Policy ECAA - Professional Learning Communities

WHEREAS, the Juab School District Board of Education believes that a Professional Learning Community (PLC) is an entire system of educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of structured collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students that they serve; and

Professional Learning Communities are characterized by: 

1. A shared mission, vision, values, and goals, 
2. Collaborative teams focused on learning 
3. Collective inquiry
4. Action orientation and experimentation 
5. Commitment to continuous improvement, and 
6. A results orientation.

WHEREAS, the Juab School District Board of Education believes that as a Professional Learning Community the fundamental purpose of our work in schools is to ensure high levels of learning for all students and this belief about learning translates into four critical questions that drive the daily work of the staff in our schools:

1. What do we want students to learn? What should each student know and be able to do as a result of each unit, grade level, and/or course? 
2. How will we know if they have learned? Are we monitoring each student’s learning on a timely basis?
3. What will we do if they don’t learn? What systematic process is in place to provide additional time and support for students who are experiencing difficulty? 
4. What will we do if they already know it?

3 BIG IDEAS THAT DRIVE A PLC

WHEREAS, the Juab School District Board of Education believes that as a Professional Learning Community it is essential for us to build and maintain a collaborative culture throughout our entire school system; and 

This belief about collaborative culture is based on the understandings that:

1. Collaboration is a systematic process in which we work together, interdependently, to analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual and collective results.
2. Schools improve when teachers are given the time and support to work together to clarify essential student learning, develop common assessments for learning, analyze evidence of student learning, and use that evidence to learn from one another.

WHEREAS, the Juab School District School District Board of Education believes that as a Professional Learning Community we must focus on results; and

This belief about a focus on results is based on the understandings that: 

1. We will measure our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions. 
2. All programs, policies, and practices will be continually assessed on the basis of their impact on student learning. 
3. All staff members will receive relevant and timely information on their effectiveness in achieving intended results.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Juab School District Board of Education commits to supporting the continuous total system implementation of the concepts of a Professional Learning Community espoused herein and the creation of an annual review of a Professional Learning Communities Scorecard that recursively reports the progress of our children.