Key Characteristics of Teacher Learning Communities

Organizing time. TLCs need sufficient chunks of time in which to work and sufficient longevity as a group over time. Generally, TLCs function over relatively long periods–at least an academic year–and often on an ongoing basis wherein group membership is basically stable although membership changes from time to time. In TLCs that include both experienced and prospective teachers, as is the case in some projects that combine pre­service teacher education with ongoing professional development, the experienced educators may be members of the community over time, while the prospective teachers may change with every program cycle or cohort. When members of a community make a commitment to work over time, there is the potential for ideas to develop, trust to build in the group, and participants to feel comfortable raising sensitive issues. Over time, many communities that support teacher learning develop their own histories and, in a certain sense, their own culture–a common discourse, shared experiences that function as touchstones, and a set of procedures that provide structure and form for continued experience.

Structuring talk and texts. Second, TLCs have particular ways of using language in their work together–both oral conversations and written texts. In communities that support teacher learning, groups develop ways of describing, discussing, debating, reflecting on, writing about, and reading about teaching, learning, and schooling. In some TLCs, groups engage in joint construction of knowledge through conversation by making their tacit knowledge more visible, questioning assumptions about common practice, and examining together school and classroom data and artifacts that make possible the generation and consideration of alternative explanations and analyses. Some TLCs use very structured formats for oral inquiries into teaching, such as reflections on practice or descriptive reviews of students described by Patricia Carini of the Prospect School. Other communities do not use formal conversation formats, but they do talk in distinctive ways about teaching and learning. In communities that support teacher learning, all talk does not contribute directly to the joint construction of knowledge about teaching and schooling. Rather, teachers also swap classroom stories, share specific ideas, seek one another's advice, and trade opinions about issues and problems in their schools and larger educational arenas. In TLCs, this "small talk" has an important function–it helps to create and sustain the interpersonal relationships necessary for the larger project or purpose of the community.
 In addition, many TLCs use a wide range of texts in their work together, not all of which are published or widely disseminated. Teacher learning in communities is a fundamentally social and constructive activity that depends on the collective and cumulative power of the community to disseminate ideas, stimulate discussion, and widen the oral and written discourse about schools and schooling.

 Shared purpose. Finally, although the specific purposes of various TLCs can be quite different from one another, most TLCs are organized around a common purpose or goal. Almost always, a fundamental goal of TLCs is some kind of improvement or change in professional practice, school culture, community partnerships, or school routines and procedures, in order–ultimately–to enhance students' learning opportunities and increase their life chances. How this task is understood, however–that is, what it means to enhance students' learning and what it takes to increase life chances– varies enormously. Some TLCs focus on the improvement of curriculum and teaching in a particular subject matter or disciplinary area, such as writing, mathematics, or science. Others focus on a broad­based educational agenda such as restructuring or reinventing urban schools, or incorporating the ideals of progressive education across curriculum, assessment, and teaching. Some TLCs are more specifically focused, such as those intended to improve the conditions and outcomes of teaching and learning in particular local schools with a population that has been traditionally under­served by the mainstream educational system.