Do Administrators "Get" the PLC Concept?

Bill, a teacher leader in a school with a high-functioning professional learning community, posted this query in the TLN daily discussion group:

Recently I was asked to speak to a school about the implementation of professional learning communities. During the course of my day, I learned that the principal of the school had very little understanding of learning communities, had done very little reading on how PLCs develop or the core elements of successful schoolwide teacher collaboration. In fact, he had worked tirelessly to micromanage the process for his teams and teachers.

Each time I tried to open conversation with him about the weaknesses that I saw in this approach to team development, he gave excuses or changed the conversation. I got the very real feeling that he believed PLCs required change on the part of teachers but didn't recognize or accept responsibility for change in other parts of the organization of his school.

I've picked up on this same attitude time and again in conversations with administrators. Rather than working to restructure the entire school to function differently, principals ask teachers to work in new ways but make little change in "the way things are done around here" beyond the level of the classroom.

Does anyone else have similar experiences? Has anyone else seen PLC implementation go badly because administration had little understanding of the process of organizational change?

Do you think PLCs can be successfully implemented in the majority of schools without significant training and investment in the knowledge and skills that building level leaders bring to the school change process?

Marsha, a teacher in the Midwest who returned to classroom teaching after several years as a school-based and district-based staff developer, wrote in reply:

As teachers we are stretched for many reasons. We may not be philosophically ready to accept the challenges that come with new ideas and the behavioral changes that must accompany new ways of doing things. We may also be stretched because we are not equipped with enough tools and know-how to be effective members of school improvement teams.

Building administrators face these challenges along with us, and also suffer from the pressures from their bosses. I'd imagine that the building administrators feel like they're getting squeezed by unrelenting demands from both ends. District administrators (and this is a huge generality to which I am sure there are many exceptions) are most insulated from the realities of implementing a reform movement like PLCs. They don't suffer alongside the folks who are trying to make the changes, and they cannot have the most accurate picture of what it takes to change. The school board probably doesn't understand why the district level administrators can't make change happen faster. I'd imagine they cannot understand why it isn't a "done deal" so we can move onto the next thing. Isn't that the history of educational reform?

Oh, if I could just be the queen for one day a month. What would happen if the people who are so very removed from the situation actually had to slow down enough, make time in their busy, busy schedules and step away from the insanity of their jobs and come and be with us. Not some fancy training in a posh conference setting or with donuts and coffee. But right down here, with 31 kids every hour rolling in and rolling out!

What if the district level administrators had to come and sit with teachers as we tried to learn how to analyze data while we juggle the working lunch with playground and lunchroom supervision? What would happen if they were here with us once a month (without fail or excused absences for some "crisis" elsewhere). What would happen to the support we need and the changes that must accompany this revolution of philosophy? I think we'd see a lot more support.

Do administrators need more training? In most cases, I really don't think they do. I think they need a huge dose of reality. They need to be out here getting our ideas (and they are often great ideas) about the best ways to meet student needs, faculty needs and building needs. When they sit side-by-side with us, then they will come to understand what needs to happen to make high-performing schools a reality.

Until then, I think we have to be patient with them. Smile and re-explain. Advocate without being grinchy. They don't get it. They can't. They don't live it. I wish the research literature would publish more "messy" stories about when PLCs didn't work, so that the folks who get most of their information from reading will understand the consequences of decreeing change. System change isn't easy. It's messy, nonlinear and chaotic.