An Examination of How Teachers Make Sense of Data in Professional Learning Communities

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18.
  In Roundtable Session: Everybody Learns: Professional Learning Communities and Student Improvement

Abstract

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are being considered as opportunities for teachers to reflect on and change instruction. One recent development in how PLCs are designed is the intentional use of data to stimulate and focus teacher learning on student achievement. This study examines how teachers are making sense of data in PLCs. We operationalize one framework of collective sensemaking to examine one district that implemented PLCs to direct teacher use of data. By examining the messages, tools and formal structures leaders designed for these purposes, as well as the interactions between teachers within the groups, we offer an analysis of the processes at work within this context.

Authors

• Michelle DeVoogt Van Lare, George Mason University

• S. David Brazer, George Mason University