Professional Learning

Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs, have become crucial in designing school-wide strategies dedicated to helping students achieve their potential. The resources included in this toolkit are intended to help you meet the challenges presented by today’s educational landscape through effective professional learning and development opportunities.

What is a Professional Learning Community?

Teachers working collaboratively and holding themselves accountable for the results

	A Focus on Equity, Students, and Teacher Champions Leads to 1:1 Success in Oak Grove In just two years, José L. Manzo, superintendent of California’s Oak Grove School District has led a dramatic transition from traditional classroom teaching to student-centered learning supported by Acer Chromebooks.
	Innovation and Smart Planning Make for 1:1 Success in New Caney, TX New Caney ISD managed to deploy nearly 11,000 Intel-based Dell Chromebooks, in grades 3-12, within a few months, thanks to careful planning, early and ongoing professional development, student input, and effective allocation of resources.
	The Evolution of 1:1 in Three Maine Districts 15 years later, the statewide MLTI program, the first of its kind in the nation, is still going strong, although with a broader range of choices – including Windows and Chrome-based hardware.
	Creating 21st-Century Classrooms in a Large Texas District Careful planning, pilot programs, parental involvement, faculty collaboration, and student leadership are all key to the success of Leander ISD’s mobile learning initiative.
	Going Big (Texas Style) with One-to-One Laptops Houston ISD is about to enter the third phase of its phenomenally successful 1:1 PowerUp initiative, which allows teachers in all 282 district schools to create a rich learning environment filled with project-based learning, 21st-century skills development, and coursework aligned to individual aptitudes and interests.
	Empowering and Untethering Teachers in Tolleson, Arizona Lenovo laptops and wireless display (WiDi) for their teachers – as well as testing out a variety of technology options with their students – have been keys to moving forward in the Tolleson Union High School District.
	Redefining Learning in Maine Township, Illinois Teacher-led professional development, a student “genius desk,” a 1:1 initiative featuring Dell Chromebooks, and oodles of collaboration all characterize High School District 207’s transformative approach.
	Small Pilots Lead to a Successful 1:1 Program in Hillsborough, NJ Four years ago, when the Hillsborough Township Public Schools started discussing 1:1, they were determined to take a careful and thorough approach to hardware planning. Their decision to adopt Chromebooks and Android tablets grew out of three years of pilots involving a variety of devices.
	Miami-Dade Focuses on Equity in its 1:1 Initiative When you’re planning a 1:1 initiative for a district the size of Miami-Dade Public Schools – the nation’s fourth-largest district – it’s crucial to have the infrastructure and a PD plan in place, along with a vision and support at every level.
	1Two1 in Richland County School District Two Thoughtful planning and organization, a focus on equity, and choosing the right device were keys to a successful 1:1 for this South Carolina district.

	Reflections on Tech Use with Young Children If technology isn't "good enough" for the children of the Silicon Valley innovators who created it, how can we defend its use in schools, especially with young children?	Blog
	Mindset, Lens, Focus and Organizational Change It's essential to allow individuals to articulate their personal perspectives and make them visible to others. Providing voice is a critical step in building consensus.	Blog
	My Students Need More Sleep. And So Do I. With the omnipresence of screens, we’re getting less sleep. While it's easy to direct teens to turn off their devices and get more sleep, are we taking our own advice?	Blog
	Invention versus Innovation: What Does it Mean for Education? Inventing can fill a need, a void, or be an effective strategy for desired results. Innovating? Not so much.	Blog
	We Can Get It Right! We now have data to show how meaningfully integrated technology has facilitated learner growth. But we can do more to ensure that everyone understands this data.	Blog
	An Updated Version of Now Changing what students experience can be a formidable challenge. It means having a vision of what you want to create and a direction for where you want to go.	Blog
	Moving Pictures: Maximize Your Storytelling By thinking of your learning presentation as a mini-movie, you could greatly improve the learning experience.	Blog
	Using Visual Models to Spark Mathematical Discussion When I reviewed my students’ work, I noticed that only one drew a picture of their solution strategy. The rest lacked a visual context for making sense of the problem.	Blog
	On the Education Horizon: Quirky Programmable Objects A look at some of the more interesting bots and programmable objects from the recent TCEA confernce.	Blog
	Top Science Education Take-Aways from NSTA18 The National Science Teachers’ Association (NSTA) Annual Conference was an enormous success this year. Here are my main takeaways.	Blog

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Professional Learning

What is a Professional Learning Community?

The Changing Role of Teachers

Components of a Successful PLC

Developing a Professional Learning Community

Building Leadership

Implement Effective Professional Learning Communities

PLC Peer Observation

Mentoring and PLCs

PLC Teams

How PLCs Impact Student Success

The School District as a PLC

Developing a Learning Community

Learning Communities and Support

Building Leader Educator Capacity

Teacher and Leader Capacity

Seven Lessons Learned From Implementing Micro-credentials

Micro-Credentials and Professional Learning

State Digital Learning Exemplars

Social Network Formation and its Impact on Learning

Implementation Stories: Rhode Island

The Digital Learning Transition MOOC for Educators

Five Tips For First-rate PD

Rethinking Professional Learning and Assessment

Content-Focused, Expert-Led Collaboration at Achievement First

Drafting an Effective Professional Learning Plan

Finding Time for Collaborative Planning

Frequent, Growth-Oriented Feedback at DC Public Schools

Comprehensive Curricula and Assessments in Louisiana

Modeling Student-Centered Professional Learning

Supporting Teachers with Design Thinking

Google Classroom for Professional Learning

Get Cross-functional with Teacher Proficiency

Building the Next Generation of Teacher Training

Four Elements of Personalized Professional Learning

Building Teacher Autonomy

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