A Team within a Team: Relating Coaching Concepts to Professional Learning Communities in Schools

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are becoming more commonplace in K–12 education. As PLCs represent a departure from isolation toward a culture of collaboration, physical educators may be ideally situated to shape school culture. Physical educators often serve the dual roles of teaching and sport coaching in schools. Sport coaching inherently involves principle PLC components of collaborative teaming, data-driven decision-making, and results orientation. This article highlights the congruent nature of sport coaching and the educational framework of PLCs. Drawing from the PLCs at Work framework and SHAPE America's 2019 National Standards for Sport Coaches, the purpose of this article is to encourage physical educators to utilize the PLC framework with the focus of a skilled sport coaching staff.