Problem-Solving Cycle and Implementation/Bernhardt Chapter 5

Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) are not really new to the education world and have proved to be beneficial to achieving their ultimate goal of increased student achievement. When looking at the problem-solving cycle in Bernhardt’s Chapter 5, the establishing of PLC’s, as well as how they conduct business as a group is a crucial step in creating an environment that can function as an effective group.
Bernhardt talks about the importance of forming small groups that encourage everyone to participate. She also explains that for “whole-staff” change, the whole staff has to be involved. The comparison of this structuring to PLC’s can be related to Schmoker’s book Results Now and Easton’s Protocols for PLC’s. I connect the Problem-Solving cycle to PLC’s because to truly move forward and increase student achievement it needs to be a team effort, at the same time eliminating teachers from working in isolation.
In step 2 Bernhardt talks about setting ground rules for acceptable and non-acceptable behavior to create a “safe room” where everyone is heard and everyone listens. This is closely related to the protocols for conduction the PLC meetings.
The problems or issues are identified in step 3 and an overview of the data is examined. In step 4, a closer look at the data is presented, examining multiple measures to prove its validity. This is also referred to as the “brainstorming” step. Next the political realities have to be considered, such as subgroups, as well as the adversaries, like how many students have not performing at grade level over the past three years.
A good resource for the next step is Getting Results, which provides guidelines for developing an Action Plan. Prior to developing the Action Plan it is pertinent to conduct meetings to take a closer look at the data, specifically using the four categories of demographics, student learning, perceptions, and school processes. Next you are ready to analyze the data, especially the intersections of the four circles, mentioned in Chapter 1.
The implementation steps need to be ongoing and constantly evaluated, as noted in step 8, which will provide a clear picture of what needs to be improved upon, which is the next step (step 9).
In conclusion, the problem solving cycle is on-going, relies upon valid and multiple measures of data and is best achieved through a total team effort. Also, as mentioned previously, a good acronym to model is “SMART,” in reference to goals. They need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Tangible (Timely has also been used) and Realistic.