+ professional learning communities (plc) foundations of plc’s: where do we begin? (adapted from...
TRANSCRIPT
+
Professional Learning Communities (PLC)
Foundations of PLC’s: Where do we begin?(Adapted from Professional Learning Communities at Work Designed by DuFour, DuFour and
Eaker)
+Description
This session is for campuses that are new to the Professional Learning Community process. The participants will embark upon development of systems and outline responsibilities for successful PLC’s.
+Today’s Objective
To define a PLC
To introduce the professional learning community concept, and
To show the cultural shifts that must occur when a school decides to take action to ensure that all kids learn by becoming a PLC.
+What does PLC mean? An on going- process in which educators work
collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the student they serve.
PLC’s operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous, job embedded learning for educators.
DuFour, DuFour, Eaker and Many (2010)
+
“ A professional learning community is an ethos that influences every single aspect of a school’s operation. When a school becomes a professional learning community, everything in the school looks different than it did before.” –Andy Hargreaves
+What does the research
say?
+Research SAYS…
Collegiality is also important for teachers. Collegiality can be expressed through experiencing challenging and stimulating work, creating school improvement plans, and leading curriculum development groups. The literature suggests that collegiality is directly linked to effective schools (Johnson 1986; Glatthorn and Fox 1996), where "teachers valued and participated in norms of collegiality and continuous improvement (experimentation)“ (Little 1982, 1).
+Research SAYS…
Feedback is the factor most strongly related to job satisfaction, yet teachers typically receive very little accurate and helpful feedback regarding their teaching.
+Research SAYS…
Find the time to build professional development into the life of schools.
Reorganize the school day to enable teachers to work together as well as individually, both daily and weekly, and throughout the year.
Redefine the teaching job to include blocks of extended time for teachers’ professional development.
+Sample Items for a PLC Agenda Looking at item specifications
Discussing ideas from recent trainings
Best Practices discussion
Connecting with Activity Teachers
Bending rules for student success
Giving input for the School Improvement Plan
Problem-solving safety issues
Demo Lessons
Cross-curricular planning
+Research SAYS…
Autonomy is strongly related to job satisfaction for many, but not all, satisfaction for many, but not all, teachers. Autonomy is not necessarily defined as freedom from interference in the classroom; rather, the majority of classroom; rather, the majority of teachers view autonomy as freedom to develop collegial relationships to accomplish tasks.
+Research SAYS…
Help teachers to assume responsibility for their own professional development based on an analysis of the needs of students in their own schools. In addition, teachers and administrators should collaborate to create peer assistance and review to nurture the practice of all teachers.
+ BIG IDEAS & CORE VALUES
Laying the foundation for a professional learning community.
+PLC: Big Ideas & Core ValuesEnsuring that students learn
Learning for all
A Culture of CollaborationTeamwork
Focus on ResultsData-Driven Decisions
+What schools believe…
The Charles Darwin School: “We believe all kids can learn…based on their ability.”
The Pontius Pilate School: “We believe all kids can learn… if they take advantage of the opportunity we give them to learn.”
The Chicago Cub Fan School: “We believe all kids can learn...something, and we will help all students experience academic growth in a warm and nurturing environment.”
Henry Higgins School: “We believe all kids can learn …and we will work to help all students achieve high standards of learning.”
+The PLC Big Ideas #1
LEARNING FOR ALL
+The PLC Big Ideas #1Learning for All
We accept learning as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning.
“the fundamental purpose of the school is to ensure that all students learn rather than see to it that all students are taught—an enormous distinction.”
(from Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap-Whatever it Takes)
+Critical Questions of Learning
1. What is it that we expect them to learn?
2. How will we know when they have learned it?
3. How will we respond when they don’t learn?
4. How will we respond when they already know it?
+Formula for Learning in a PLC
Targeted Instruction + Time = Learning
Variable Variable Constant
+
The PLC Big Ideas #2
COLLABORATION
+The PLC Big Ideas #2
Collaboration- To ‘co labor’ We are committed to working together to achieve
our collective purpose. We cultivate a collaborative culture through development of high-performing teams.
A systematic process in which we work together, interdependently, to analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual and collective results.
DuFour, Dufour & Eaker
+Why Collaborate?
Gains in student achievement
Higher quality solutions to problems
Increased confidence among all staff
Teachers able to support one another’s strengths and accommodate weaknesses
Ability to test new ideas
More support for new teachers
Expanded pool of ideas, materials, and methods
Judith Warren Little (1990)
+
“Wide ranging research…shows it is impossible for even the most talented people to do competent, let alone brilliant, work in a flawed system. Yet a well-designed system filled with ordinary-but well trained-people can consistently achieve stunning performance levels”
Pfeffer and Sutton (2006)
+ Seven Keys to Collaboration in a PLC1. Embed collaboration with a FOCUS ON LEARNING in
routine practices of the school.
