Professional Learning Community Certificate

The Professional Learning Community (PLC) Certificate Program consists of four graduate courses that include content in the foundational framework and history of PLCs, essential components of PLCs, research on PLCs, the role of assessments, evaluations and grading within a PLC framework, analysis of various forms of assessments, identification and evaluation of instructional practices that lead to higher student achievement, designing assessments that inform practice, examining various school cultures, and developing a plan to improve a school’s culture.

The primary objectives of the Professional Learning Community Certificate are to:

  1. Develop and increase teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the Professional Learning Communities (PLCs);
  2. Develop and increase teachers’ knowledge of and expertise with instructional strategies, including technology, to implement the Professional Learning Community outcomes effectively; and
  3. Design and evaluate assessments that inform their instruction of the Professional Learning Community outcomes.

Admission

  1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution.
  2. One of the following:
    1. An overall undergraduate grade point average of at least 2.85 on a 4.00 scale, or
    2. An average of at least 3.00 in the last half of all undergraduate work, or
    3. An average of at least 3.00 for no fewer than 12 semester credits of graduate study at another accredited graduate institution.

Curriculum

EDU 735Foundations of Professional Learning Communities3
EDU 736Assessments, Grading and Professional Learning Communities3
EDU 737Teacher Leadership: Professional Learning Communities3
EDU 738Professional Learning Community in the Content Areas3
Total Credits12