Is my district a Learning Organization? I feel most definitely that my district is a Learning Organization. In my 18 years as an educator, I have found my current district to be the absolute best district that I have ever had the pleasure to work for and with. Now, after learning about Learning Organizations (Peter Senge), I know why.

Systems Thinking:  I have worked in districts where we resembled the blind men in the poem examining the elephant. Everyone was “on a different page,” and often times, not even in the same book! But the district I am in now, we have adopted the PLC (Professional Learning Communities) idea, and we regularly meet to discuss our “system.” We focus on where our goals are similar and where they differ. We make plans to reach goals and work to find likenesses in the different disciplines. Our focus is on student learning and how we know that they have learned.

Personal Mastery: Personally, I can speak to this one with some authority. The entire reason I am pursuing my Masters degree at this time in my professional career is due to the encouragement of my district to do so. Our district has a curriculum and professional development department that continually provide training and teaching in all of the educational disciplines. Professional development with our local Region Service Center is encouraged and supported. My own team of the Department of Special Education continually develops professional development relevant to the work we do and seeks to link special education to general education. There is a definite support of “team member frailties.”

Mental Models: We have a wonderful leader in our head principal. He is continuously seeks ways to improve what we are doing and does not let the status quo become the norm. He reads and provides summaries of his readings through emails that support the vision of our high school. He meets with all departments, and if necessary, those “vets” who are struggling with changing the status quo. He has developed the team of department chairs as leaders in the various disciplines as planners and co-creators of new initiatives. He uses data from his learning/reading and from the various department chairs to develop new programs/improvements. Fidelity of data drives all that we do.

Shared Vision: Our district definitely has a shared vision. This can be seen kindergarten through twelfth grade, from administration and the school board, and across the disciplines. Each campus improvement plan is aligned with the others, with administration and with the board. We see our schools in a line of continuum and work to develop those lines through sharing and PLC meetings across disciplines and grade levels.

Team Learning: As mentioned earlier, our district has focused team learning into the concept of the PLC (Professional Learning Community). Our leaders are continuously working to find ways of holding meetings in ways that better suit all team members, such as common planning periods, early release days (students leave early, teachers stay for entire day and meet in teams). There are very few early morning or after school meetings. Effort is made to ensure that meetings are held to accomplish tasks or agendas and are NOT held just for the sake of meetings. In our own department (special education), we hold regular “electronic department meetings” through our email system.