The following questions and prompts can be used by school leaders, PLG facilitators, and PLG teams to hone their practices and proactively plan for more effective work.
Purpose: Agree on the purpose of professional learning groups (PLGs), and lead with this. Establish and communicate the guardrails within which PLGs operate framed around their focus and intended outcomes.
- What is a PLG? What outcomes are we seeking? Do we have a concise working definition and statement of purpose?
- What is the role of the principal and other leaders in setting and reinforcing the purpose?
- How will the vision be monitored and maintained?
- How will the broader school community (staff, school board, parents) be informed of the role of PLGs?
- What positive impacts on student learning do we expect to see? How will we know PLGs are working? What evidence will we collect and review?
Structure: Ensure that regular PLG time is provided and held sacred. Determine the configuration and stability of PLG rosters and schedules.
- How will membership in groups be determined to accomplish the purpose and ensure all members find relevance?
- When do we meet? How often? How long?
- What are the guardrails for how agendas are set and how PLG time is used?
- What kind of records will we keep? To what extent will agendas, minutes, breakthroughs, celebrations, decisions be shared and with whom?
Sustainability: Ensure that groups are led by trained facilitators; ensure that facilitators and participants are continuously supported through the challenges that naturally arise during collaborative work.
- How will facilitators be trained and supported?
- Have we planned for initial and ongoing professional development; check-ins with building administrators; regular meetings to share dilemmas, tune agendas and reflect on impact?
- How are we tracking and monitoring PLG attendance and participation?
- How are we measuring the effectiveness and impact of PLGs?
- How will communicate the ongoing value of PLGs?
- How will we work together to address challenges and ensure that PLGs are having the desired impact?
Culture: Cultivate belief systems based on a commitment to collective efficacy—together we can reach all students—and model norms of productive dialogue among educators.
- How will norms be set, monitored and reviewed?
- How will roles (presenting, facilitating, recording, etc.) be shared?
- How can we explicitly practice and model PLG activities & skills during staff meetings, inservice days, and other staff gatherings to build a culture of authentic collaboration?
- How can we celebrate the work, growth, and learning occurring in PLGs?
This resource was produced by the Great Schools Partnership and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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