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(Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell) Phoenix-Talent educators hope their daily discussions grow into Professional Learning Communities The concept is sweeping the nation By Paris Achen Mail Tribune During the daily gatherings in the teachers' lounge at Phoenix High School, teachers vent their frustrations and sometimes seek advice from one another. Officials with the Phoenix-Talent School District hope to harness the idea of that daily informal encounter between teachers to establish structured regular meetings between groups of instructors aimed at tracking data on pupils' performance and sharing instructional strategies to enhance student achievement. Known as Professional Learning Communities, the concept is sweeping the nation via conferences, workshops and word-of-mouth. The practice involves a group of teachers coming up with a common assessment or task for students to perform, comparing the pupils' performance and sharing techniques each teacher used to arrive at that respective outcome. The groups could target a particular subject, grade or student group. "Professional Learning Communities are not new or ground-breaking," said Samantha Steele, education director at the Central Point School District. "They are taking what teachers already know — best practices — and focusing and disseminating that through collaboration." Advertisement Some Jackson County public schools, including Phoenix-Talent, Central Point and Medford schools, are also latching onto the approach. Completing a four-day workshop Tuesday by the nonprofit HOPE Foundation — one of the groups fostering the concept in North America — 22 Phoenix High and Talent Middle School teachers are preparing to establish learning communities at their respective schools, targeting students speaking limited English. The failure of limited English students on standardized state tests — a measure of the pupils' learning — has meant both schools have fallen short in meeting federal academic and attendance standards required by the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act. "If a teacher has really good attendance, my question to that teacher is why?" said John Cornet, a social studies teacher at Phoenix High. "What are you doing to enthuse students? Maybe it's more hands-on activities, while my approach might be more lecture-oriented. Maybe it's the vocabulary being used in class. "English language learners are not only wrestling with the English language but they're also wrestling with the language of that topic, whether it's philosophy or science." North and South Medford high schools will roll out learning communities this fall after faculty received training in the approach in spring 2005. Medford School District officials hope to expand the practice to its middle schools and elementary schools as well, though some teachers already meet informally to compare notes. Central Point plans to have learning communities in place at all of its campuses by June 2007. While the concept of collaborative teaching seems simplistic, in teachers' harried lives of infinite tasks to complete and large classes to teach, it takes structure and administrative support to create and sustain learning communities, said Tim Mobley, instructional services director for the Phoenix-Talent district. Data from a common assessment that gauges progress before the annual state test are also a key component to effectiveness of learning communities, said Todd Bloomquist, curriculum director at the Medford district. "When they get the results, they can discuss how many are proficient and why did you have 80 percent proficiency, and I had 55 percent," Bloomquist said. "The teachers will actually get into the changes that take place." The hope is that fewer students will fall through the cracks, and that pupils and teachers will achieve continuous improvement, he said. "There is a saying that teachers are as good as they'll ever be by year seven," Cornet said. "Teachers' growth tends to happen early. What we're doing is bringing in a process that helps teachers continue to grow and not become stale at year seven." Reach reporter Paris Achen by calling 541-776-4459 or [email protected] . Would you like to respond to this story? If so Click Here to visit our forums. 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