2. Schedule time for collaboration in the school day and school calendar.
3. Focus teams on critical questions.
4. Make products of collaboration explicit.
5. Establish team norms to guide collaboration (See next slide.)
6. Pursue specific and measurable team performance goals.
7. Provide teams with frequent access to relevant information.
+ Why Norms?When all is said and done, the norms of a
group help determine whether it functions as high-performing team or becomes simply a loose collection of people working together.
Positive norms will stick only if the group puts them into practice over and over again. Being explicit about norms raises the level of effectiveness, maximizes emotional intelligence, produces a positive experience for group members and helps to socialize newcomers into the group quickly.
+
The fact that teachers collaborate will do nothing to improve a school. The pertinent question is not, “Are they collaborating?” but rather, “What are they collaborating about?”
+Building a collaborative culture is means to an end, not the end itself.
The purpose of collaboration—to help more students achieve at higher levels—can only be accomplished if the professionals engaged in collaboration are focused on the right things.
+ TIPS for Team Norms Each team establishes its own norms. (Provide a
template for writing norms)
Norms are stated as commitments to act or behave in certain ways.
Norms are reviewed at the beginning and end of each meeting until they are internalized.
One norm requires team to assess its effectiveness every six months. This assessment should include review of adherence to norms and the need to identify new norms.
Less is more. A few key norms are better than a laundry list.
Violations of norms must be addressed.
+Types of Teams Horizontal teams: Teachers who teach the same course or
grade level
Vertical teams: Teachers who teach the same content over different grade levels (perhaps including teachers in a feeder pattern)
Logical links: Teachers who are pursuing the same learning outcomes (including teachers in Special Education or specialist subjects such as music, art, PE and so on)
Electronic teams: Teachers who seek connection with colleagues across the district, state or world
(Learning by Doing, DuFour, DuFour, Eaker & Many, 2006, pp. 93-95)
+The Big Ideas of PLC #3
RESULTS
+ The Big Ideas of PLC #3
ResultsWe assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions.
Individuals, teams, and schools seek relevant data and information and use that information to promote continuous improvement.
+S.M.A.R.T. GOALS
Strategic and Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Results-Oriented
Time-Bound
+Types of Assessment Common Assessment: An assessment created
collaboratively by a team of teachers responsible for the same grade level or course and administered to all students in that grade level or course.
Formative Assessment: An assessment used to advance and not merely grade learning. A formative assessment is an assessment FOR learning (that is, used as part of the teaching and learning process) as opposed to a summative assessment, and assessment OF learning (used to determine if the student achieved the intended outcome by the deadline).
+Common formative assessments are used frequently throughout the year to identify:
Individual students who need additional time and support for learning
The teaching strategies most effective in helping students acquire the intended knowledge and skills
Program concerns—areas in which students generally are having difficulty in achieving the intended standard
Improvement goals for individual teachers and the team
(adapted from Learning by Doing, DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2006, pp. 214-215)
How Should We Determine what is the right work?
Best available evidence of positive impact on student learning
Keys to Formative Assessment
It is used to identify students who are experiencing difficulty in their learning?
Are students who are having difficulty provided with an additional time and support for learning?
Are students given an additional opportunity to demonstrate their learning?
+If We Implemented What We Know to be Best Practice
Common Curriculum -Learn What? Teachers must come together to agree on the “Learn What”
Common Pacing -Implementing the Common Curriculum collaboratively
Common Assessment -Formative Assessments designed around the common curriculum to monitor student learning
+WHAT IS A PLC?
A PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNNITY DEFINED
+Definition
Groups are considered professional learning communities if they:
identify new programs or topics to investigate
gather research and studies on new approaches
share their findings or implement and study the effects of new practices and
share these results with other faculty in the school.
+Characteristics of a Professional Learning Community
Shared mission, vision, values, goals
Collaborative teams
Collective inquiry into “best practices” and our “current reality”
Action orientation/experimentation
Commitment to continuous improvement
Results orientated
+ Partner A – Reads #1, 2, 3Partner B – Reads #4, 5, 6
Highlight or underline the key ideas for your assigned characteristics.
40
Share the key ideas from your section with a partner.
+ 1. Shared Mission, Vision, and Values2. Collective Inquiry3. Collaborative Teams4. Action Orientation & Experimentation5. Continuous Improvement6. Results Orientation
Which essential characteristics are already in place in your school? What do they look like?
