The PLC Process and the PYP

move from good to great even when it appears that things are going well? And most significantly, how can the PLC process work in concert with the IB PYP?

We have found that the PLC process, when well-developed and implemented directly, supports the PYP framework. These two are not separate processes; rather, they are completely intertwined approaches that support a school being both a High Reliability School™ (HRS™) and a highly effective and learning-progressive school. A school can become better when it integrates the PLC process into all aspects of an IB PYP school.

Studies like the one Stuart and colleagues (2018) conducted show PLCs to be effective at raising student achievement in schools around the world, but so far, there has been little examination of how the PLC process works in PYP schools. This may be because of misunderstandings about the PLC process. For example, that the PLC process can only be effective where educators expect strict, empirical outcomes, such as in schools teaching to fixed state or national standards. Certainly, when schools implement a rigid educational model with clear learning expectations, how they implement the PLC process and evaluate its effectiveness are more easily understood. Much has been written to share the research and effectiveness in this context (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many, & Mattos, 2016; DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Mattos, & Muhammad, 2021). Knowing the effectiveness of PLCs, we as educators and leaders can no longer be put off from implementing the PLC process in schools. Whatever the reason for holding back, clearly the PLC process strongly supports student growth in a wide range of schools—from public to private, urban to rural, and national to international; therefore, leaders in PYP schools should look at how to implement the PLC process in their context.

As practitioners in an international context (outside the lockstep of state or national curricula), where educators are implementing a personalized learning approach, we see the effectiveness of the PLC process outside the traditional environment of a set curriculum. At the same time, we also directly experience how educators can at first struggle to see how the PLC process works in such nontraditional contexts. The PYP is not based on a set of content-based standards, but instead focuses on a concept-driven teaching and learning framework to build up students for future success through a constructivist approach—a philosophy, as well as a collection of theories and approaches, with the foundational assumption that knowledge involves