A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

High Performance Learning Communities:
A New Vision for American Schools

The term "learning community" is frequently heard in discussions of education reform. Some visionaries are struggling to create high performance learning communities in schools and school districts. Is it just another fad? Or is it an important idea with serious long-term implications for education policy and practice?

For almost a century, educators have debated the merits of two contrasting models of learning. One is teacher-centered and based on the idea that learning occurs as a result of the transmission of knowledge from the teacher to students. The other is child centered and assumes that learning is a process of the discovery of knowledge by the students. The pendulum of practice has swung back and forth over the years between these two one-sided models.

Significant Research Findings

Current learning theory offers a third alternative which is not just a compromise, but a distinctly different model. The transmission and discovery models both emphasize the aspects of learning that take place in the individual mind. More recently, researchers have shifted attention to the social nature of learning. The social settings where learning takes place, such as schools, workplaces, and families, may be referred to as learning communities.

In a learning community, learning occurs through participation as people engage in common activities. It is something that happens between people. The theory assumes that knowledge is distributed among members in any group and the work should be organized to draw upon their collective expertise. Because members may differ in their initial levels of competence from apprentice to expert, the contributions of apprentices may at first be limited or peripheral. However, the goal is for everyone to achieve full mastery by playing active and increasingly responsible roles. Optimal learning experiences happen when participants work in their zone of proximal development: a level above their performance capabilities when working alone, but within their reach when working collaboratively with more expert assistance.

Implications for Policy and Practice

When applied to classrooms, schools, and school districts, this theoretical breakthrough opens our eyes to aspects of learning we have not "seen" before. For example, the notion of a zone of proximal development challenges typical curriculum and instruction practices and reinforces the need for higher academic standards. Current practice generally aims to pitch instruction within the students' presumed level of competence. Critics say instruction, especially remedial education, is too often below the students' level. But, if learning takes place in a zone of proximal development, then learning experiences should be pitched a bit above a students' current level of competence to achieve optimal growth.

Classrooms look very different when they become learning communities. Teacher and student roles are transformed. Teachers focus less on how to prepare a lecture that transmits knowledge or how to organize materials in a way that invites discovery. Instead, greater emphasis is placed on choosing challenging activities and organizing participation to provide for everyone's growth. In classroom learning communities, teachers model or demonstrate expert performance and assist students, but students may also assist each other and the teacher. Students are active rather than passive. Information is shared in a more conversational way.

The concept of learning communities may be expanded from the classroom to other levels of the education system. Some issues that develop when schools, districts, and state agencies move to transform their own workplaces into learning communities are: How can colleagues assist each others' learning? What is the role of administrators? The notion of assisted performance suggests that administrators might view themselves as participants in chains of assistance supporting classroom practice, rather than as occupants of niches in hierarchical chains of authority. For example, principals would assist teachers to learn; and teachers would assist each other. Superintendents would assist principals to learn; and principals would assist each other; and so on.

Transforming education practice into a learning communities ideal will involve careful rethinking of all its relevant dimensions: how knowledge is defined; student and teacher roles; the nature and level of learning activities; student grouping; relationships among teachers and administrators; and how student progress is assessed.

This kind of fundamental change requires extensive learning and behavioral' change throughout the education system. Because we are still learning what this theory means for practice, our Institute is investing in further research. At left is a description of our current grants. Below is a list of references used as sources for this article that you can consult now for further information.

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[New Research Center Aims to Make Sense of Policies to Improve Teaching]