Authentic Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) provide a process through which adult learners establish a framework for professional growth and development with increased student achievement being the ultimate goal. This website is designed to provide information, tools and resources that support establishing collaborative professional learning teams in schools and help committed educators through the journey of authentic PLCs.

Teachers throughout Broward County engage in PLCs to improve student outcomes at schools throughout the district. PLCs use data to determine student and educator learning needs; develop common team goals; engage in learning to implement research-based strategies and use formative and summative data to evaluate the impact of what was learned and implemented. A goal of Broward’s BEST (Beyond Expected Student Targets) initiative is to establish and ensure authentic PLCs in all assessed grades/subjects and K-2. CARE (Curriculum, Assessment, Remediation, and Enrichment) Cycles provide further structure to the work of PLCs by guiding team conversations and plans for learning in Curriculum, Assessment, Remediation, and Enrichment.

"PLCs are about people, practices, and processes – they are not a program.  They are fundamentally a change in culture –" DuFour/Fullan 2013

THE PLC DIGITAL TOOLBOX
The PLC Digital Toolbox provides information, tools, and resources to support the facilitation of collaborative professional learning communities in schools. These tools can be used as educators continue their Journey to Authentic PLCs.

Phase I: Planning
The PLC Team forms and reviews data to inform plans to engage in professional learning for the academic year.

Phase II: Learning & Implementing
Team members collaborate to research and implement classroom-centered interventions aligned with team, teacher, and student learning goals. Teachers use common formative assessments (CFAs) to track teacher and student progress.

Phase III: Evaluating
Teams use summative data to evaluate the PLC’s impact on changes in teacher practice and student learning and to inform future work.