ROCORI shifts to 90-minute professional learning communities to target standards and student needs

Amy Nash, the district director of teaching and learning, told the ROCORI Public School District school board tonight that the district has shifted its professional learning communities (PLCs) from short teacher-choice meetings to 90-minute, biweekly, department- and grade-level sessions focused on four guiding questions: what students should learn, how teachers will know students learned it, interventions for students who have not learned it, and extensions for students who have mastered the content.

The change is intended to strengthen alignment between instruction and state standards and to give teachers time to analyze student-learning data and plan targeted interventions and extensions. “Our mission as a guiding coalition and as a district is exceptional learning and growth for all,” Nash said, describing a guiding coalition formed after the district attended a Professional Learning Institute in June.

PLCs in prior years were typically 30 minutes long and teacher-driven, Nash and staff said; the new structure provides roughly 90 minutes of collaborative time by using a one-hour late start every other Wednesday combined with teachers arriving 30 minutes before students on those days. District staff reported results from a teacher survey: about 90% agreed their PLC is using the full 90 minutes toward goals; roughly 82% agreed the late-start model is more effective than the prior weekly time; and about 88% agreed PLCs are helping align instructional practices to the district’s goals.

Presenters said the restructured PLCs are tied to the district’s response to the READ Act and to a multi‑year LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training cycle for K–5 teachers. Staff and classroom teachers said the extended PLC time has helped grade-level teams work through implementation issues for reading programs and coordinate common assessments. First grade teacher Lisa Steg described using PLC time to identify “loopholes” in merged reading curricula and quickly align approaches so problems did not grow larger in classrooms.

Teachers and coaches told the board that PLC time also creates opportunities for newer and more experienced teachers to share technology and resources and for remote or specialty teachers (for example, Spartan Online staff) to join virtually. Presenters acknowledged ongoing challenges, including creating assessments that accurately reflect student learning, building consistent reteaching and reassessment options, and developing accommodations and extension plans for both struggling students and students who quickly demonstrate mastery.

District staff said they will send additional teachers to summer PLC institutes to build capacity and expand the guiding coalition to include more middle and elementary teachers as the first cohort of LETRS-trained teachers completes the two‑year cycle.

The presentation led into the remainder of the board meeting without a formal board action on PLCs; staff described next steps as expanding training cohorts and continuing to collect teacher feedback.