Pre-PLC Conference Workshop Series: Session 1

1. Pre-PLC Conference Workshop Series: Session 1 �Making the Case for Professional Learning Communities�

2. Schools Don�t Make a Difference Schools have little influence on a child�s achievement that is independent of the background and social content of that student. James Coleman, Equality in Educational Opportunity, 1966

3. Schools Do Make a Difference Effective Schools Research of Ron Edmonds, Larry Lezotte, Wilbur Brookover, Michael Rutter, and others included: all children can learn; and the school controls the factors to assure student mastery of the core curriculum.

4. Correlates of Effective Schools Strong Instructional Leadership Clear and Focused Mission Safe and Orderly Environment Climate of High Expectations Frequent Monitoring of Student Progress Positive Home/School Relations Opportunity to Learn & Student Time on Task

5. Schools Do Make a Difference An analysis of research conducted over a thirty-five year period demonstrates that schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student backgrounds. Robert Marzano, What Works in Schools, 2003

6. Sustained & Substantive School Improvement 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. - Milbrey McLaughlin

7. Secondary School Principals Endorse PLCs Breaking Ranks II outlines the need for current high schools to engage in the process of change that will ensure success for every student. Its first set of recommendations and tools focuses on the development of professional learning communities. � NASSP, Breaking Ranks II, 2004

8. NSDC Endorses PLCs Staff development that improves the learning of all students organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district. NSDC. Standards for Staff Development, 2001

9. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Endorse PLCs �In order to take advantage of the broad range of professional knowledge and expertise that resides within the school� Teachers are Members of Learning Communities.� -What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do: The Five Core Propositions of the National Board

10. National Commission on Teaching and  America�s Future �The commission recommends that schools be restructured to become genuine learning organizations for both students and teachers; organizations that respect learning, honor teaching, and teach for understanding.� - National Commission on Teaching and America�s Future, 1996

11. NEA KEYS Initiative:A Reflective, Data-Driven Strategy for Continuous School Improvement Shared understanding and commitment to high goals Open communication and collaborative problem-solving Continuous assessment for teaching and learning Personal and professional learning Curriculum and instruction

12. On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities  (Solution Tree, 2005) Roland Barth Rebecca DuFour Richard DuFour Robert Eaker Barbara Eason-Watkins Michael Fullan Lawrence Lezotte Douglas Reeves Mike Schmoker Dennis Sparks Rick Stiggins

13. A Powerful Guiding Principle Great organizations simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea or guiding principle. This guiding principle makes the complex simple, helps focus the attention and energy of the organization on the essentials, and becomes the frame of reference for all decisions - Jim Collins

14. What is a Professional Learning  Community? PLC Defined: Educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research in order to achieve better results for the students 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, 2006

15. We do PLC�s!

16. Death of a PLC in the Making

17. Common Understanding

18. Characteristics of a Professional Learning Community Shared Mission (Purpose), Vision (Clear Direction), Values (Collective Commitments), Goals (Targets) Collaborative teams Focused on Learning Collective inquiry into �best practice� and �current reality� Action orientation/experimentation: Learning by Doing Commitment to continuous improvement Results orientation

19.  Focus on Learning We embrace high levels of learning for all students as the reason the organization exists and fundamental responsibility of those who work within it and therefore are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning.

20. Taught vs. Learn

21. Focus on Learning

22. If the purpose of school is truly to ensure high levels of learning for all students, then schools will: Clarify what each student is expected to learn Monitor each student�s learning on a timely basis Create systems to ensure students receive additional time and support if they are not learning

23. What Happens When Kids Don�t Learn? High expectations for success will be judged not only by the initial staff beliefs and behaviors, but also by the organization�s response when some students do not learn. - Larry Lezotte, 1991

24. Whatever It Takes: How PLCs Respond When Kids Don�t Learn In the four schools studied there was no ambiguity and no hedging regarding each school�s fundamental purpose. Staff members embraced the premise that the very reason their school existed was to help all of their students � the flawed, imperfect, boys and girls who come to them each day � acquire knowledge and skills given the current resources available to them. Period! � DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Karhnek, Solution Tree, 2004

25. PLCs Create systems to ensure students receive additional time and support that are: Directive Timely Systematic

26. Assess Your School�s Response When Kids Don�t Learn Are our students assured EXTRA TIME AND SUPPORT for learning? Is our response TIMELY? How quickly are we able to identify the kids who need extra time and support? Is our response DIRECTIVE rather than invitational? Are kids invited to put in extra time or does our system ensure they put in the extra time? Is our response SYSTEMATIC? Do kids receive this intervention according to a school-wide plan rather than at the direction of individual teachers?

27.  A Collaborative Culture With a Focus on Learning for ALL We can achieve our fundamental purpose of high levels of learning for all students only if we work together. We cultivate a collaborative culture through the development of high performing teams.

