Driven by Teachers, Focused on Scholars: Our PLC Journey at Paden Elementary School
At Paden Elementary, home of the Pelicans, our Professional Learning Community (PLC) work is not something done to teachers—it is driven by teacher leaders. This year, our PLC team has taken the lead in shaping and facilitating the work, with representation across all grade levels, kindergarten through fifth grade. As principal, I intentionally stepped back to serve as a thought partner—checking for understanding, ensuring coherence, and cultivating the conditions needed to move the work forward. Most importantly, I want to explicitly recognize that the momentum, direction, and impact of this work are a direct result of our teachers’ leadership.
From the outset, our work has been grounded in a clear sense of purpose. We intentionally aligned our PLC focus with both district priorities and our School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), with a specific emphasis on our focal scholars. We define focal scholars as students who present unique learning needs, demonstrate particular strengths, or require more individualized attention. This alignment ensured that our efforts were not isolated or fragmented, but instead relevant, cohesive, and impactful for our students. Our collective goal was clear: to engage in work that strengthens instructional practice and leads to improved student outcomes.
At the start of the year, our PLC efforts centered on English Language Arts and mathematics. Recognizing the breadth of these content areas, we provided teachers with the opportunity to self-select into pathways aligned to both their professional growth goals and the needs of their focal scholars. This sense of agency was critical—adult learners thrive when they have choice and ownership. As a result, PLC leaders guided distinct pathways, fostering both depth and innovation across teams.
Our PLC structure was intentionally designed to support both horizontal and vertical alignment. Each month, teachers participated in two PLC meetings: one with colleagues teaching the grade level below and another with colleagues from the grade level above. These vertical conversations proved especially powerful, as they helped educators better understand where their students were coming from and where they were headed—ultimately strengthening coherence across our instructional system.
Throughout this work, we emphasized an important mindset shift: PLCs are not simply about producing products—they are about refining instructional practice. While lesson plans and assessments already exist, practice only improves when it is intentionally examined, reflected upon, and refined. This focus deepened our professional conversations and moved our work beyond compliance toward meaningful growth.
Midway through the year, we paused to reflect on our progress and analyze student data, with a particular focus on our focal scholars. During this reflection, a critical realization emerged: despite significant effort, our mathematics data was not reflecting the level of growth we had anticipated. This moment required collective ownership. Rather than continuing along separate pathways, our PLC team made a strategic decision to pivot. For the remainder of the year, we would unify around a shared focus in mathematics. While I initially felt some hesitation about moving away from our ELA goal, the team’s commitment to using data to inform instructional practice affirmed that this shift was not only necessary—it was a sign of collective efficacy in action.
This pivot was further strengthened by the integration of a new resource, Equip, which emphasizes the use of pre-assessment within our existing curriculum. This approach allowed us to better design instruction by first identifying which standards required the greatest attention. Rather than attempting to cover all content within limited instructional time, we became more targeted, strategic, and responsive in meeting student needs.
Beginning in January, our PLC conversations became more focused and tightly aligned. Teachers analyzed student work, reviewed benchmark data, and identified patterns. We observed that while many students demonstrated strength in procedural fluency, there were notable gaps in conceptual understanding, reasoning, and the ability to make connections. This insight sharpened our instructional focus and guided us toward teaching that extends beyond procedures to deeper mathematical thinking.
A key component of this work has been our ongoing focus on focal scholar data. Through our partnership with Lead by Learning, our team engaged in rich, high-depth conversations to define our problem of practice and, as they describe, “concretize changes” in our instruction. At the start of each staff meeting, we dedicate time to reviewing and reflecting on individual student progress. Teachers track specific students over time, documenting both data and instructional moves. This process has helped cultivate a culture of data use—not as a compliance task, but as a tool for reflection, learning, and improvement.
Looking ahead, we are building on this strong foundation. Our focus for the coming year is clear: supporting students in developing fluency in layered mathematical thinking—moving beyond basic computation to deeper application and reasoning. Our PLC leaders will continue to guide this work, supporting teams in refining instructional practices and strengthening alignment across grade levels.
Together, we have co-constructed our SPSA goals to ensure this work remains integrated and meaningful, rather than an additional initiative. We will continue to use pre-assessment data to guide instruction, prioritize essential standards, and maximize instructional time. Equally important, I will continue to create intentional spaces for collaboration—lifting up effective practices, sharing instructional “gems,” and empowering teachers to learn from and alongside one another. We are also prioritizing the documentation of effective classroom practices so that teachers can revisit, adapt, and apply them across contexts and grade levels.
Importantly, this work has reaffirmed that data is more than numbers. While dashboards and benchmark assessments provide valuable insights, they do not fully capture the story of student growth. Through report cards, observational data, and instructional reflection, we develop a more complete understanding of our learners. At Paden, we believe our students are more than a single score—they are growing in meaningful ways that deserve to be recognized and celebrated.
At its core, our PLC work is about building collective efficacy. When teachers lead, collaborate, and reflect together, meaningful change happens. And at Paden, that change is happening every day—in our classrooms, in our conversations, and most importantly, in the growth of our students.
After all, we are Pelicans—not Pelican’ts.
Tri Nguyen serves as Principal of Paden Elementary School in the Alameda Unified School District. Prior to joining Alameda, he began his administrative career in East Palo Alto and San Jose. He earned his doctorate in 2020, with a dissertation focused on how teachers build strong classroom communities in a full inclusion district. Dr. Nguyen continues to support the field of education by teaching online courses for prospective special education teachers through the Santa Clara County Office of Education.
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