Building Professional Learning Communities
Many questions are confronting schools and districts today in the face of high-stakes accountability. Confucius once observed, “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.” People, in general, learn best by doing. Schools are requiring students to be engaged in authentic exercises to promote learning, but when it comes to professional development, many teachers are still sitting in one-day workshops and learning in isolation.
A growing interest in professional learning communities has arisen in the past years. In fact, the term is now so commonplace that its meaning has become vague as it relates to teachers’ and administrators’ professional growth.
In 2004, Rick and Becky DuFour authored a book called What Ever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don't Learn. The book explores and defines how schools at all levels have created systematic interventions to ensure that their students receive additional support for learning. Their latest book, Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, is the next step to assist educators as they confront the challenge of implementing effective and efficient learning communities in schools and districts.
Education Week recently had a Web chat with the DuFours, discussing the building and development of professional learning communities. Participants in the chat were able to submit questions for the DuFours concerning PLCs. A transcript of the Web chat is available on the Education Week Web site.
More information on building and developing PLCs will be shared at the ISN Annual Meeting.
Parent Advisory Council Recommendations
The Commissioner’s Parents Advisory Council (CPAC) has issued a set of recommendations to improve family and community involvement in Kentucky’s public schools.
The final report, The Missing Piece of the Proficiency Puzzle, can be downloaded from the KDE Web site.
Writing Tools
Formerly called “Sharpening Your Child’s Writing Skills,” the new Parent Handbook has been revised and is now online in both English and Spanish and includes tips to assist parents in helping their children with writing.
KTLC 2008
Start making plans to attend the 2008 Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference March 5-7. The theme this year is Student Learning for the 21st Century – Every Child, Every Day. The conference will showcase excellence from schools and districts across the state along with multiple featured speakers and our KDE partners whose work is aligned to the various aspects of student engagement.
The Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference provides a unique opportunity for administrators and educators to come and share the most current, relevant, research-based ideas and strategies around targeted topic areas for an appropriate audience of teachers, administrators and other learners that can be implemented upon returning to schools and districts to positively impact or support student learning using technology as a tool.
More information, including registration, is located on the KTLC Web site.
Quotable Quotes
“ When it comes to getting things done, we need fewer architects and more bricklayers.”
Colleen Barrett, President, Southwest Airlines