28. Need for a Collaborative Culture Throughout our ten-year study, whenever we found an effective school or an effective department within a school, without exception that school or department has been a part of a collaborative professional learning community. - Milbrey McLaughlin

29. Need for a Collaborative Culture Improving schools require collaborative cultures� Without collaborative skills and relationships, it is not possible to learn and to continue to learn as much as you need to know to improve. - Michael Fullan

30. Need for a Collaborative Culture Creating a collaborative culture is the single most important factor for successful school improvement initiatives and the first order of business for those seeking to enhance the effectiveness of their schools. - Eastwood and Lewis

31. Need for a Collaborative Culture If schools want to enhance their capacity to boost student learning, they should work on building a collaborative culture�When groups, rather than individuals, are seen as the main units for implementing curriculum, instruction, and assessment, they facilitate development of shared purposes for student learning and collective responsibility to achieve it. - Fred Newmann

32. Means vs. End

33. Advantages of Teachers Working in Collaborative Teams 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, Material, Methods Judith Warren Little

34. Group IQ There is such a thing as a group IQ. While a group can be no smarter than the sum total of the knowledge and skills of its members, it can be much �dumber� if its internal workings don�t allow people to share their talents. - Robert Sternberg

35. What is Collaboration? A systematic process in which we work together, interdependently, to analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual and collective results. A PLC is composed of collaborative teams whose members work interdependently to achieve common goals- goals linked to the purpose of learning for all- for which members are held mutually accountable. - DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, 2006

36. Critical Corollary Questions: If We Believe All Kids Can Learn What is it we expect them to learn? How will we know when they have learned it? How will we respond when they don�t learn? How will we respond when they already know it?

37. Keys to Effective Teams Collaboration, with a FOCUS ON LEARNING, is embedded in routine practices Time for collaboration built in school day and school calendar Teams focus on key questions Products of collaboration are made explicit Team norms guide collaboration

38. Hand in Hand, We All Learn Ultimately there are two kinds of schools: learning enriched schools and learning impoverished schools. I have yet to see a school where the learning curves�of the adults were steep upward and those of the students were not. Teachers and students go hand in hand as learners.. or they don�t go at all. -Roland Barth

39. Third Big Idea of PLCs:

40. Members of PLC�s are action oriented Value engagement and experience as the most effective teachers Recognize that learning by doing develops a deeper, and more profound knowledge as well as a greater commitment Engage in collective inquiry and action research

41. Learning by Doing

42. Change or Comfort?

43. PLC�s display a persistent disquiet with the status quo and a constant search for a better way to achieve goals and accomplish the purpose of the organization which is high levels of learning for all students.

44. Commitment to Continuous Improvement Systematic processes engage members of a PLC in an ongoing cycle of: Gathering evidence of student learning Developing strategies and ideas that build on strengths and address weaknesses in learning Implementing those strategies and ideas Analyzing the impact of the changes Applying new knowledge in the next cycle of continuous improvement

45. Action Research � where innovation and experimentation are viewed not as tasks to be accomplished but as a way of conducting day-to-day business, forever. Commitment to Continuous Improvement

46. Results Orientation: Focus on Results We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions. Individual, teams and schools seek relevant data and information and use that information to promote continuous improvement. Unless initiatives are subjected to ongoing assessment on the basis of tangible results, they represent random groping in the dark. DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, 2008

47. Focus on Results Rather Than Activity Unless you can subject your decision-making to a ruthless and continuous judgment by results, all your zigs and zags will be random lunges in the dark. - James Champy Without data you are just another person with an opinion.

48. Focus on Results Today�s school leaders shift both their own focus and that of the school community from inputs to outcomes and from intentions to results. - Rick DuFour By the end of the 2008-09 school year all teachers will be trained in and incorporate cooperative learning strategies into their instructional day.

49. Keys to Effective Teams Collaboration embedded in routine practices Time for collaboration built in school day and school calendar Teams focus on key questions Products of collaboration are made explicit Team norms guide collaboration Teams pursue specific & measurable performance goals

50. SMART Goals Contribute to a Results-Orientation Strategic and Specific Measurable Attainable Results-Oriented Time-Bound - Conzemius & O�Neil

51. Are these SMART Goals? Strategically aligned with the school-wide goal of improving student performance in language arts, by the end of the 2006-2007 school year we will: Create and administer 4 common assessments in writing. Increase the use of cooperative learning activities in our Language Arts lessons by 25%. Increase the number of students achieving the target score (80% or higher) on the district reading assessment from 81% to 90%.

52. Keys to Effective Teams Collaboration embedded in routine practices Time for collaboration built in school day and school calendar Teams focus on key questions Products of collaboration are made explicit Team norms guide collaboration Teams pursue specific and measurable performance goals Teams have access to relevant information

53. How can we do this work!

54. Something to Think About