Overcome 5 PLC Challenges

TOOLS

Overcome 5 PLC challenges

Vol. 40, No. 3

PLCs can get stuck. Research supports the contention that professional learning communities (PLCs) are a “path to change in the classroom” (DuFour, 1997). Teachers treading this path, however, can encounter obstacles or plateau as a result of five common challenges: incoherence, insularity, unequal participation, congeniality, and privacy. Fortunately, teachers and the administrators who support them can overcome these obstacles with self-reflection and intentionality. Here, I describe how these five challenges play out in schools. In the pdf version of this article, you’ll find a tool in that provides discussion questions to help PLC members and facilitators reflect on these challenges and address them in their own work. Challenge 1: Promote coherence and follow-through. Traditional professional development is often too episodic and incoherent to impact teachers.

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Authors

Thomas H. Levine

Thomas H. Levine ([email protected]) is associate professor of curriculum & instruction at the Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut.

References

Achinstein, B. (2002). Conflict amid community: The micropolitics of teacher collaboration. Teachers College Record, 104(3), 4212-4455.

Curry, M.W. (2003). Critical Friends: A case study of teachers’ professional community in a reforming high school. Dissertation, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.

Curry, M.W. (2008). Critical Friends Groups: The possibilities and limitations embedded in teacher professional communities aimed at instructional improvement and school reform. Teachers College Record, 110(4), 733-774.

DuFour, R. (1997). Moving toward the school as a learning community. Journal of Staff Development, 18(1).

Evans, R. (2012). Getting to no: Building true collegiality in schools. Independent School, 71(2). Available at www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/Getting-To-No.aspx.

Grossman, P., Wineburg, S., & Woolworth, S. (2001). Toward a theory of teacher community. Teachers College Record, 103(6), 942-1012.

Levine, T.H. & Marcus, A.S. (2010). How the structure and focus of teachers’ collaborative activities facilitate and constrain teacher learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(3), 389-98.

Levine, T., Mulcahy, P., Bengston, J., Didden, A., Esposito, A., Valacer, A., … Wilson, D. (2015). Learning to lead: Exploring how 1st-6th year teachers develop informal leadership. NERA Conference Proceedings 2015. Available at opencommons.uconn.edu/nera-2015/10.