December 18, 2025

Teachers from Hughson schools first attended Solution Tree’s Professional Learning Communities (PLC) Institute in 2023, with a group of approximately 15 teachers. This year, in addition to the PLC Institute held in Pasadena from November 12-14, a group of principals, a school psychologist, and intervention specialists attended the Response to Intervention, or RTI, Institute for the first time. The RTI Institute was held in Sacramento from November 5 to 7.

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What are PLC and RTI?

PLC and RTI are two systems that the Hughson Unified School District is implementing across its schools to improve student outcomes. Traditionally, in a classroom, a teacher presents information, provides in-class support, and tests students on the material. One perspective holds that the responsibility for mastering the material rests with the student. The student must seek creative ways to learn it if the student’s learning style or needs do not match how the teacher presented it.

From the teacher’s perspective in this scenario, the mindset might be “I taught it, so they should learn it,” Assistant Superintendent Carrie Duckart explained.

PLC seeks to change that.

Imagine another scenario. The teacher presents the material, provides support for students to learn it, and tests them, perhaps using standardized assessments called “common formative assessments” to ensure consistent measurement across students. The work does not end with the test. Teachers then use the assessment data to meet with other teachers, either by department or by grade level, to discuss what the data shows. In collaborative groups, experienced teachers can share their hard-earned knowledge and techniques; new teachers can share the latest ideas and innovations. “Everyone has strengths and weaknesses in other areas; this allows teachers to rely on each other's strengths,” Duckart said.

Everyone wins.

Welcome to the work behind the late start on Wednesday mornings. This time is set aside for Hughson’s teachers to review the data, discuss, and collaborate in accordance with the agendas set by their site principal. Instead of stopping with students who did not learn it, these discussions help teachers seek understanding as to why the students did not learn it.

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Conferences present new opportunities for teachers to learn

Over three intensive days, the PLC Institute provided teachers with opportunities to learn from a variety of experts in the field, helping them build more effective learning communities, collaborate more, and analyze data more effectively.

Each school site in Hughson has a Guiding Coalition of teachers to support this effort. As many as possible from that coalition attended the first conference in 2023. At the schools, these teams work together to apply the knowledge and skills gained from the conference to reinforce existing structures and implement new strategies within the multi-tiered intervention system in place at Hughson’s schools.

The teachers collaborate and support each other so that no teacher is an island. But what happens to that student who does not master the material? This is where RTI comes in.

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PLC and RTI go hand in hand.

RTI is the real-life application, and in Hughson schools, it is intervention time. For those students who met the standards on the common formative assessments, this time can be used for enrichment. For those who have shown more learning is necessary, the school site is ready to offer opportunities for students to receive additional help from the teacher, paraprofessional, and iReady at elementary schools, or through the specific subjects each day in secondary school.

RTI is a system of time and opportunities that the schools create to help students learn the material. Students receive “the right help at the right time, whether they need additional practice or advanced enrichment. No student ‘falls through the cracks.’ This is why we provide embedded intervention at each grade span. In elementary, it is called Universal Access Time, and at Ross and Hughson High School, it's Pack Time,” Duckart said.

The intervention takes time during school hours, reducing the barriers created by the cost of private tutoring, transportation issues, or scheduling conflicts with extracurricular activities.

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At the PLC and RTI Institutes, teachers learn new skills and are energized to put them into practice 

“The conference challenged us to reflect deeply on our policies, procedures, practices, and mindsets so that they align with our mission that all students learn at grade level or higher,” La Rosa said.

At the RTI Institute, La Rosa said that keynote speakers focused heavily on school culture and the idea that leadership exists in every role. “We are all leaders, no matter our position, because leadership is not a title—it’s an opportunity to collectively share beliefs, collaborate, and work together to help students succeed.”

Going as a team helps energize staff on this project and validates the work they do, Duckart said.

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Bringing it home

The changes for Hughson school sites have been apparent, La Rosa explained. “When I look at the Ross campus specifically, we are not the same school we were in 2023 when we first traveled to Pasadena to learn about the PLC approach,” she said. “I am very passionate about this work because it works!”