What are the obstacles to establishing PLCs?
41
+ Are PLCs an Option?
Loose vs. Tight- Effective school cultures don’t simply
encourage individuals to go off and do whatever they want, but rather establish clear parameters and priorities that enable individuals to work within established boundaries in a creative and autonomous way.
Procedures are “tight” Agreement on what is to be taught, not how
it is to be taught
+ SHIFT HAPPENS
+ Changing the Focus
Old Focus
Every student can learn
Focus on teaching
Isolation
Assessment OF learning (Summative)
Failure is an option
New Focus
Every student will learn
Focus on learning
Collaboration
Assessment FOR learning (Formative)
Failure is not and option
+ Culture Shifts in a PLCShift in Fundamental Purpose
…… From teaching to learning
Shift in Use of Assessments …… From summative to frequent
formative
Shift in the Work of Teachers …... From isolation to collaboration
Shift in Response When Students Don’t Learn
…... From remediation to intervention
+A Shift in the Response When Students Don’t Learn
From individual teachers determining the appropriate response
From fixed time and support for learning
From remediation
From invitational support outside of the school day
From one opportunity to demonstrate learning
To a systematic response that ensures support for every student
To time and support for learning as
To intervention
To directed(that is, required) support occurring during the school day
To multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning
From To
+A Shift in the Work of Teachers
From isolation
From each teacher clarifying what students must learn
From each teacher assigning priority to different learning standards
From each teacher determining the pacing of the curriculum
To collaboration
To collaborative teams building shared knowledge and understanding about essential learning
To collaborative teams establishing the priority of respective learning standards
To to collaborative teams of teachers agreeing on common pacing
From To
+A Shift in the Work of Teachers
From individual teachers attempting to discover the ways to improve results
From privatization of practice
From decisions made on the basis of individual preferences
From “collaboration lite” on matters unrelated to student achievement
From the assumption that these are “my kids, those are your kids”
To collaborative teams of teachers helping each other improve
To open sharing of practice
To decisions made collectively by building shared knowledge of best practice
To to collaboration explicitly focused on issues and questions that most impact student achievement
To an assumption that these are “our kids”
From To
+A Shift in the Use of Assessments From infrequent summative
assessments
From assessments to determine which students failed to learn by the deadline
From assessments used to reward and punish students
From assessing many things infrequently
To frequent common formative assessments
To assessments to identify students who need additional time and support
To assessments used to inform and motivate students
To assessing a few things frequently
From To
+A Shift in the Use of Assessments From individual teacher
assessments
Each teacher determining the criteria to be used in as assessing student work
From an over-reliance on one kind of assessment
From focusing on average scores
To assessments developed jointly by collaborative teams
To collaborative teams clarifying the criteria and ensuring consistency among team members when assessing student work
To monitoring each student’s proficiency in every essential skill
From To
+Harvard sociologist Henry Louis Gates contends, “Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. Sharing data is the first step toward community.”
The goal of a learning community is ultimately to make data easily accessible and openly shared among members of a team so that team members can use it to inform and improve their practice and better meet the needs of their students.
+Tips for Incorporating Celebration Into Your School Culture
Explicitly state the purpose of celebration
Make celebration everyone’s responsibility.
Establish a clear link between the recognition and the behavior or commitment you are attempting to encourage or reinforce.
Create opportunities for many winners.
(Learning by Doing, DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2006, p. 31)
+Resources www.allthingsplc.info
www.allthingsassessment.info
http://go.solution-tree.com/PLCbooks
http://quality.cr.k12.ia.us/PLC/indexPLC.html
Glatthorn, Allan A. and Linda E. Fox. 1996. Quality Teaching through Professional Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.
Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work; DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2006
Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don’t Learn; DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Karhanek, 2004
PLCsPart II
Objectives for Today
To understand how collaborative communities (PLCs) can impact teacher learning and student achievement.
To understand the role you will play in PLCs.
To shift our thinking from teaching to learning.
Professional Learning Communities
The term professional learning community describes a collegial group of administrators and school staff who are united in their commitment to student learning.
Hord (1997b) notes, “As an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen as a powerful staff development approach and a potent strategy for school change and improvement.”
Why are professional learning communities important?
They function as an effective strategy for building school capacity around core issues of teaching and learning (Darling-Hammond, 1995)
If implemented correctly, they can serve as a mechanism to transform school culture.
Characteristics of a Professional Learning Community
Shared mission, vision, values, and goals
Collaborative teams FOCUSED ON LEARNING
Collective inquiry into “best practice” and “current reality”
Action orientation/experimentation
Commitment to continuous improvement
Results oriented
Make a Shift---Power of PLCs
The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is building the capacity of school personnel to function as a professional learning community. The path to change in the classroom lies within and through professional learning communities.
