Blazing New Trails - Connexions

50 CRITICAL ISSUES IN SHARED LEADERSHIP
peers with the purpose of helping that teacher to improve his or her teaching. In professional
learning communities, this must be commonplace and welcomed. Teachers must be far more
open with their colleagues in discussions which classroom practices seem to function well and
which do not, and in sharing teaching materials and strategies. Conversations among teachers
must be highly professional and must be focused on improving student performance (DuFour
et al., 2005; Giles & Hargreaves, 2006; Gregory & Kuznich, 2007). Teachers should join in
collective, reflective dialogue about their teaching and in collective inquiry into how their
knowledge and skills could be improved (Gregory & Kuznich, 2007; McEwan, 2009; Silins &
Mulford, 2004; Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008).
One important element of professional learning communities that supports reflective
dialogue and collective inquiry is a constant focus on learning assessments (DuFour et al,
2005; Eilers & Camacho, 2007; Giles & Hargreaves, 2006; McEwan, 2009; Park & Datnow,
2009; Printy, 2008; Rasberry, with Mahajan, 2008; Reeves, 2005; Silins & Mulford, 2004).
This involves not only careful examination of disaggregated data (including data on each
individual student), but continual formative assessment of each student’s performance on
teacher-designed assessments related to the daily curriculum being covered in each classroom.
Collaboratively, teachers must examine these data, determine which learning goals must be
set, and decide how best to pursue those goals. This process may involve risk-taking
(Rasberry, with Mahajan, 2008; Silins & Mulford, 2004) and should benefit from collective
creativity (Little, 2000; Rasberry, with Mahajan, 2008).
However, for these characteristics to flourish in professional learning communities,
several prerequisites must exist. First, the principal must be proactive and supportive (Eilers
& Camacho, 2007; Harris & Muijs, 2005; Little, 2000). He or she must be willing to, and
understand how to, share leadership while still providing leadership him or herself. The
principal must be able to, and choose to, shape the school culture so as to allow a professional
learning community to develop and to become inculcated as a key part of that culture. The
principal must ensure the presence of conditions supportive of professional learning
communities (Eilers & Camacho, 2007; Little, 2000; Rasberry, with Mahajan, 2008). Prime
among these conditions is sufficient time available to teachers during the school day to
collaborate fully (Park & Datnow, 2009). The school reward system must be aligned with
professional learning community practices rather than with the individual, competitive model.
Shared professional development focused on team building and on improving student
performance must be ongoing and ample (Harris & Muijs, 2005; Printy, 2008; Silins &
Mulford, 2004). In short, professional learning communities do not develop spontaneously;
they must be carefully and intensively nurtured (Printy, 2010).
Evidence of such nurturing is found in Chenoweth’s (2009) case studies of nine
schools serving high-minority populations. This study illuminated the existence of many
practices of professional learning communities in these schools, including:
Veteran teachers have never stopped learning, learning from colleagues exists (p.
182);
Time for teachers to collaborate during the school day (pp. 184–185);
Ineffective teachers have to leave (p. 187);
Teachers rely on each other to help examine data, build lesson plans, develop
curriculum (p. 188)
Have common, meaningful goals (p. 190);
Focus on what they want students to learn (p. 190);