Forming a Network of Schools….. Where to begin? Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat July 3, 2008

1. Forming a Network of Schools….. Where to begin? Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat July 3, 2008 Earl Liverance John Malloy Nadia Russiello Deb Sinyard York Region District School Board

2. GeorginaLearning Network • All students can achieve high standards given the right time and support • All teachers can teach to high standards given the right assistance • High expectations and early interventions are essential • Teachers need to be able to articulate what they do and why they teach the way they do (Hill and Crevola, 1999)

3. Why Networks? • Already initiated in our district • Evidence that this way of learning deepens the impact of professional learning and improves student achievement • Provides the opportunity for administrators, literacy teachers and ultimately all staff to engage in a process that moves beyond any one classroom or any one school to create new knowledge based upon data and to support the implementation of what has been learned.

4. Year 1 • Create an environment conducive for learning characterized by trust, effective professional relationships, and a willingness to take risks. • Base our decisions regarding how to proceed on the student achievement data analyzed at a network level. • Create a focus for our learning. • Provide opportunities for administrators, literacy teachers and others to experience what it means to learn in a network.

5. “Where are We Headed in the North……..” • The Goal of our Work • Supports in Place for our Work • School Profile • Determining Student Learning Needs • Determining Teacher Learning Needs • Creating a Learning Network Focus • Professional Learning Plans, Leadership Plans and the School Plan

6. “Life seeks organization, but it uses messes to get there. Organization is a process, not a structure” ~Margaret Wheatley~

7. How did we proceed through year 1? • What is a learning Network? • What does our network data tell us? • Focus- Created a focus for our learning based on the insights gained through the “Where are We Headed in the North” document • Building relationships- Interviews, school visits • “Practicing” with evidence • Goal- Created a SMART Goal for our learning next year • Future planning: initiated a process for our learning next year • Walk thru’s, Critical friend conversations • Structure for meetings • Coherence with literacy teachers, leadership teams

8. What has happened? • Building Trust and Relationships • Shared values and vision • Supportive conditions • Collective creativity • Time to talk – interdependence • Increasing “People” capacities • Shared personal practice We are prepared now to learn more deeply together because we were patient with the process during this first year…….

9. Conversation with your Elbow partner: • How does this process relate to your experience? • What questions do you have? • Reactions, comments?

10. From a Curriculum coordinator perspective…. • What I did….. • Why I did this…… • What we have learned…… • How we will proceed……..

11. To coordinate: Some considerations • This word has a prefix co- which means "together" as in cooperateand copilot. The root word comes from a Latin word which means "order”. • Definition: systematic exchange of information among principal participants in order to work together harmoniously

13. The leader’s journey will inevitably bring you to the river of change. Getting from where you are to where you want to be requires continuous assessment for learning. Assessment for learning helps inform our work by building bridges from problems to solutions. Transforming Barriers to Assessment for Learning Anne Davies 2008

14. Keeping the end in mind Focusing on the moral imperative for all students- coordinating and supporting professional learning opportunities within North learning networks that enable and empower literacy teachers and administrators to reach all teachers to effectively carry out their roles as outlined in Guidelines for Literacy Instruction

15. What we have learned • Power of shared leadership model with Superintendent as lead learner • Professional Learning is a process, NOT an event. • Trust is earned. • Keep the end in mind: start with where people are (Literacy coaching) • Time to share, learn and reflect is essential

16. What we have learned • Need to connect the dots with common messages beyond network learning: Assessment for Learning in the context of balanced literacy across all Georgina and system initiatives • Power of team : Literacy Teacher networks- about coming together beyond MY school- about ALL Georgina schools

17. How we will proceed • More time allocated weekly for meeting with North consultant team • Administrators and literacy teachers to come together 3 times next year • Common template needed to connect monthly learning from admin and literacy teacher networks

18. How we will proceed • Shared professional resources to support network focus- • Increased use of technology to support learning • Admin staff meetings to focus on assessment for learning using Board Literacy framework documents

20. Impact on Classroom Practice • One school’s story: RL Graham P.S.

21. Conversation with your elbow partner: • What did you hear ? • What connections can be made to your own setting? • What implications are there for your role?

22. Our Network Focus • Assessment for Learning in the context of Balanced Literacy • Smart Goal for next year

23. Key Learning • We are supporting administrators to share what they do not know, to learn from each other, to be intentional in how we request support from our curriculum department, and to enhance their ability to lead. • We are providing literacy teachers with the skills to lead in their schools

24. Key Learning • Rich assessment within a balanced literacy framework to support differentiated instruction is where we must focus. • We must continue to “grow more leaders” at school in order to reach teachers in every classroom • We need to support collaborative, job embedded learning at school level which includes teacher moderation and case management.

25. Key Learning • We need to keep moving from “I to We” in the Network and in the school. • We are bringing evidence to the table which goes beyond telling the story of what is happening in classroom. • Walk- Thru’s and critical friend conversations wil assist us.

26. Key Learning • Our key questions that will ground our work? • What is effective formative assessment? • How is assessment informing our instruction? • What instructional choices are being made and why? (do we understand and effectively implement balanced literacy?) • How is differentiated instruction being implemented? • What support are we providing to build this capacity?

27. Key Learning • We are not engaged in a linear process. • Attention must be paid to building trusting professional relationships or the learning will not happen. • Professional learning must be intentional • There needs to be focused content learning as well as the use of effective process. • We must constantly create coherence • Our Georgina term: We will proceed with patient urgency!

28. Quotes from Administrators and Literacy teachers • We have a clear Georgina focus that allows us to connect and engage in professional learning that can support our school plans and improved student achievement in all of our schools. • A supportive environment for the learning network means greater consistency from school to school and teacher to teacher. • Our clear focus, which we all had a voice in creating, gives rise to a collective community going deeper to improve student achievement.

29. More quotes…. • Teachers are beginning to realize that it is not just our school-it is all schools, so I need to listen, it must be important, and we should try it. • Involvement in the learning network has given me encouragement to continue working on implementing change. • The fact that there is a component of “try this” and “bring it back” enables you not only have purpose for change in classrooms but also the time and ability to take risks.

30. In conclusion… In natural social systems, the most effective networks combine properties of emergence (the innovation that arise in open systems through spontaneous and unpredictable cross-pollination and interactions), with the properties of design (shaping the interaction so that cross breeding moves in a desired direction. Hargreaves and Fink, 2006

31. If there is too much emergence, networks become diffused and they dissipate. If there is too much design, networks turn into administratively constructed clusters of schools whose purpose is to implement or serve as a reference group for government policy. Hargreaves, 2008 The challenge: creating the balance between emergence and design.

32. Questions and/or comments?

33. The work of networks needs to create the conditions for educators to engage in rigorous and challenging joint work and collaborative enquiry which constantly pushes them to examine and alter what they do. Earl and Katz