All students learn
vs.
All students are taught
What do PLC’s ‘do’?
They connect teachers with information, strategies and best practices.
Teachers
Info
rmati
on
Best P
ractice
s
Strategies
What do highly effective schools do?
Focus of Collaboration
Team Learning Process
Examine SE’s/Objectives and engage in dialogue about what students should learn
Analyze data to make decisions
Clarify 8-10 essential common outcomes per semester by course/content area
Develop at least 4 common assessments to be used this year
Establish specific measurable standards of goals
Analyze results
Identify and implement improvement strategies
Build Shared Knowledge—As a Team
All need to:
CULTURAL SHIFT: CURRICULUM
TRADITIONAL
Primarily focus on teaching.
Each teacher independently decides what to teach.
Curriculum overload is common.
PLCs
Primarily focus is on learning.
Collaboratively agreed upon curriculum focuses on what students expected to learn.
Reduced content means meaningful content is taught at greater depth.
Assessment developed through collaboration.
A plan is developed for students who are not responding.
CULTURAL SHIFT: RESEARCH AND RESULTS
TRADITIONAL
Effectiveness of improvement strategies is externally validated.
Emphasis is placed on how teachers like various approaches.
PLCs
Approaches are internally validated. Try various approaches that affect student learning.
Effect of student learning is basis for assessing various improvement strategies.
WHERE DO I FIND THE TIME?
Parameters for PLCs and Time
Get Rid of Excuses and Find the Time—Parameters
Students must come to school—cannot stay home
Cannot lose instructional time
Cannot increase costs/salary
PLCs should meet at least on a regular basis—an hour at a time
PLCs should be build into the regular school schedule
Get Rid of Excuses and Find the Time—Ideas
Adjust hours within work week
Have large group activities/assemblies that are supervised by others so that can teachers can meet
Consider using faculty meeting time
Consider common planning time/parallel scheduling
Use staff development funds for substitutes
Give parameters {expectations} for reporting outcome of meeting—help them to stay on task!
Make time!
How will PLCs be organized and when will they meet?
For example, PLCs will meet on Thursdays
HIGH PERFORMING PLCs
High Performing PLCs
Willingness to consider matters from another perspective
Accurate understanding of spoken and unspoken feelings and concerns of members
Willingness to confront a team member who does not participate/contribute
Communicate positive regard, caring and respect
Willingness and ability to evaluate the team’s own effectiveness
High Performing PLCs--Continued
Seeking feedback about and evidence of team effectiveness from internal and external sources
Maintaining a positive attitude and outlook
Solving problems—be proactive
Awareness of how group contributes to the purpose and goals of the larger organization
Establishes own norms—reviews and addresses violations
LEADERSHIP AND PLCs
TRADITIONAL
Administrators viewed as leaders and teachers as followers.
Improvement efforts frequently shift as new fads or trends come along.
PLCs
Administrators are viewed as leaders of leaders. Teachers are viewed as transformational leaders.
Leader protects, promotes and defends school vision and values and confronts behavior that is incongruent with the school’s vision and values.
Professional Learning Communities
Powerful, proven structures for improved results already exist. They begin when a
group of teachers meet regularly as a team to identify essential and valued student learning, develop common
formative assessments, analyze current levels of achievement, set achievement goals, and then share and create lessons
and strategies to improve upon those levels.
Mike Schmoker, 2005
The Key to Improved Results
What’s My Role?Focus on student performance
Collaborate with colleagues during PLC time
Become students of teaching and consumers of research
Accept responsibility for implementing systems that enable all students to be successful
Examples of PLC Groups
Book Study Groups
Effective Instructional Strategies
Data Analysis
The Achievement Gap (Race and Equity in the Classroom)
Action Research
Developing Interdisciplinary Units
Cornell Note Taking
Lesson Study
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Looking at Student Work
Teacher Choice
Fundamental Questions
What is it we expect students to learn?
How will we know when they have learned it?
How will we respond when they don’t learn it?
How will we respond when they already know it?
Dufour, Dufour, Eaker
STEPS in the RTI Process
Solid core program (Tier 1)
Universal screening
Differentiated support within Tier 1
Progress monitoring of students in the core
Supplemental (Tier 2) interventions to students slightly below level
Progress monitoring of students within a supplemental intervention
continued…
STEPS in the RTI Process
Intensive interventions (Tier 3) to students well below grade level
Progress monitoring of students within an intensive intervention
Referral for formal evaluation for special education eligibility
Tier 1: Strengthening the CoreDifferentiated instruction and small-
group activities
Prioritized curriculum so students have ample opportunity to master power standards
Analysis of assessment data to help inform staff about quality of the core
Focused PD for quality teaching
Programs implemented with fidelity
Maximized instructional time
“Educators who rely on interventions alone to meet the needs of students who score below proficiency will never solve the basic problem these children face.”
