RSA #1 - Erin Fratella

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Using assessments to improve professional learning communities

Successful Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) use uniquely developed assessments at several points during the endeavor to help guide the team toward an optimal outcome. Depending on the needs of the community, assessments can be developed to determine focus, assess readiness, guide development, identify interventions and evaluate progress. Using these assessments at strategic points during the PLC is essential to the effectiveness of the group. One necessary component in the assessment process is peer review. According to Martin-Kniep, “feedback plays a critical role in developing the expertise of participants and shaping the culture of the professional learning community”. This feedback can be provided formally or informally, but peer review, practiced five to six times a year is vital to the assessment process (Martin-Kniep, 2008).

An early example of a PLC assessment was developed in 1987 by researchers from the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). The group aimed to “support schools in their effort to improve their effectiveness [so that] their students might become successful learners” (Hord, Meehan, Orletsky & Sattes, 1999). With the help of a self-described “angel of inspiration”, one of the researchers developed a multi-use instrument that would aid the transformation of PLCs. This instrument, which uses 17 descriptors and 5 major dimensions, can be used to gather baseline data about the PLC, to create the actual PLC itself, to determine the effectiveness of the principal on teacher efficacy and to monitor the continued efforts of the PLC. The instrument has been put through statistical analysis and has been deemed both reliable and valid in regards to screening, filtering or measuring the maturity of a PLC.

Our textbook dedicates numerous pages to the merits of using assessment tools to create and maintain professional learning communities; the article comes to the same conclusion. Although this article is much older than the text, they come to the same conclusion. Unfortunately for the authors of the article, they had to create the assessment tool themselves, as it seems that nothing effective existed at the time, while our book provides many examples. However, the tool created in the article does seem very effective and almost seems more professional than some in the book. Additionally, the tool in the article can be used at several points during the PLC, which eliminates the need for new assessments.

References

Hord, S.M., Meehan, M.L., Orletsky, S. & Sattes, B. (1999). Assessing a school staff as a community of professional learners. Issues…about change, v&, n1.

Martin-Kniep, G.O. (2008). Communities that learn, lead and last. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.