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PLC+

Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design
What makes a powerful and results-driven Professional Learning Community (PLC)? The answer is PLC+, a framework that leads educators to question practices, not just outcomes.

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Product Details
  • Grade Level: PreK-12
  • ISBN: 9781544361796
  • Published By: Corwin
  • Year: 2019
  • Page Count: 216
  • Publication date: June 03, 2019

Price: $39.95

Price: $39.95
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Description

Description

What makes a powerful and results-driven Professional Learning Community (PLC)? The answer is collaborative work that expands the emphasis on student learning and leverages individual teacher efficacy into collective teacher efficacy.

PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design calls for strong and effective PLCs plus—and that plus is YOU. Until now, the PLC movement has been focused almost exclusively on students and what they were or were not learning. But keeping student learning at the forefront requires that we also recognize the vital role that you play in the equation of teaching and learning. This means that PLCs must take on two additional challenges: maximizing your individual expertise, while harnessing the power of the collaborative expertise you can develop with your peers.

PLC+ is grounded in four cross-cutting themes—a focus on equity of access and opportunity, high expectations for all students, a commitment to building individual self-efficacy and the collective efficacy of the professional learning community and effective team activation and facilitation to move from discussion to action. The PLC+ framework supports educators in considering five essential questions as they work together to improve student learning:
  1. Where are we going?
  2. Where are we now?
  3. How do we move learning forward?
  4. What did we learn today?
  5. Who benefited and who did not benefit?

The PLC+ framework leads educators to question practices as well as outcomes. It broadens the focus on student learning to encompass educational equity and teaching efficacy, and, in doing so, it leads educators to plan and implement learning communities that maximize individual expertise while harnessing the power of collaborative efficacy.


Key features

This book is about developing strong and effective PLCs, but this challenge is impossible without the next part of the story—the plus: supporting teachers in knowing what to do in the context of individual and collective efficacy, expectations, equity and the facilitation of learning, both for students and for staff. We hold the following beliefs about the structure and function of teams as they work collaboratively to improve student learning:

  1. We must keep the equity of access and opportunity to learn at the forefront of each PLC+ collaborative team meeting.
  2. We must ensure that the dialogue provoked by the five questions is facilitated in such a way that the work of the PLC+ is not hindered or impeded.
  3. We must develop learning experiences that make our expectations for learning clear to all students.

The collaborative work of the PLC+ should leverage teachers’ individual efficacy into collective teacher efficacy. Honoring each of these beliefs requires deliberate practice and intentionality. In the following chapters we address how PLC’s can address each of the five guiding questions that drive the work:

  1. Where are we going?
  2. Where are we now?
  3. How do we move learning forward?
  4. What did we learn today?
  5. Who benefited and who did not benefit?

But before we engage in these questions, we need to take a moment and consider the ingredients that make up a strong PLC.

Author(s)

Author(s)

Douglas Fisher photo

Douglas Fisher

Douglas Fisher is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is a credentialed teacher and leader in California. In 2022, he was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame by the Literacy Research Association. He has published widely on literacy, quality instruction, and assessment, as well as books such as Welcome to Teaching, PLC+, Teaching Students to Drive their Learning, and Student Assessment: Better Evidence, Better Decisions, Better Learning.


Nancy Frey photo

Nancy Frey

Nancy Frey is professor of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Nancy was a teacher, academic coach, and central office resource coordinator in Florida. She is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California. She is a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. She has published widely on literacy, quality instruction, and assessment, as well as books such as The Artificial Intelligences Playbook, How Scaffolding Works, How Teams Work, and The Vocabulary Playbook.

John Taylor Almarode photo

John Taylor Almarode

Dr. John Almarode is a bestselling author and an Associate Professor of Education at James Madison University. He was awarded the inaugural Sarah Miller Luck Endowed Professorship in 2015 and received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia in 2021. Before his academic career, John started as a mathematics and science teacher in Augusta County, Virginia. As an author, John has written multiple educational books focusing on science and mathematics, and he has co-created a new framework for developing, implementing, and sustaining professional learning communities called PLC+. Dr. Almarode's work has been presented to the US Congress, the Virginia Senate, and the US Department of Education. One of his recent projects includes developing the Distance Learning Playbook for College and University Instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Continuing his collaborative work with colleagues on what works best in teaching and learning, How Tutoring Works, Visible Learning in Early Childhood, and How Learning Works, all with Corwin Press, were released in 2021.