Buffum, Mattos, & Weber, Pyramid Response to Intervention, 2009
Tier 2: The Supplemental LevelIntentional Nonlearners
Mandatory study hall
Mandatory homework help
Frequent progress reports
Study skills classes
Goal-setting & career planning support
Targeted rewards
Failed Learners
Targeted, differentiated instruction
Time
Prerequisite skill review to address the learning gap
Prevention (Extremely effective with ELL students)
Targeted Interventions
More targeted = more effective
Group by cause of difficulties – not by symptoms
Broad interventions don’t meet any particular need
Crucial to have an effective identification and placement system
Tier 3: The Intensive Level
Designed for students who show low content area skills and/or lack of progress over time when provided Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions
Generally last 12-18 weeks and usually serve no more than 5-10% of the student population
Small group (1-3 optimal) pullout setting
Sustained, research-based instruction that may include alternate programs.
Students not “locked in” to intervention : ongoing progress monitoring is vital
Is Your Answer “YES” to…
1. Is our response based upon intervention rather than remediation?
2. Is our response systematic?
3. Is our response timely?
4. Is our response directive?
5. Is our response targeted?
6. Is our response flexible?
Tier 1 Behavioral Interventions
Provide positive environment for all students through the use of effective classroom management along with differentiated instruction.
Adopt a school wide behavioral curriculum.
Maximize instructional time to provide predictable structures.
Train students at beginning of the year on procedures.
Model and demonstrate appropriate academic behaviors in the classroom.
Set high expectations.
Tier 2 Behavioral InterventionsMore targeted, individualized, and intensive
Provided to small groups of student on a weekly basis, often in the form of a social skills club, group counseling, mentoring programs, or an actual behavior plan
Progress monitoring can be conducted by using teacher rating scales and providing specific feedback to the student.
Tier 2 interventions must be carried out with fidelity before accurate decisions can be made.
All staff collect and analyze behavioral data.
Tier 3 Behavioral Interventions
Provided by a team rather than single expert
Focus on the specific characteristics of the student’s behavior
Focus on analysis of evidence from previous interventions and functional assessments
Goal is to decrease problematic behaviors AND help student build new replacement skills and behaviors
Leverage community agencies to assist students and families
Consider functional behavior assessments
Is Your Answer “YES” to…
1. Is our response based upon intervention rather than remediation?
2. Is our response systematic?
3. Is our response timely?
4. Is our response directive?
5. Is our response targeted?
6. Is our response flexible?
RTI Success Will be Relevant to How a School Answers…
1. How many tiers of intervention will be provided?
2. How will the school identify students who need intervention?
3. What is an adequate response to intervention?
4. What does formal special education evaluation look like?
5. What is the function of special education in the context of the entire system?
Tips for Moving Forward
1. Be aware of appeals to mindless precedent.
2. Make sure the system of intervention is fluid.
3. Systems of intervention work better when they are supporting teams rather than individual teachers.
4. Realize that no support system will compensate for bad teaching.
5. Ensure a common understanding of “system of interventions.”
SPEED Intervention Checklist
Systematic
Practical
Effective
Essential
Directive
“It is disingenuous for any school to claim its purpose is to help all students to learn at high levels and then fail to create a system of interventions to give struggling learners additional time and support for learning.”
Learning by Doing. DuFour, DuFour, Eaker , and Many
Elements of RTI in a PLC
Collective responsibility by all staff for all students
Access to a high-quality core curriculum
True differentiation in the classroom
Universal screening
Analyses of student work to evaluate overall curriculum and diagnose individual student needs
Tiers of instruction
Systematic, explicit, and research-based programs
School Culture: The FoundationAssess current realityFocus on learning – not teachingHonestly try to answer the four critical PLC
questionsEmpowered teacher teams Embedded collaboration Effective assessment to guide learningFocus on results – examine learning
Resources www.allthingsplc.info
www.allthingsassessment.info
http://go.solution-tree.com/PLCbooks
http://quality.cr.k12.ia.us/PLC/indexPLC.html
Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don’t Learn; DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Karhanek, 2004
Pyramid Response to Intervention, RTI, Professional Learning Communities, and How to Respond When Kids Don’t Learn; Buffum, Mattos, & Webster, 2009
Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work; DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2006
“Myths About Response to Intervention” National Association of State Directors of Special Education, May 2008