Transcript Characteristics of PLCs

Professional Learning Communities
with a Focus on
Formative Assessments
Presented by:
•Arnold Goldstein, Superintendent, North Bellmore School District
•Ellen Fantauzzi, Coordinator of Funded Programs, Grants &
Community/Public Relations, Bellmore-Merrick CHSD
•Patricia Krizan, Curriculum Specialist/Staff Developer for the Humanities,
Bellmore-Merrick CHSD
LIASCD – October 17, 2008
1
Big Ideas of Today’s Session
• An understanding of Professional Learning
Communities—what they are, what they
are not
• Insights into formative assessments—uses
and abuses
• A journey through our process—what
worked, what didn’t work, and how it can
be modified for use in your district
2
What are PLCs?
• If you were to spend a day in a school,
closely observing the culture, what
characteristics or indicators would you
look for to determine if the school were a
Professional Learning Community?
• What evidence would clearly indicate to
you that the school was NOT a
Professional Learning Community?
3
Characteristics of PLCs
DuFour & Eaker
Professional Learning Communities at Work
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Shared Mission, Vision, and Values
Collective Inquiry
Collaborative Teams
Action Orientation and Experimentation
Continuous Improvement
Results Orientation
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Partner A – Reads #1, 2, 3
Partner B – Reads #4, 5, 6
•
Highlight or
underline the
key ideas for
your assigned
characteristics.
Share the key
ideas from
your section
with a partner.
5
Counting Off!
6
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Shared Mission, Vision, and Values
Collective Inquiry
Collaborative Teams
Action Orientation & Experimentation
Continuous Improvement
Results Orientation
• Which essential characteristics are
already in place in your school? What
do they look like?
• What are the obstacles to establishing
PLCs?
7
DuFour: An important focus of
PLCs is formative assessments.
How are formative
assessments
different from
traditional exams?
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Formative Assessments
aka
Assessments FOR Learning
 Formative assessments provide information during
the instructional process before summative
assessments.
 Summative assessments are assessments OF
learning that are used to make judgments like
grading, program effectiveness, AYP
 Formative assessments are assessments FOR
learning that are used by the student and teacher to
make decisions about what actions to take to
promote further learning*
* From Chappius and Chappius, Educational Leadership,12/07
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“Learning to Love Assessment”
by Carol Ann Tomlinson
Educational Leadership, Dec. 2007/Jan. 2008
What informative assessment isn’t:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Just about tests
About the grade book
Always formal
Separate from the curriculum
About “after”
An end in itself
Separate from instruction
Just about student readiness
About finding weaknesses
Just for the teacher
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What did we do?
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Creation of an In-service Course
“Successful schools operate
under the assumption that the
key to improved learning for
students is continuous, jobembedded learning for
educators.”
Rick DuFour
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Developing a Professional Learning Community
A One Credit, 15 Hour In-Service Course
To All Members of the Teaching Staff,
You are invited to participate in a new In-Service Course that the
district is sponsoring. Developing a Professional Learning Community
will focus on giving teachers the opportunity to work collaboratively with
colleagues. Teams of teachers will:
• review the research behind establishing PLCs
(Professional Learning Communities);
• jointly develop common goals & assessments that
promote student learning;
• develop the skills to analyze data from their commonly
developed assessments;
• use the data to capitalize on student strengths, to
address weaknesses & to promote student success.
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Developing a Professional Learning Community
Grouping of teachers
 Subject area
 Teams
Materials
 On Common Ground
 Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to
Become Professional Learning
Communities
 Professional Learning Communities at
Work: Best Practices for Enhancing
Student Achievement
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Session #1: What is a PLC?
Session #2: Using Formative
Assessment to Model PLCs
• Teachers work in groups to select a unit
• Background on Formative Assessments is
provided:
• “Learning to Love Assessments”
• Review of formative assessment
strategies
• Teachers begin designing their units
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Formative Assessments
CHECKING for Understanding:
Formative Assessment Techniques for Your Classroom
by Douglas Fisher & Nancy Frey
Chap. 2: Using Oral Language to Check for Understanding
•Value Line
•Retellings
•Think-Pair-Share
•Whip Around
Chap. 3: Using Questions to Check for Understanding
•Bloom’s Taxonomy and question stems
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Chap. 4: Using Writing to Check for Understanding
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Writing to Learn/To clarify thinking
Read-Write-Pair-Share
Journal entries
Friendly letter
Poem
Skit
Summary writing
Write a different ending to a story, event; become a character
What if . . .
