Professional Learning Communities

A journey, not a destination…

Chapter 9The Role of the Principal in a Professional Learning Community

Professional Learning Communities

• The best hope for school improvement is to be found in the principal’s office.

• Let’s reconsider what it means to be a “strong” leader.

Strong Leaders….

Some descriptions…• Strong leaders:

– Have definite ideas about teaching and a clear understanding of how their schools should operate.

– More than willing to impose their ideas on their schools.

– Strong, forceful, assertive individual who are quick to take initiative.

• When you read this, what do you picture?

From the Hoover Archives:

http://hoover.archives.gov/

Emerging Research

• On effective schools..– Principals lead from

the center rather than the top.

– Less command and control and more learning and leading, less dictating and more orchestrating.

5 Characteristics of Effective Principals

Principals of professional learning communities:1. Lead through shared vision and values rather

than through rules and procedures.2. Involve faculty members in the school’s decision-

making processes and empower individuals to act.

3. Provide staff with the information, training, and parameters they need to make good decisions.

4. Establish credibility by modeling behavior that is congruent with the vision and values of their school.

5. Are results oriented.

1. Lead through shared vision and values rather than through rules and procedures.

• Engage the faculty in co-creation (of vision and values).

• Demonstrate a sincere interest in finding common ground.

• Regard this as one of the most important responsibilities.

2. Involve Faculty Members in the School’s Decision-Making Process.

• Two of the most significant and effective strategies used by capable leaders:1. Involving others in the decision-making

processes.2. Empower individuals to act.

• IN FACT– When improvement initiatives disintegrate it’s

often because the leader (principal) makes the mistake of trying to effect change alone without building a coalition of collaborators.

• The ultimate key is creating pleasure in the hard work of change.

3. Provide staff with the information, training, and parameters they need to make good decisions.

• Provide staff with relevant background information and research findings to help them arrive at informed decisions.

• Ensure teachers receive the training to master skills that will help them meet the schools goals (more effectively).

• Provide time and create structures for staff reflection and discussion.

• Provide clear guidelines and boundaries to help direct daily work.

• Loose/Tight Management– Loose on particular strategies– Tight on adhering to the vision, mission, values, and goals.– Loose on the means to achieve the end.– Unshakable tight on the end that must be achieved.

• Both ardent supporter of teacher autonomy and passionate promoter of visions and values.

Responding to Resisters

• Three mistakes when struggling with this problem:1. Pay too much attention to resisters.

– If you wait for all the teachers to get on board your ship may never leave the harbor.

– Consensus does not necessarily mean unanimity.– Focus on advancing the cause rather than agonizing over those who

are reluctant to join it.2. Vilifying resisters.

– Resistance is a natural and understandable human reaction to what people perceive as disruption.

– Uphold the vision and values but legitimize dissent and always seek to learn what lies behind it.

3. Focusing on attitudes rather than on behaviors.– The effort to change attitudes must begin with the effort to alter

behavior in ways that result in new experiences.– Focus on behavior.– Change what people do, provide new experiences that can become

the catalyst for transforming attitudes.

• Principals of successful learning communities do not hesitate to confront violations of the commitments articulated in shared visions and values.

• To be perceived by teachers as serious about change, principals must care enough to confront.

4. Establish credibility by modeling behavior that is congruent with the vision and values of their school.

• Without credibility and trust, there are no followers.

• Principals of PLC acquire trust the old fashioned way, they earn it.

• Deliver on promises.• Consistent and predicable.• Establish and focus on priorities.• Willing to stand up for beliefs• Admit mistakes and change behavior.• Maintain composure and respond

professionally during times of crisis.• DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO.

5. Are results oriented.

• The ultimate test of a leader is results.

• Principals of PLC are hungry for facts and constantly in search for meaningful data.

• Analyze results critically rather than “Happy Talk”– Face the facts, don’t look for the

silver lining in a black cloud.

10 Guidelines for Principals in Building a PLC

1. Attend to the building blocks of a professional learning community.

2. Communicate the importance of mission, vision, values, and goals on a daily basis.

3. Create collaborative structures with a focus on teaching and learning.

4. Shape the school culture to support a professional learning community.

5. Foster an approach to curriculum that focuses on learning rather than teaching.

6. Encourage teachers to think of themselves as leaders.7. Practice enlightened leadership strategies.8. Establish personal credibility.9. Be fixated on results.10. Recognize that continuous improvement requires

continuous learning.

1. Attend to the building blocks of a PLC.

• Mission• Vision• Values• Goals

2. Communicate the importance of mission, vision, values, and goals on a daily basis.

• The staff will find them important only when the principal pays attention to them on a daily basis.

3. Create collaborative structures with a focus on teaching and learning.

• Create teams that:– Engage in a

constant cycle of reflection, planning, experimentation, analysis of results, and adaptation.

• Provide time for collaboration and a clear purpose.– And the training and

support needed to collaborate effectively.

4. Shape the school culture to support a professional learning community.

• Help facilitate the articulation of guiding values and vision.

• Ask questions, prompt reflective dialogue.

• Remind staff they are valued.– Celebrations,

ceremonies…

5. Foster an approach to curriculum that focuses on learning rather than teaching.

• Work with teachers to:– Establish processes

that clarify what students must know and be able to do.

– Clarify strategies that enable the school to make valid conclusions regarding the degree of student learning.

6. Encourage teachers to think of themselves as leaders.

• Foster the image of a teacher as a leader.

• Regard (and demonstrate this view) teachers as fellow leaders.

7. Practice enlightened leadership strategies.

• Demonstrate Loose/Tight leadership.

• Listen carefully to resisters and strive to understand their position.

• Focus on changing behavior rather than attitudes.

8. Establish personal credibility.

• Deliver on promises.

• Act in accordance to the values they ask others to demonstrate.

• Be consistent and predictable.

• Admit mistakes.

Do what you

say you will do!

9. Be fixated on results.

• Work with staff to:– Articulate clear

measurable goals.– Identify indicators

that offer evidence of progress.

– Use evidence to inform practice, celebrate success, and to identify areas that need further attention.

10. Recognize that continuous improvement requires continuous learning.

• Help establish external resources and networks that support and stimulate innovation in the school.

• Develop the ability of others.

Principals

• Strong principals are crucial to the success of Professional Learning Communities.

• Has this information shifted your view of a “strong” leader?

From the Hoover Archives:

http://hoover.archives.gov/

Professional Learning Communities

A persistent endeavor.

Credits

• Text Reference– Dufor; R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional

Learning Communities at Work. Reston, VA: Solution Tree.

• John Wayne Picture– The Hoover Archive

• Clipart & PowerPoint Template– Microsoft Clipart Gallery

• Music (if it worked for you)– The Dare Ya Blues Band from Long Island, New

York • “Home to New Orleans”

– www.garageband.com» copyright free