Creating Professional Learning Communities for Music Educators

Abstract

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are a prominent form of high-quality professional development (PD) that can provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate, share teaching strategies, reflect on teaching practices, and create mutually supportive and collegial teaching environments. PLCs hold much promise as a PD model for music educators and as an effective way to improve student learning and reduce teacher isolation. Although professional teaching organizations and scholars support PLCs and teacher collaboration, most public schools do not provide opportunities for music educators to collaborate with their colleagues. This article emphasizes the need for collaboration among music teachers and offers viable strategies for administrators and music educators to create and implement PLCs within schools and districts.