Professional Learning Communities

Teacher Collaboration through Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) - PLCs are an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. In order to maximize student achievement, educators work together to answer the following questions:

1. What do we want all students to know and be able to do?
2. How will we know if they learn it?
3. How will we respond when some students do not learn?
4. How will we extend the learning for students who are already proficient?

TCSD Guiding Principles of PLCs: 

• All educators are committed to helping all students learn through equitable access to curriculum.
• All educators agree on and use the district mission, vision, and create aligned SMART goals to guide their work through collective agreements
• The District provides adequate time and structure for ongoing collaboration through the PLC critical questions:
  • What do we want our students to know? 
  • How do we know if our students are learning? 
  • How will we respond when our students do not learn? 
  • How will we enrich and extend for our students who are proficient ?
• Our teacher created GVC, aligned to the Wyoming Common Core standards, student centered scales and rubrics, provide the backbone for PLC work.
• PLCs will collaborate on lesson planning and Instructional practices to  accommodate diverse learners, share instructional strategies that maximize learning, and design interventions and enrichment.
• Common formative assessments and student evidence  around  learning targets and essential outcomes based on priority standard proficiency scales will be used to monitor progress towards mastery for all learners.
• Members will determine the effectiveness of lesson plans and  instructional strategies based on evidence that includes multiple opportunities to demonstrate success.
• Students needing additional supports or extensions will be identified and a plan put in place to address these needs.