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JULY 2022
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“We want to change the trajectory of our students” Dr. Trani discusses PLC Mondays BY KATIE STAVICK FRONTIERSMAN.COM
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s a new school year approaches, parents, students, and teachers in select schools will notice a change in the schedule as the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District is gearing up to roll out a new alternative start time known as “PLC Mondays.” Teaching has become more complex over the past 30 years, with more demands placed on teachers, with demands for increased student performance, larger classrooms, and more demand for accountability. This requires educators to continually gain and reinforce the knowledge and skills in their teaching toolbox. With that in mind, MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani is introducing PLC Mondays to select schools this upcoming school year. “We are a good district, a great district, in the state, but we are lower as a state in performing in reading and math,” said Dr. Trani, acknowledging that many parents and community members want to see student knowledge and performance increase. The idea of a PLC-Professional Learning Communities-is a collaborative group of educators who share ideas to enhance their teaching practice and create a learning environment where all students can reach their fullest potential. Most PLCs operate within a school building or across a district and can be organized by grade level, content area or an entire teaching staff. Currently, the district plans several Teacher Professional Days throughout the school year and schools typically close for the day. With PLC Mondays, the plan is to allow instructional staff the time to examine student work, develop common assessment and collaborate on instructional strategies as a way to improve academic achievement and prepare students to be more ready to enter into a career, vocational training, or college. PLCs are not new; many schools and school districts in the lower 48 have implemented such programs as a means to share best practices, brainstorm, and enhance teacher reflection as to what is and is not working in the classroom. “We want to change the trajectory of our students, and that means changing the old schedule. If we want to change, then we need to change how we really teach someone,” says Dr. Trani. He believes that regularly schedule meetings that the PLC model offers will be better for teachers and students, rather than having 1 professional development day every quarter and trying to revisit that information later down the road. “The idea is that this will become routine versus having random Professional Days and having to take the day off,” says Dr. Trani. He is hopeful that PLC Mondays will strengthen the team of
teachers and directly impact teaching and learning. The PLC Mondays schedule will be implemented during Monday mornings, with Middle Schools and High Schools starting at 8:45 am and releasing at 2:15 pm. Elementary Schools will start at 10:15 am and release at 3:45 pm.
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We want to change the trajectory of our students, and that means changing the old schedule. If we want to change, then we need to change how we really teach someone...
” “With the High Schools and Middle Schools, there won’t be a loss in teaching time, and in fact there will be an increase in teaching time for the most vulnerable,” Dr. Trani explains, and acknowledges a 45 minute change for the elementary students. When asked why a late start versus an early release day, it was determined the late start days would have fewer scheduling conflicts with extracurricular, co-curricular and athletic activities. Since so many of students are involved in after-school activities such as sports, music, or clubs, and since many teachers are either the coach or sponsors of these activities, many of the teachers would not be available for the PLC meetings. “We reached out to daycares and community groups, and let them know about the change so they can plan and be accommodating the time change,
and they have been supportive of the change,” says Jillian Morrissey, Chief Communications Officer for MSBSD. “The change was partly driven by parents and the community who wanted a bigger return on their investments,” said Dr. Trani about the catalyst for implementing PLC Mondays. “MSBSD is a good place for students
to learn, one of the best in the state but, we are striving to make it even better! We want to make our district one of the standout districts in the nation.” For a list of schools involved in PLC Mondays, and for more information about PLC Mondays, visit matsuk12. us/plcmondays
