PLC

DuFour

Foundation of PLCBased on Four Pillars

Mission Vision Values Goal

What? Must we

become to accomplish our purpose

How?Must we

behave to achieve

our vision

How? Will we mark our

progress

Why?Do we

exist

Clarifies Priorities

and Sharpens

Focus

Gives Direction

Guides Behavior

Establishes Priorities

A PLC is not…• A program• A meeting• A book study• A workshop• An add- 0n• About working harder at what we’ve always done

Building Capacity for a PLC• Four Interconnected

Factors:

◦New Structures

◦Improved Communication

◦Enhanced Teacher Learning

◦Collective Ownership and Intelligence

Ben

efi

t s

tud

en

t le

arn

ing

The 3 Big Ideas

students

resultscollaboration

Big Idea Number One

The fundamental purpose of our school is to ensure that all students learn at high levels.

Big Idea Number One

A Shift in Fundamental Purpose

From a focus on teaching…

From emphasis on what was taught…

From coverage of content…

From providing individual teachers with curriculum documents such as standards and curriculum guides…

…to a focus on learning

…to a fixation on what students learned

…to demonstration of proficiency

…to engaging collaborative teams in building shared knowledge regarding essential curriculum

4 Critical Questions PLC groups should think about

What do students need to know and be able to do?

• Essential outcomes• Teacher knowledge

How will we know if students are learning ?

• Common formative assessments

◦Summative assessments: an event after the learning (chapter tests, state assessments, NWEA test scores)

◦Formative assessments: a process during learning; descriptive feedback used to support growth and instruction

• Monitoring of student growth

How will we respond when students don’t learn? School-wide systematic response

• Failure Prevention

• Math tutor lab

• Wednesday Late in support 8:00 to 9:00

• Bronc Café

To Be Determined in teams: Using Seven I’s..

Video

Big Idea Number Three

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 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 variables

…to intervention

…to direct (that is, required) support occurring during the school day

…to multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning

How will we respond when they already know it?

• Pre-assessment• Differentiation• Engaging and rigorous instruction

Big Idea Number Two

If we are to help all students learn, we must work collaboratively to meet the needs of each student

Big Idea Number Two

A Shift in the Work of TeachersFrom 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…

From individual teachers attempting to discover 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 an assumption that “these are my kids, those are your kids”…

…to a focus on learning

…to collaborative teams building shared knowledge and understanding about essential learning

…to collaborative teams establishing the priority of respective learning standards

…to collaborative teams of teachers agreeing on common pacing

…to collaborative teams of teachers helping each other improve

…to open sharing of practice

…to decisions made collectively by building shared knowledge of best practices

…to collaboration explicitly focused on issues and questions that most impact student achievement

…to an assumption that these are “Our Kids”

Big Idea Number Three

We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions

Individuals, PLCs, and schools seek relevant data and information and use that information to

promote continuous improvement.

Working as effective PLC teams

Seven Keys to Effective PLC Teams

1. Embed collaboration in routine practices of the school with a FOCUS ON LEARNING

2. Schedule regular time to meet

3. Focus teams on critical questions

4. Make products of collaboration explicit

5. Establish team norms to guide collaboration

6. Pursue specific and measurable(SMART)goals

7. Provide teams with frequent access to relevant inform

~ Richard DuFour

What is a Norm?• Concern how team members will interact, communicate,

and conduct themselves

• Express intentions: they help team members agree on how they’d like to get along before situations emerge that might otherwise prevent them from getting along

• Provide context for discussing grievances about team behavior, thereby preventing tensions from mounting and frustrations from festering

• A norm setting gives team members an opportunity to express what’s important to them and to learn what’s important to their teammates

ONE THING IS CLEAR:

• having norms gives teams a huge advantage

• a key to effective teams is involving all members in establishing norms and then holding everyone accountable to what they have agreed upon

Our Admin Team’s Collective Commitments

• In order to make our team meetings positive and productive experiences for all members, we make the following collective commitments to each other:

◦ Begin and end our meetings on time and stay fully engaged during each meeting ( no sidebars or cell phones)

◦ Maintain a positive attitude at team meetings—no complaining unless we offer a better alternative

◦ Listen respectfully to each other

◦ Conduct is professional, but debating is encouraged

• In your PLC teams create your team norms…

Goals

• * Stretch Goal – goal so ambitious that it can not be achieved unless practices change significantly

• *Attainable Goals-(Smart) can be achieved in the short term

How and Why of Formative Assessment

• Frequent

• High-quality

• Intended to inform teachers regarding the effectiveness of their practices

• Results used to Guide student growth and improvement

• Don’t need to reinvent the wheel

• May look different in each discipline

Turn to your partner and answer the following question

1. How do you know how many days are in each month?

The point is you all learned your technique from someone different, but you all know how to solve the problem.

That is formative assessment…

Administrators commitment to you

• We will set clear work expectations to help guide you

• We will support your efforts• We will attend various meetings

each week• We will listen to your concerns• We will get you what you need to do

your work as soon as we can• We will have patience with the

process• We will recognize success

What we ask from you

• Be patient with the process• Keep team focus on student learning• If you need help invite us to your

meetings• Express your concerns in a constructive

manner• Keep the main thing the main thing: Getting kids exit ready• Decisions are made based on evidence• Get on the bus

How might this look at Senior High

• Projected Time-line•