Charting New Waters: Collaborating for School Improvement in U.S. High Schools

Abstract

When professional learning communities (PLCs) are developed to promote the academic achievement of English language learners (ELLs), the results can benefit not only ELLs but the whole school. This article examines the ventures of three high schools that implemented PLCs as part of a Title III National Professional Development Project. The authors highlight the research on the effectiveness of PLCs and offer an operational definition for envisioning PLCs. Case studies of the three high school teams illustrate different cycles of inquiry and help readers understand how the emergence and development of professional teams improve the instruction and learning of ELLs. Using principles of effective PLCs as a framework, the authors share the challenges and successes of each team. The article concludes that effective PLCs are focused by a commitment to improve learning, informed by recognized principles, structured by the norms and inquiry processes that team members establish, and guided by school leaders who support teams and help them envision goals worth pursuing.

Collaborative Teaching: How Does It Work in a Graduate TEFL Class?

“…Moreover, social constructivism and its subsequent pedagogical approaches have had a direct bearing on introducing the team teaching approach to other educational fields, including English language teaching (ELT; Shannon & Meath‐Lang, ). Success stories have been reported in various disciplines (Carless, ; Clark et al., ; Fennick & Liddy, ; Popkewitz & Myrdal, ; Preves & Stephenson, ; Stevens, Bott Slaton, & Bunney, ), including ELT (Bell & Baecher, ; Schneider, Huss‐Lederman, & Sherlock, ; Short, Cloud, Morris, & Motta, ; Verplaetse, Ferraro, & Anderberg, ), given that the overall environment and particularly coteachers' synergy are conducive. Thus, a prerequisite for successful collaboration is to have a “good mix.” Teachers need to find a “comfort zone” in the model they acquire (Dove & Honigsfeld, , p. 15) and to be “responsive to the dynamics of individual personalities” (Hoffman & Dahlman, , p. 107).…”

“…Brancard and Quinnwilliams () argue that collaboration can result in transformative learning through which teachers revise their beliefs in a way that makes them deal with challenges more efficiently. Moreover, collaboration can enhance collegiality (Short et al., ) and teachers' self‐ and collective efficacy (DelliCarpini, ) and result in building communities of practice (Schneider et al., ; Verplaetse et al., ). This indeed necessitates a thorough reexamination of both preservice and in‐service teacher training if “teachers are expected to share responsibilities that affect teaching formats and the curriculum” (Fennick & Liddy, , p. 238).…”