When defining PLC in a podcast with me, Mike Mattos, one of the authors of Learning By Doing, A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work, suggested that rather than just the group of teacher working together, the larger organization was in fact the professional learning community. If a school commits to the process, the school’s the PLC. If a district commits to the process, the district is the PLC.  The ultimate goal of a professional learning community is to ensure high levels of learning for all students that the school or district serves, as well as the adults that serve within it. If you think about what it would take to ensure that every student learned at the highest levels needed to succeed and ultimately leave with the skills, knowledge and behaviors needed for success in their adult life, then a collaborative teacher team, a second-grade team in an elementary school, a math department in a middle school or, a science department in a high school, can’t alone meet the learning needs of all kids. It would require collective effort.

(Amy  Edmondson)

Much of my work with PLCs includes setting learning goals for students and then collaborating to plan the paths to achieve those learning outcomes. First, the identification of perhaps different goals depending on a student’s starting point. Different learning outcome goals will thus require different student learning production behaviors. Even students with the same identified learning goal may require different learning production behaviors based on their previous learning, motivation, and style preferences. When looking at the start of a school year it is often helpful to engage the previous year’s teacher in setting the learning goals because of her knowledge of the students. As teachers are working on the last quarter push to the year’s end, it can be the perfect time to engage with the next grade level teachers to set goals for the upcoming year.

Consider fourth grade students in April completing a writing task on which fifth grade teachers provide some comments on strengths and recommendations for improvement. The students rework the piece and submit it again. Fifth grade teachers then score the work on the beginning of fifth grade rubric. The 4th and 5th grade teachers now meet and set next year’s writing goals for the new 5th graders. Such shared goals, especially set prior to teachers knowing which students will be in their individual classes, are a great start toward functioning as grade level and vertical teams. A similar process can provide a link for middle school and high school teachers. Writing samples of 8th grade students that receive feedback and are eventually scored by freshman teachers provide great communication between the teachers as to “what’s important”.  Freshman teachers with those students’ results in hand can set goals for incoming students and plan for initial instruction. I could envision freshman teachers at the beginning of the year engaging the students in goal setting as they compare their entering “best work” with required grade nine standards.

I believe this early goal setting is especially critical for students with advanced achievement. Without teachers having focused goals for these students, they can often be overlooked as the teachers’ immediate attention is on the grade level or course standards and then drawn to students who are missing prerequisite skills and knowledge. A teacher beginning the year with goals established for the advanced students will plan for the needed learning opportunities.

A primary school team developed a plan for the end of the year reading assessments, in this case running records, to be conducted by next year’s teachers. On an assigned day, Kindergarten teachers take charge of 5th grade classrooms and all the teachers move to the preceding grade level. So, 2nd grade teachers complete a running record on 1st grade students. Then with those results and input from the 1st grade teachers they set goals for students’ reading achievement next year in 2nd grade. This should prepare teachers to begin the year with instructional plans in place — hitting the ground running. Imagine the value when a new teacher joins the staff and is handed her class list along with goals for each learner. It takes a long time for a teacher new to the system to understand the curriculum and assess students to sufficiently set goals. The new teacher being handed goals that were set by colleagues is more likely to approach those colleagues for support when a student’s initial engagement seems to not align with the goal. Hopefully, teachers begin and persevere with higher expectations.

Bringing teachers together to look at student work and performance, reaching consensus on current achievement and creating target goals builds teams. It encourages a respect for each other and a commitment to ‘do what it takes’ to reach targeted student achievement outcomes — a more than one year process.

My involvement with Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) often revolves around establishing learning goals/outcomes for students and collaborating to map out the strategies to achieve those goals. This process inherently incorporates differentiation into educators’ planning. It begins with recognizing varied objectives based on each students’ initial levels. Different goals necessitate diverse student learning behaviors to enhance success. Even for students with identical educational objectives, varying learning behaviors might be required depending on their past educational experiences, motivations, and learning preferences.

Planning for student success at the start of the school year can greatly benefit from the insights of teachers from the previous year. Their familiarity with students is invaluable for setting precise learning goals and approaches to learning. As the academic year winds down, it’s an opportune moment for teachers to coordinate with colleagues from the subsequent grade to establish objectives for the next year.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” (Tony Robins)

Consider a scenario where fourth-grade students in April complete a writing assignment, which is then reviewed by fifth-grade teachers who provide feedback on strengths and areas for improvement. The students revise their work and resubmit it for evaluation against fifth-grade standards. Subsequently, fourth and fifth-grade teachers collaborate to set writing goals for the new fifth graders. Again, establishing these goals before knowing the classroom assignments fosters effective team dynamics across grade levels.

I worked with one elementary school staff where, as the end of the year approached, they set aside a morning where kindergarten teachers went to 5th grade classrooms and grades 1-5 teachers all dropped down one grade level and did a reading running records assessment with the students. [Running Records are designed to be taken on any text as a child reads orally. They can provide informative records which enable teachers to determine what students are doing as they are reading, observe the strategies students use while they are problem-solving and make informed teaching decisions.]

Later, with those results and questions that arose, next year’s teachers meet with the students’ current teachers to set goals for the coming year. As an extra bonus this process decreases a common occurrence of teachers questioning the report of student mastery that they usually receive from the previous year’s teacher.

Later, with those results and questions that arose, next year’s teachers meet with the students’ current teachers to set goals for the coming year. As an extra bonus this process decreases a common occurrence of teachers questioning the report of student mastery that they usually receive from the previous year’s teacher.

This method of interconnected goal setting and feedback is also effective between middle and high schools. For instance, writing assignments from eighth-grade students can be assessed and used by ninth-grade teachers to set targeted goals for incoming students, helping to plan their initial instruction. This approach ensures that students with advanced performance levels are also given due attention right from the start, preventing them from being overshadowed by the general focus on meeting grade-level standards or addressing the needs of students lacking foundational skills.

I found another example where teachers took a pre-assessment that they might use at the beginning of their first unit at the start of the year and have the lower grade level teacher give students the assessment. (Think Spanish 2 teachers or Algebra 2 teachers providing an assessment that the earlier year teachers implement.) The different level teachers then meet together assisting the next year’s teacher in goal setting and planning.

Instructional coaches, administrators, grade level-leaders and department chairs facilitating these communications are setting the stage for several benefits:

• Ongoing, increased communication among staff in personalizing student learning. There is an increased likelihood that a grade seven ELA teacher who is being challenged by a student’s insufficient progress will reach out to a grade six teacher for reflection and brainstorming when they were partners in setting the goal for that student.
• Increasing Collective Teacher Efficacy – Shared goals is a key to building a team…… shared goals with shared accountability. When goals are being set

• ’s classroom students will be in (especially true in most elementary settings) there is a joint commitment to figuring out the personalization of a plan to reach each student’s success.
• Connection of PLC/Team/Department goals for students to school goals– School administrators can explore the degree that the achievement of team goals would lead to reaching schoolwide goals. These goals having been set as the school year begins sets the stage for exploration of everyone’s commitment to overarching school goals. Coaches can begin building support for their shared investment in these student goals.
• A clearer picture for teachers new to the school – Consider the value of a teacher new to the school starting out with learning goals set for her students. How long would we expect it to take for a new staff member to know the curriculum expectations and students’ learning levels well enough to set learning goals? Looking at a student’s assessment showing on-level mastery, the new teacher who would initially be comfortable with the outcome identifies that a goal of advanced level learning was noted the team. Teacher reflection on outcomes and possibilities is ignited. That reflection can motivate increased collaboration with colleagues.

Agreed upon goals sets the stage for teamwork.