Professional Learning CommunitiesVASSP Conference Roundtable 2015

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember.I do and I understand. 

Confucius

Closing the KNOWING – DOING gap

Fundamental Purpose»As a school we need to embrace LEARNING rather than teaching as the fundamental purpose of our school

»Don’t call upon others to improve your school. Accept responsibility for doing it yourself!»Remember you express what you value by what you do - not by what you say.

What is a Professional Learning Community?

An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. DuFour

Big Ideas that Drive the Work of a PLC

1. The purpose of our school is to ensure that all students learn at a high level.

2. Helping students learn requires a collaborative and collective effort.

3. To assess our effectiveness in helping students learn we must focus on results - evidence of student learning - and use results to inform and improve our professional practice and to respond to students who need intervention or enrichment.

1. Collaborative Culture with a Focus on

Learning for ALL - PLC’s are composed of collaborative teams whose members work interdependently

2. Collective Inquiry into best practice and current reality- PLC Teams learn together to develop new skills and capabilities that lead to new experiences and awareness.- Collective Inquiry serves as a catalyst for action

3. Action Oriented: “Learning by Doing”- PLC’s recognize that unless members “do” differently, there is no reason to anticipate different results

5. Results Oriented:- PLC success is based on results, not intentions

4. Commitment to Continuous Improvement - The goal is to create conditions for perpetual learning through innovation and experimentation.4.

Four Questions that Drive PLC Work1. What is it we want our students to learn? –

Curriculum and Learning Outcomes

2. How will we know if each student has learned it? – Common Formative Assessments

3. How will we respond when some students do not learn it? – Analysis and Intervention

4. How can we extend and enrich the learning for students who have demonstrated proficiency?

The PLC Continuum1. Pre-Initiating2. Initiation3. Implementation4. Developing5. Sustaining

Where we are…..

Building the Foundation Moving Forward 1. Move quickly to action.2. Build shared knowledge.3. Use the foundation to assist in day to day decisions.4. Use the foundation to identify existing practice that

should be eliminated.5. Translate the vision of your school into a teachable

point of view.6. Write value statements as behaviors rather than

beliefs.7. Focus on yourself rather than others.8. Recognize the process is nonlinear.9. It is what you DO that matters, not what you call it.

Questions

» How are teams within PLC’s organized?» How do the Effective School Correlates fit

with PLC’s?» Who will monitor PLC discussions?» How will PLC capacity be fostered?» Why PLC’s?

Low/No Impact Impact

High Impact

Which aspects of PLCs does your school or district consistently practice?

Highly successful schools practice most PLC elements to a high degree, particularly those related to team meeting, assessments and analyzing data regularly.

THMS 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

% Pass Rate % Pass Rate % Pass Rate % Pass Rate % Pass Rate

English-Reading 78.8% 78.0% 55.0% 62.60% 72.7%

Math 77.7% 54.4% 51.4% 71.20% 76.2%

Science 85.5% 84.7% 60.8% 73% 77.3%

History 74.8% 71.7% 71.9% 74% 91.4%

English-Writing 85.7% 81.3% 61.1% 60.40% 62.1%

THMS 5 Year SOL Data Trend

Our Journey» 2 years ago – Introduced the concept of PLC’s» Teams Establish Norms» Establish Expectations» Common Agenda – Google Doc» Benchmark Data Analysis Worksheet» Book Study – Learning by Doing – DuFour» Cultural Shift» Continuous Assessment and Reflection

˃ Where do we go from here?

» Resources

Research on PLC’s

» http://www.centerforcsri.org/plc/literature.html» http://

annenberginstitute.org/pdf/proflearning.pdf» http://

www.breakthroughcollaborative.org/sites/default/files/May%202012%20PLC%20research%20brief.pdf

» http://web.stanford.edu/group/suse-crc/cgi-bin/drupal/sites/default/files/PLC-chapter-Talbert-2010.pdf

“Curricular and Assessment decisions made closest to the students have the greatest impact on student learning”

“Developing PLC’s takes time”

“Wisdoms” from our Administrative Retreat

“Beware of plans that call for study, training, discussions, or anything less than specific action to advance your school.”

DuFour