Karen T. Flories photo

Karen T. Flories

Karen Flories was the Executive Director of Educational Services for 5 years and Director of Literacy and Social Studies for 2 years with Valley View School District in Illinois, after serving as the English Department Chair for Romeoville High School. Karen’s classroom experience includes high school English, special education, and alternative education. Karen holds credentials in general education, special education, and educational leadership. She earned her master’s degree in educational leadership from Concordia University. During her time at the district level, Karen led the implementation of Visible Learning+, specifically focusing on teacher clarity, classroom assessment, and feedback. Karen is the co-author of The PLC+ Activator’s Guide, PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, and The PLC+ Playbook, Grades K-12. She is currently a full-time professional learning consultant for Corwin.

Dave Nagel photo

Dave Nagel

Dave Nagel, MsED, is an international educational consultant and researcher. Dave began his educational career as a middle school science and high school biology teacher. His administrative experiences involved middle school assistant principal, high school associate principal, and director of extended day and credit-recovery programs. He was honored numerous times as a ‘Senior Choice’ winner, where graduating seniors selected him as someone who dramatically affected their life in a positive way. Dave has credentials in school leadership and secondary science teaching as well as a master of science degree from Butler University. Dave is the author of Effective Grading Practices for Secondary Teachers and the co-author of The PLC+ Activator’s Guide and PLC+: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

List of Videos


About the Authors


Acknowledgments


INTRODUCTION

So What Is a PLC?

The Story Behind PLCs

Adding the Examination of Teaching Practice to the PLC Story

The Five Key Questions

What You Will Find in This Book

1. PLC+: The Plus Is YOU

Teacher Credibility and Efficacy: The Foundation of the Strong PLC+

Facilitating Collaboration: Making the Plus Count

Building Collective Efficacy

The Hope for the PLC+

Conclusion

2. Question 1: Where Are We Going?

The Story Behind the Question

A PLC+ Team in Action

Analyzing the Standard(s)/Curriculum Expectations

The Role of Teacher Clarity in “Where Are We Going?”

Developing Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

It’s Not Just High School English

Moving Beyond a Single Day

Autonomy in Teaching

The Professional Learning of a PLC+

Conclusion

3. Question 2: Where Are We Now?

The Story Behind the Question

A PLC+ Team in Action

Deficit Thinking

Initial Assessments

Analyzing for Equity Gaps

Data Collection

Data Analysis Protocols

Addressing Bias in Data Collection and Analysis

Identifying the Common Challenge

Conclusion

4. Question 3: How Do We Move Learning Forward?

The Story Behind the Question

A PLC+ Team in Action

Evidence-Based Instructional Practices

Assignment Analysis

Compensatory and Adaptive Approaches

Moving Teacher Learning Forward

Learning Walks

Using Microteaching to Improve Teaching and Learning

Conclusion

5. Question 4: What Did We Learn Today?

The Story Behind the Question

A PLC+ Team in Action

Reflection

Expert Noticing

Common Assessments as Triggers for Reflection

Determining Impact of Instruction

Progress Versus Achievement

Conclusion

6. Question 5: Who Benefited and Who Did Not Benefit?

The Story Behind the Question

A PLC+ Team in Action

Equity Audit

Response to Intervention

Universal Screening and Ongoing Assessment

High-Quality Tier 1 Instruction

Supplemental and Intensive Interventions

Meeting the Needs of All Learners

The Professional Learning of PLC+

Conclusion

7. The Next Question in the PLC+ Framework

After the Fifth Question

Beyond a Single PLC+

References


Index


Price: $39.95
Volume Discounts applied in Shopping Cart

For Instructors

Request Review Copy

When you select 'request review copy', you will be redirected to Sage Publishing (our parent site) to process your request.

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