The WCPSS believes that team-based collaboration is the means to continuous improvement and the achievement of the Board Goal.  A Professional Learning Team is made up of members who regularly collaborate toward continued improvement in meeting student needs. Using data, professional experience, and best practice, the team works toward realizing a shared vision for a better learning environment.  The primary emphasis of this work is on the support of learning and meeting the needs of all students.

Every school-based certified staff member should have equal access to a minimum of one hour for participation in weekly professional learning teams and to the Board-approved early release days for collaboration and job-embedded professional development. Central Services staff members should participate regularly in centrally-based learning teams.

Role Responsibilities

The Board shall:

1. Provide weekly time for schools to operate as a collaborative community of learners.
2. Approve early release days for each calendar/track.
3. Fund, within the budget process, adequate resources to support the collaborative work of learning teams and job-embedded professional development.

The Superintendent shall:

1. Implement the policy.
2. Report to the Board biannually on the implementation of the policy and the achieved results.
3. Provide data that demonstrate the fidelity of implementation and impact on student achievement.

Central Services staff shall provide the following support to school-based professional learning teams:

1. Provide guidelines and resources.
2. Recommend and provide examples of research-based strategies.
3. Provide implementation training.

The School Improvement Leadership Team shall: 

1. Work with the principal to devise a professional learning team implementation plan that includes job responsibilities for all staff members. 
2. Clearly state in the School Improvement Plan how the time will be used. (G.S. 115C-84.2)

The Principal shall:

1. Ensure that there is a minimum of 1,000 hours of instruction within the minimum of 180 instructional days. (G.S. 115C-84.2)
2. Be responsible for the implementation of professional learning teams at the school level.
3. Communicate to the school community, using a variety of media including the school website, the specific work being done, the importance of professional collaboration, and its impact on results.
4. Monitor and assess the progress of the implementation and improved results.
5. Ensure that the work hours should be no less than the workday established by the Board of Education.
6. Approve leave from Board-approved early release and professional learning team time only in extenuating circumstances.

School-based staff shall:

1.       Participate in job-embedded professional development and weekly professional learning teams.

2.       Work in collaborative teams to:

a.       Build shared knowledge regarding expectations for student learning.

b.       Frequently monitor each student’s learning.

c.       Identify goals that focus on student learning and require evidence of improved student learning.

d.       Share teaching strategies.

e.       Create a process for additional time and support in response to students experiencing difficulty or needing enrichment.

Central Services staff shall:

1.       Participate in regular professional learning teams.

2.       Identify goals for improvement in support of the learning environment and require evidence of improvement.

3.       Identify and share strategies.

4.       Assess the impact of the strategies and share the results.