BY THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION AND STAFF
R
ecently, Thomas Jefferson High School created
Professional Learning Communities (PLC), focused
upon increasing student achievement by implementing
a plan for continuous school improvement.
The core of the plan consists of a PLC committee
comprised of nine experienced high school teachers;
Brian McClain, Jaclyn DePaul, Leah Mizgalski, Julie
Magdic, Lauren Kaszonyi, Deneen Loughran, David
Shearouse, Kelly Scears, and Melissa Sosanko, each
of whom will chair one of nine sub-committees with
approximately eight teachers on each committee.
Every professional staff member at Thomas Jefferson
High School will be on a sub- committee and the entire
staff will engage in the PLC program.
Members of the PLC Committee meet once per
month as a committee and twice per month with
their respective sub-committees, with the task of
aligning interdisciplinary curricula, examining data
gathered from various test scores, and sharing success
from personal practices and experiences. The data
compiled during the analysis of curriculum design and
development, implementation of effective instructional
strategies, and construction and use of meaningful
assessments, will be the focus of the PLC process.
Schools with professional learning communities
have been found to have lower dropout rates, lower
rates of absenteeism, greater gains in math, reading,
and science, and a reduction in the achievement
gaps among students from different backgrounds.
Considering the new School Performance Proļ¬le (SPP)
recently implemented by the Pennsylvania Department
of Education, administrators and faculty members at
Thomas Jefferson High School want to be proactive in
embracing these changes and value the impact they
will have for improving the education of our stude