The Impact on Mathematics Teaching Environments Through Establishing, Developing, and Maintaining Professional Learning Communities
The summative evaluation of TASEL-M is currently underway. To evaluate changes in teacher performance, fifty-one "baseline" classrooms were observed during the first year of the project, to be compared with forty-one observed during the past and current year. Observations were coded using a protocol developed for the project, extrapolated from similar protocols created for NSF professional development projects, and the results are currently being analyzed. PLC Checklists rating the strength of the PLC on nine fundamental criteria (e.g. shared knowledge, common formative assessments, interventions, consistent application of grading criteria, etc.) were filled out by individual teachers in each PLC, as well as by the coach. Analysis of this data has just begum, nevertheless, the following is clear at this point:
Nineteen PLCs have been formed at the 11 TASEL-M schools. Middle school PLCs consist of the entire mathematics department; those in high schools are subsets of the department as course-alike teams. Using the PLC Checklist, three types of PLCs have been identified: weak (not yet a PLC), emerging (on the way), and established (a well-functioning PLC). In one cluster, strong PLCs have emerged at both the high school and at one middle school. In most of the other clusters, however, PLCs are still emerging. Although there is good agreement between the coaches and teachers on the strength of each PLC, when there are differences, the teachers tend to believe that their PLCs are stronger than do their coaches.
As part of the summative evaluation, we will look for correlations between the strength of the PLC and changes in instructional practice as identified in the classroom observations. We will also explore possible correlation between the strength of the PLC and changes in student achievement, both at the school (course) level, and that of the individual teachers.
