Professional Learning Communities and the Gates Foundation Education Strategy - Research Paper Example

Case in Public Knowledge and Responsibility: Professional Learning Communities and the Gates Foundation Education Strategy Hord (1997, p. 6) defines professional learning communities in terms of three dimensions involved in a professional learning community. One dimension pertains to the extension of the classroom into the community and tapping community resources in the process. The second dimension involves mobilizing community personnel (this includes the parents and other human resources in the community) to enhance the school curriculum and educational techniques. Finally, the third dimension consists in the mobilization of students, teachers and administrators for mutual-reciprocity or collaboration in the learning process. In other words, to learn from each other. Adopting the perspective of Astuto et al. (1993), Hord said that there are actually three fundamental communities involved in professional learning communities: 1. the professional community of educators; 2. the communities of teachers and students (and the students with their fellow students) both within and outside the classroom; and 3. the community stakeholders. The professional learning community fundamentally refers to the first but it is also extremely important to appreciate the first within a larger system of interacting communities. In other words, the professional learning community perspective emphasizes interaction with the second and third types of communities. The goal of the professional learning community is to transform the members to become effective professionals for the benefit of students (Hord, 1997, p. 6). To do this, the professional learning community must be “communities of continuous inquiry and improvement.” In 2005, the “Solution Tree” which was formerly the United States National Education Service, affirmed the important role of parents in the professional learning community as well as those of other stakeholders (p. 16). Further, the Solution Tree (2006, p. 3-4) emphasized a strong grounding in research based on the Professional Learning Community framework to improve the delivery of education in the schools. Related to the advocacies of Professional Learning Communities, I have assessed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation advocacies with regard to US education. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation view the problem of educating youngsters as an offshoot of two or more risks factors (2005, p. 5). The risk factors include family-related conditions, societal conditions, health and nutritional deficits, and disabilities (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2005, 6-7). In Washington, the foundation estimates that two or more of the said factors affect 23 percent of children below five years old, numbering number about 109,000. Of all these factors, the foundation believes that the ones related to poverty are the most prevalent (p. 5). The Gates Foundation believes that the fundamental solution to the problem lies in increasing public investment in education (p. 5). The foundation believes that its mission is to work with others so that every child in Washington may have opportunity. How the foundation perceives its mission is also described as its strategy. The foundation believes that the key strategy to address the problem of education of youngsters lie in the promotion of collaboration. The catch, however, is that the collaboration is seen only within the framework of increasing public investments in education----consistent with how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation view the problem as a problem revolving solely on the need for financial investments. The foundation believes that the increase in public investments in education will transform childcare from low-quality custodial care that will help parents prepare their children socially, emotionally, and cognitively (p. 5). Given the foregoing, the foundation intends to use its funds for leverage with other public and private entities in Washington. Here, “leverage” means counterpart arrangements for joint investments in education: the foundation will match the funds that other institutions will invest in public education. The Bill & Melinda Gates philosophy and strategy are the ones also applied for high school education. In the Bill & Melinda Gates strategy for high school, however, there is a component that speaks of “empowerment of teachers” but the said empowerment is limited to facilitating the acquisition of tenure for “excellent” teachers (2009, p. 5). Although the initiatives of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are worth commending, their framework for educational reform mirrors a highly limited view of educational reform. Educational reforms are seen to result only from investments and not from the political empowerment of the teaching professionals. In contrast, advocates of the professional learning communities including myself, believes that although investments are important, the empowerment of the professionals to upgrade their capabilities is very important as well. The media continually shapes our understanding of what education reforms and other reforms consist in. Big business, through their advertising shapes the media and their perspective of issues. Big business think in terms of investments and this perspective is propagated directly and indirectly through the news and show content of the media that big business finance. Media men may be following good ethics but the long-term financing of media programs are contingent on whether the point of view of the media programs or media organizations are consistent with the views of its advertisers coming from big business. Thus, essentially, this put into question whether media is really behaving in an ethical way. In the case of the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, the vast resources in their control will likely shape how educational reforms are understood by educators and by the public at large. The effect will not only be in Washington but in the entire United States and internationally because the foundation is a large source of funds globally. The foundation will be matching the funds of government and other institutions so long as their programs are consistent with the foundation’s perspective. Unavoidability, this will affect the extent of public knowledge on what constitutes educational reforms and influence the public’s notion of their responsibility to education. Educational reforms will be seen in terms of investments and not in terms of both investment and empowerment of the educators to collaborate with each other to promote student achievement. Investments are important but the more important factor for educational reforms is an empowered professional learning community that has realized the following attributes because of mutual reciprocity among members: supported and shared leadership, collective creativity, shared values and vision, supportive conditions, and shared personal practice (Hord, 1997, p. 14-25). All these are the attributes of a Professional Learning Community. Bibliography Astuto,T.A., Clark, D.L., Read, A-M., McGree, K. & Fernandez, L.deK.P. (1993). Challenges to dominant assumptions controlling educational reform. Andover, MA: Regional Laboratory for the Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2005). Investing in children: An early learning strategy for Washington State. Washington: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2009). College Ready. Washington: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Hord, S. (1997). Professional Learning Communities: Communities of Continuous Inquiry and Improvement. Texas: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Solution Tree (formerly National Educational Service). (2005). Study guide for the “Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement”. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree (formerly National Education Service). Read More