How might a district or school introduce this type of professional development? What are the leadership roles required to ensure that this kind of professional learning is supported?
The Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle (PTLC), a six-step process for aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment to state standards, offers a way to structure ongoing, job-embedded learning about teaching and learning. The six steps of the PTLC are described below, followed by a description of the three essential leadership roles that support its implementation.
The Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle
Step 1: Study
Teachers work in grade-level, vertical, or departmental teams to examine and discuss student achievement data and learning expectations for selected state standards. The purpose of this collaboration is to develop a common understanding of the concepts and skills students need to know and have to meet the standards; how the standards in a grade or course are assessed on state and local tests; and how the standards fit within a scope and sequence of the district curriculum.
Step 2: Select
Teams investigate research-based strategies and resources needed to promote student mastery of the targeted standard(s). Teachers collaborate to identify effective research-based strategies and appropriate resources that will be used to support student learning of selected state standards; and agree on assessment techniques that will be used to provide evidence of student learning.
Step 3: Plan
Teachers collaborate to formally plan a lesson that incorporates selected research-based instructional strategies. They also agree on the type of student work they will collect and share with one another as evidence of student learning, and on the criteria they will use for measuring proficiency. In collaboration, teachers develop a common formal plan outlining the lesson objectives (relevant to the standards), the materials to be used, the procedures, the time frame for the lesson, and the activities in which students will be engaged; and decide what evidence of student learning will be collected during the implementation.
Step 4: Implement
Teachers present the planned lesson, make note of the successes and challenges and collect evidence of student work. They deliver the lesson as planned within the specified time period; record the results, especially noting where students struggled and where instruction did not achieve expected outcomes; and collect the agreed on evidence of student learning to take back to the collaborative planning team.
Step 5: Analyze
Teachers meet to examine the student work collected to serve as evidence of student understanding of the standards. They work together to revisit and familiarize themselves with the targeted standards before analyzing student work; analyze a sampling of student work for evidence of student learning; discuss whether students have met the expectations in the standards and make inferences about the strengths, weaknesses, and implications of instruction; and identify what students know and what skills or knowledge needs to be strengthened in future lessons.
Step 6: Adjust
Teachers reflect on the implications arising from the analysis of student work. They discuss alternative instructional strategies or modifications to the original strategy that may better promote student learning. In collaboration, teachers reflect on their common or disparate teaching experiences; consider and identify alternative instructional strategies for future use; refine and improve the lesson; and determine when the instructional modifications will take place, what can be built into subsequent lessons, and what needs an additional targeted lesson.
Leadership Roles to Support Implementation of the PTLC
Support for implementation of the PTLC requires three leadership roles. First, leaders must communicate, by both words and actions, their expectations for teachers to collaborate regularly about the effectiveness of their lessons and to examine student work as evidence of effectiveness.
Second, leaders must build the capacity of the professional staff to do what is expected of them. In some cases, this role requires building staff capacity to interact effectively with one another as they establish a culture of collegiality, respect, and trust. In other cases, it calls for increasing pedagogical skills and content knowledge to increase student engagement and learning. It may also require the provision of resources (most notably, time) for teachers to collaborate and learn from one another.
Third, leaders must develop a process for continuously monitoring and reviewing the implementation of the PTLC. Successful implementation requires attention to the quality of the collaboration as well as to the use of effective instructional strategies in classrooms. This attention provides leaders with critical data about where to extend communication about expectations and where to build instructional capacity.
Conclusion
The PTLC provides a powerful strategy for embedding professional learning into the daily practice of teachers and for creating a collaborative culture that supports continuous improvement. When leaders provide needed support, this process has the potential to transform the instructional program in all classrooms throughout a district and school.