The Impact on Mathematics Teaching Environments Through Establishing, Developing, Maintaining, and Sustaining Professional Learning Communities
Authors: David Pagni, Dianne DeMille

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4. Results
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Clear at this point:
  • 21 PLCs have been established at all 11 of the TASEL-M schools (Because the numbers were small and middle school teachers tended to work together as a group, each of the middle schools was considered as a single PLC).
  • Some are considerably stronger than others
  • Teachers' usually view their PLC as stronger than does the coach
  • Many of the PLCs have established common agreements and assessments and abide by norms when meeting collaboratively
  • Teacher-Leaders are being developed within each of the PLCs
  • For some new teachers (in districts with large turn-over) the PLC offers an appreciated "life-line" into a new or first teaching environment. (see chart, below)

Cluster # Level Course title N teachers in PLC reporting Overall Rating Coach Overall Rating Teacher
1 MS whole MS 4 4.7 4.2
2 HS Alg 1A/1B 5 4.0 4.4
1 HS Alg1B 3 3.7 3.6
3 MS whole MS 5 3.4 3.5
1 HS Alg1A 2 3.3 3.3
1 HS Alg2/Geom 5 3.3 3.3
4 HS Geometry 7 3.2 3.1
3 HS Alg1B 1 3.1 3.4
3 MS whole MS 3 3.0 3.4
2 HS Geometry 7 3.0 3.2
1 MS whole MS 4 2.9 3.8
2 MS whole MS 7 2.7 3.9
3 HS Geometry 6 2.5 3.7
3 HS Alg1A 2 2.5 3.4
4 HS Alg1A 5 2.4 3.0
2 HS Alg2 2 2.2 4.1
4 MS whole MS 3 2.1 2.5
3 HS Alg2 2 1.5 3.2
4 MS whole MS 6 1.3 2.9

Key for PLC development 3.5-5=PLC 1.7-3.4=on the way 0-1.6=not a PLC

Classroom observation data and correlation with test data is currently being analyzed as part of summative project evaluation. At this point we note some broad differences in the CAHSEE results of the schools involved with the strongest PLCs.