Instructional+Leadership

__** STANDARD 2: INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP **__ A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by **advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.**

For the past six years, I have been extensively involved in the development of Professional Learning Communities at my high school. As a grade level coordinator (10th grade Language Arts), it has been my charge to make sure that our group of 8-12 teachers successfully collaborates to address the fundamental questions that all PLCs must answer:1) What do students need to know? 2) How do we know if they know it? 3) What do we do if they don't get it (intervention)? 4) What do we do if once they know it (enrichment)? Through our discussions about expectations, construction of common assessments, data collection and analysis, and sharing of best practices, our group has enjoyed a substantial amount of professional growth, while concurrently increasing student learning.
 * __** My Experiences with Professional Learning Communities **__

When an administrator gives a team of professionals clear goals (the four questions listed above), and then allows them time to collaborate in a safe, meaningful way, a lot of good things will happen. Professional Learning Communities, in my mind, are one of the best ways to develop staff, improve student achievement, and establish a culture of openness and collaboration between staff members all in one program. || ||