Professional Learning Communities:
A Model for Ontario Schools
The ultimate goal of a professional learning community (PLC) can be summed up
in three words: improved student achievement. Although the term has grown
to encompass a wide variety of concepts and practices, a professional learning
community is always a group of people who are motivated by a vision of learning and
who support one another toward that end. A PLC:
• represents a collective effort to enhance student learning
• promotes and sustains the learning of all professionals in the school
• builds knowledge through inquiry
• analyses and uses data for reflection and improvement
(Bolam et al., 2005)