Learn about tangible results directly related to high performing professional learning communities (PLCS).
What have you done for me lately?
Can PLCs lead to improvements?
Finding from APQC's (sponsored by the GE Foundation) best practice project, PLCs have helped district achieve both tangible and intangible positive results.
BEST-PRACTICE PARTNER EXAMPLES
Since Blue Valley School District moved to a PLC model, the percentage of students meeting state standards has increased significantly.
- In 2003, although the system met state standards, data was flat and hovered in the 80th percentile for reading and math proficiency. After 2006, Blue Valley reading proficiency scores jumped to 94 percent.
- Likewise, in 2006, math proficiency increased from 84.2 percent to 90 percent.
- In 2008, 95.7 percent of students were proficient in reading and 95 percent of students were proficient in math. These increases are attributed to the PLC framework, which enables increased performance across the system.
Since the creation of the Professional Learning Communities Institute (PLCI), the Montgomery County Public School District has realized significant success.
- For example, schools in the Professional Learning Communities Institute (PLCI) Cohort I not only narrowed the performance gap among African-American, Asian, and Hispanic students but also increased the MSA reading scores by in each category over a two-year period.
- African-American performance in reading jumped from 68.7 percent proficiency in 2005 to 78.9 percent proficient or advanced in 2007.
Fort Leavenworth Schools has both tangible and intangible successes as a result of PLCs. For example, as noted by Cindy Wepking, a third-grade teacher at one of the elementary schools: “I’ve seen a culture shift from one of simply sharing data to teachers reaching across grade levels for assistance. We’ve stopped talking about our class and transitioned into our third grade.”
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