (Wilhelm, 2013).
Appropriate Timeline for Sharing, Implementation, and Monitoring
Teachers within the Professional Learning Community will meet on a weekly basis to
collaborate with one another and share newfound knowledge and best practices. The
administration should also be present at these meetings to provide additional support and

ESTABLISHING A CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CULTURE

guidance on an as needed basis every other week. Furthermore, the implementation aspect
should soon follow the professional discourse surrounding teaching methods within the week of
discussion. Reflection and monitoring of these strategies will occur monthly during the
Professional Learning Community meetings, as well as during staff meetings and district
meetings. This timeline will be cyclical in nature, and follow this format each month to ensure
that goals and priorities are being met with success.

ESTABLISHING A CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CULTURE

References
Goddard, Y., Miller, R., Larson, R., & Goddard, R. (2010). Connecting principal leadership,
teacher collaboration, and student achievement. Retrieved from
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED528704.pdf
Wilhelm, T. (2013). How principals cultivate shared leadership. Educational Leadership, 71(2),
62-66.