Creating and Protecting the Shared Foundation of a Professional Learning Community at Work (DVD/CD/Facilitator’s Guide)

The best way to implement the professional learning community (PLC) process is to develop the solid foundation necessary to support it. The foundation rests on four pillars: (1) mission, (2) vision, (3) values and (4) goals. The ultimate success of a school’s or district’s PLC implementation depends largely on the staff considering and building consensus around its response to key questions the pillars pose.

In this 47-minute video, Rebecca DuFour and Richard DuFour first examine the four pillars. Then, Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Tim Brown and Mike Mattos role-play members of a collaborative team (a principal and teachers) discussing grading practices and exploring the implementation of the foundational questions that support a PLC. 

The eight segments in this workshop include:

1. Welcome and Opening
2. The Mission Pillar: Establishing a mission for your school
3. The Vision Pillar: Establishing a vision statement for your school
4. The Values Pillar: Establishing a values statement (collective commitments) for your school
5. The Goals Pillar: Establishing goals for your school
6. Clarifying your current reality pertaining to the PLC foundation
7. Aligning practices and processes with the PLC foundation
8. Addressing discrepancies between actual practice and the pledges of the foundation and Closing

F–12 leaders and administrators can view Creating and Protecting the Shared Foundation of a Professional Learning Community at Work independently or use it with the Facilitator’s Guide to provide one full-day or two half-day workshops. It includes one DVD, 47 minutes in length, and a 56-page Facilitator’s guide in print and on CD.