A Conceptual Framework in Specialist Understanding Communities as They Impact Strategic Organizing in Education by Queinnise Miller Wm. Kritsonis, PhD

Queinnise Miller ; William Allan Kritsonis, PhD;

Without effective strategic planning principals will be involved in crisis management (Van der Linde, 2001).; As schools engage in strategic planning, professional learning communities should be heavily depended on to help districts move from infancy to maturity in their quality of instructional and overall educational success.; By using the Ways of Knowing Through the Realms of Meaning (Kritsonis, 2003) as a guide for professional learning communities this will increase the success of professional learning communities and their impact on strategic planning.;

The purpose of this article is to explore professional learning communities while taking a look at how they impact school improvement and their place in strategic planning in education.; This article will address how the Ways of Knowing Through the Realms of Meaning (Kritsonis, 2003) is implemented in the core of professional learning communities.; By utilizing the six realms in professional learning communities, leaders and teachers will be able to achieve the highest excellence possible in educational achievement.

Professional Learning Communities

“Learning” suggests ongoing action and perpetual curiosity….. Within professional learning communities, leaders have incorporated professional development by asking teachers to discuss and share differing classroom applications.

;From those interactions, teachers are enhancing their professional knowledge in a more informal approach to professional development.; True professional learning communities follow different protocols to evoke dialogue between team members.; In some professional development settings, teachers are asked to read books or educational articles as a catalyst to encourage reflection, inquiry, and sharing.

There are cascades of strategies, theories, district initiatives, and many other ideas to improve student learning.; Teacher collaboration is hailed as one of the most effective ways to improve student learning (Honawar, 2008).; This can be debatable like most issues.; According to Thomas, Gregg, and Niska (2004), many K-12 school are working to become; professional learning communities in the hope that student learning will improve when adults commit themselves to talking collaboratively about teaching and learning and then take action that will improve student learning and achievement.; Other leaders in the field such as Mike Schmoker (2004) believe that “…the most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is building the capacity of school personnel to function as a professional learning community” (pg. 424).;

;In the nearby but less advantaged Chicago Public Schools, those with strong professional learning communities were four times more likely to be improving academically than schools with weaker professional communities.

;The Role Professional Learning Communities Have in Strategic Planning

Implementing “Symbolics” in Professional Learning Communities

The Implementation of “Empirics” in Professional Learning Communities

(Kritsonis, 2007, p. 12)

The Implementation of “Esthetics” in Professional Learning Communities

The Implementation of “Synnoetics” in Professional Learning Communities

Ongoing ;professional learning ;simply must ;be integral to their work (Wood, 2007).; Educators are charged with not only educating students academically, yet also, helping them gain self knowledge and guide them in how to use both their academic knowledge as well as their self knowledge.; One goal of professional learning communities is to help teachers also gain knowledge of teaching practices as well as a personal knowledge about who they are and the roles they play as educators in a school.; While professional developments are great avenues for this task, most time smaller professional learning communities can be more effective.; Kritsonis (2007) posits that personal knowledge is not always developed though formal instruction.;

The Implementation of “Ethics” in Professional Learning Communities

;The Implementation of “Synoptics” in Professional Learning Communities

Synoptics refers “to meanings that are comprehensively integrative” (Kritsonis, 2007, p. 13).; Synoptics covers the realms of “history, philosophy, and religion” (Kritsonis, 2007, p. 13).; Professional learning communities implement this realm of meaning with its integrative characteristics of guiding, teaching, and learning as educators.;

Leadership, 38(3), 8-10. What Is a Professional Learning Community? Educational Leadership, 61(6), 6. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from MAS Ultra – School Edition database.

Professional learning communities. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from MasterFILE Premier database.

Kritsonis, W. (2007). Making strategic planning work. Professional learning communities, leadership, and student learning. Education, 121(3), 535. Professional learning communities: Teachers, knowledge, and knowing.

by SMF the kids powered