Chap. 5: Using Projects and Performances to Check for
Understanding
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“Doing with understanding,” not only as a culmination
Role play, skit
Audio, visual, PowerPoint presentation, computer graphics
Visual displays of Information (p. 87 – 91)
 Graphic organizers
 Concept maps
Other Strategies:
 3-2-1
 3 Minute Pause
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Sessions #3 – 6
• Session #3: Creating Formative Assessments
& Continued Planning
TEACHING THE UNIT
• Session #4: Analyzing the Results
• Session #5: Presenting the Findings
• Session #6: Evaluation & Reflection
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Session #5: Presenting the Findings
share and
discuss individual
findings with your
PLC.
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Then, informally, present
your findings to the group:
• Describe your unit: What were the goals? What
formative assessments did you use? What was the most
effective? The least?
• Discuss student performance: Identify student
strengths and instructional strategies that led to success.
What student weaknesses did you find? How did you
address these weaknesses?
• What did you learn? Were there any surprises? What
were your “aha!” moments?
• Describe any changes you would make when teaching
the unit again. How will you capitalize on student
strengths and minimize student weaknesses in future
units?
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Developing a Professional Learning Community
Group Evaluation
• Select a recorder and a facilitator
• Discuss and respond to the following
questions with your group members. Your
notes should include the general feelings of
the group as well as any dissenting
opinions. Feel free to use direct quotations
(without indicating the source).
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1. What adjectives would you use
to describe the PLC in-service?
Unconventional - free to shape our experience
Helpful
Focused
Challenging
Practical
Engaging
Enlightening
Eye towards our goals
Successful
Insightful Realistic
Educational
Positive
Productive
Collaborative
Meaningful Motivating
Well-organized
Inspiring
Thoughtful
Relevant
Time-consuming
Frustrating when group members are from different content areas
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2. What have been the most useful
aspects of the PLC process?


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Use of formative assessments to refine day-to-day teaching
Being able to assess student progress along the way
Time to meet; opportunities to be innovative
Opportunities to plan, discuss, reflect, question, and revise
Exchange of strategies and new ideas; sharing ideas on
effective strategies; engaging students more effectively;
improving lesson plans and strategies
Collaboration with professionals; learning from colleagues
Collaboration challenged our ideas of good teaching
Comparing/contrasting results among teachers, leading us to
self-evaluate our own teaching styles/success.
On Common Ground facilitated group discussions
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3.
What were the most challenging and
difficult aspects of the PLC process?
• Sessions too far apart later in the
seminar causing a loss of
momentum; long gaps between
meetings
• Group members in different
subjects/grade levels
• Difficulty creating common meeting
times outside of class; lack of
common planning time
• Deciding how to change those things
that did not work; planning
immediate modifications
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4.
What changes would you make to
improve this in-service?
• Time: condensed to one semester;
shorter time frame
• More collaborative time, planning time
during the session itself.
• More than one credit or less work
• Meeting location with access to computers
• Must sign up with other teachers
in subject/grade level
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Other thoughts or comments?
Ideas of the PLC class should be
implemented at the department level
Meet with other teachers from other
districts who use PLCs
PLC #2 – same groups revisit same unit
next year
Interesting to learn a new theory in
assessments, especially when it seems
that state (standardized, multiple choice)
tests are taking over
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Cultural Shifts in a PLC
Teaching
Learning
FROM
TO
• Providing individual
teachers with district
curriculum documents
• Engaging collaborative
teams in building shared,
essential curriculum
• Infrequent summative
assessments
• Frequent formative
assessments
• Individual teachers
determining appropriate
response to students
• A systematic response that
ensures support for every
student
• Isolation
• Collaboration
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What are other areas
on which a PLC can
focus?
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