DLT/BLT Teacher Connection SPDG

1. DLT/BLTTeacher ConnectionSPDG March 11, 2009

2. The real work • The district work has been challenging, but… • The real challenging work is going to be getting follow- through in the buildings

3. What are we communicating to the buildings and BLTs? • We are exploring whether we can learn together As a whole building, and As a whole district

4. The DLT tried to: • Chose what we think are powerful strategies. • We can spend our time disagreeing which strategy we chose, but • The purpose is to develop our capacity “to learn together” as a school, and as a district, resulting in the use of shared powerful teaching strategies

5. What Matters Most in Terms of Student Achievement?

6. The Teacher

7. The variations in student learning are directly correlated with the quality of the teacher. McKinsey & Company, 2007

8. The difference in performance between students who are assigned three effective teachers in a row versus those assigned three ineffective teachers in a row is 49 percentile points

9. The single most important influence on student learning is the quality of teaching. But despite this recognition, most school districts have not defined what they mean by good teaching. Danielson, 2006

10. What Matters Most in Terms of Teacher Effectiveness?

11. Teachers have the tendency to gravitate towards approaches that are congruent with their prior practices. Stein and Coburn, 2008

12. It appears that the most important difference between the most and least effective classrooms is the teacher, but the most important variable appears to be what they do rather than what they know. Effective Teachers Wiliam, 2007

13. If the research on professional development over the last twenty years has shown us anything, it is that we can change teacher thinking without changing teacher practice.Theonly thing that impacts student achievement is teacher practice. Wiliam, 2007

14. So if we are serious about raising student achievement, we must focus on helping teachers change what they do in classrooms. Wiliam, 2007

15. What Does Powerful Teaching Look Like?

16. What Does Powerful Teaching Look Like? Take five minutes and identify at your table.

17. Authentic Pedagogy An analysis of NELS data found that students in restructured schools where authentic instruction was widespread experienced greater achievement gains. Lee et al., 2006

18. Authentic Pedagogy Average students in schools with high levels of authentic instructions would learn about 78 percent more in mathematics between eighth and tenth grades. Lee et al., 2006

19. Authentic Pedagogy • Instruction focused on― • Active learning in real-world contexts • Higher-level thinking skills • Extended writing and demonstration Newman et al., 2006

20. What Affects Teaching/Instruction? • Having shared norms about teaching and assessment are particularly important. • Consensus on what high-quality instruction looks like • Only when there is agreement on effective pedagogy, is it possible to raise questions about how to eliminate ineffective or extraneous activities. Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

21. Three Things About Instruction We Know from the Research That Matter • Powerful teaching • Focused instruction • Flexible grouping practices Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

22. Powerful Teaching • Provides attention toward specific learning goals, plenty of choices, and interesting things to think about • Presents materials in small steps linked with guided practice • Presents information in multiple different ways Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

23. Powerful Teaching 4. Involves student problem solving through the active exploration of new ideas, inventing, and trying out their own approaches to real-life problems 5. Uses questions to determine students’ understanding at many levels, including application outside of the classroom Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

24. Powerful Teaching 6. Assists learners in developing cognitive strategies that enable them to perform higher-level operations independently. Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

25. Another Similar View

26. Highly Effective Teachers Support Meaningful Learning by: • Creating ambitious and meaningful tasks that reflect how knowledge is used in the field • Engaging students in active learning, so that they apply and test what they know Darling-Hammond, 2008

27. Highly Effective Teachers Support Meaningful Learning by: • Drawing connections to students’ prior knowledge and experiences • Diagnosing students’ understanding in order to scaffold the learning process step by step Darling-Hammond, 2008

28. Highly Effective Teachers Support Meaningful Learning by: • Assessing student learning continuously and adapting teaching to student needs • Providing clear standards, constant feedback, and opportunities for work Darling-Hammond, 2008

29. Highly Effective Teachers Support Meaningful Learning by: • Encouraging strategic and meta-cognitive thinking so students can learn to evaluate and guide their own learning Darling-Hammond, 2008

30. Compare these findings to your own list that you created • Similarities? • Differences?

31. Students Know More Ways to Learn, Than We Know How to Teach Hord & Sommers, 2008

32. What Matters Most in Terms of Teacher Learning and Changing their Practice? • Take five minutes and identify at your table.

33. What Affects Teaching Practices? • The development of teacher professional community that includes • Reflective dialogue • Deprivatized practices • Shared norms • All have a robust effect on teacher practices. Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

34. What Affects Teaching Practices? Reflective dialogue (opportunities to discuss practices with other teachers) is particularly important in changing teaching practices. Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

35. This Is Why the Concept of Learning Communities or Data Teams Is So Important.

36. In schools where teachers examined the evidence of the impact of teaching effectiveness on student achievement and regarded their professional practices as the primary cause of student achievement,…

37. …the gains in student achievement were three times higher than in schools where the faculty and leaders attributed the causes to factors beyond their control. Reeves, 2007

38. So What Does This Mean for the Work of― • The DLT? • The BLT? • Grade level, department, and vertical teams? • Individual teachers?

39. Implementing Shared Practices Refined Practices/ Lesson/Unit Plans Implementing Shared Assessments PLC/Data Teams Work of the BLT

40. Feedback, PD, Learning Monitoring of Shared Practices Monitoring of PLC/Data Teams Monitoring of Shared Assessments DLT/BLT Work

41. What Are Data Teams? • Small grade-level or department teams that examine individual student work generated from common formative assessments • Collaborative, structured, scheduled meetings that focuson the effectiveness of teaching and learning

42. The Data Team Process • Step 1 Collect and chart data • Step 2 Analyze strengths and obstacles • Step 3 Establish goals: Set, review, revise • Step 4 Select instructional strategies • Step 5 Determine results indicators

43. Common Assessments • Provide a degree of consistency • Represent common, agreed-upon expectations • Align with Power Standards • Help identify effective practices for replication • Make data collection possible!

44. BLT Data Team Work • Meet at least monthly to discuss • Achievement gaps • Successes and challenges • Progress monitoring • Assessment schedules • Intervention needs • Resources

45. DLT/ BLT Work • Support the understanding for the need for consistent use of the strategies. • Intervention strategies • Team development and learning strategies • Pragmatics―Scheduling, roles, outcomes • Support the consistent use of the strategies. • PD, coaching, mentoring, observations

46. DLT/ BLT Work • Develop and implement monitoring and feedback tools and strategies. • Tools, schedules, methodologies • Develop and refine team and systems learning.

47. Questions and Discussion Please complete your evaluation. Thanks! Brian McNulty The Leadership and Learning Center 866.399.6019 BMcNulty@LeadandLearn.com LeadandLearn.com