Transcript Creating High Impact Schools Key Leaders Network—South

Creating High Impact Schools
Key Leaders Network—South
October 13, 2011
Greenville, AL
Alphabet Soup!
• ABPC — Alabama Best Practices Center
• KLN — Key Leaders Network
• PCN — Powerful Conversations Network
• SLN — Superintendent Leaders Network
• FA — Formative Assessment
• FF — Formative Feedback
Guiding Questions
1. How are we transferring our learnings from
KLN sessions to our work in our district?
2. In what ways can we use the partnership
principles and practices associated with “Impact
Schools” to optimize professional learning and
growth in our schools and district?
Guiding Questions, cont’d
3. Why is formative assessment an essential
component in an effective teaching-learning
cycle?
4. How can I incorporate formative assessment
into my work with teachers and/or school
leaders as we partner to improve adult
performance in our schools?
Guiding Questions, cont’d
5. Why do we need new standards? What’s the
rationale for CCR?
6. How can we transfer the experiences and
learnings of today to our colleagues back
home?
Norms
• Collective Responsibility
▫ Collaboration
▫ Each of us is responsible for all of our students.
• Participation
▫ Monitor your talk.
▫ Encourage and support others.
• Respect
▫ Put cell phones on vibrate.
▫ No side-bar conversations.
• Time
▫ Begin and end on time.
▫ Take care of your own creature comforts.
Activity #1: Team Time—Recapping Our
Use of KLN Learnings from 1st Session
WHAT? Team conversations focusing on use of
materials, strategies, or learnings from
our first KLN session
WHY? To consolidate our experiences and
prepare for reflective conversation with
colleagues from other districts
HOW? Name facilitator to lead your district
team in a conversation focusing on
questions provided in Activity #1; all
take notes to prepare for next activity
Activity #2: Sharing Our Experiences—
Reflective Questioning
WHAT?
WHY?
HOW?
Sharing experiences related to transfer of
KLN resources and learnings to your
district and/or school
To learn from individuals in other districts
and to practice important communication
skills
Using the Reflective Questioning protocol,
each member of a triad shares reflections
while another member interviews the
speaker, and a third member serves as
observer
Debrief Reflective Questioning
with Members of Your District Team
• What did you learn from colleagues from other
districts?
• How did the Reflective Questioning protocol
support reflection and dialogue? What were the
benefits of using this protocol?
• In what contexts and for what purposes, if any,
might you use this protocol in your work?
Partnership Principles Form the
“Heart of Professional Learning”
• Equality
• Choice
• Voice
• Reflection
• Dialogue
• Praxis
• Reciprocity
Dialogue—Definitions
Original Greek Meaning:
“logos” = meaning
“dia” = through
“Dialogue is a form of communication
where meaning moves back and forth
between and through people.”
“Dialogue is thinking together.”—David Bohm
“Dialogue is a mutually humanizing form of
communication.”—Paulo Freire
Read Martin Buber’s Quote and
SAY SOMETHING
• Turn to p. 39 of Unmistakable Impact; find
sentence in first full paragraph beginning with
words “As Martin Buber (1970) explained. . . .”
(3rd sentence in this paragraph).
• Read the remainder of this paragraph, then turn
to an elbow partner, and say something about
this excerpt. Next, listen to your conversation
partner say something to you about the same
quote.
Freire’s 5 Requirements for Dialogue
#1: Humility
Turn to p. 39. Look at paragraphs beneath the
heading, “Humility” on this page.
Which of the sentences in these paragraphs
really “speak to you?” Highlight these, and be
ready to share with whole group.
Freire’s 5 Requirements for Dialogue
#2: Faith
“Dialogue is never manipulative; it is
grounded in free conversation
between people who respect each
other as equals.” (p. 40)
Freire’s 5 Requirements for Dialogue
#3: Love
“Dialogue is only possible if we have
empathy for others.” (p. 41)
Freire’s 5 Requirements for Dialogue
#4: Critical Thinking
“If we truly want to learn from a conversation,
we are wise to go into it looking for ideas that
disprove our way of thinking rather than looking
for confirmation that our opinion is correct.
“Dialogue is the thinking approach to
communication.” (p. 42)
Freire’s 5 Requirements for Dialogue
#5: Hope
“Dialogue cannot occur when people are
paralyzed by hopelessness. Dialogue can only
flourish in situations where there are many
possibilities.
“In part this means that a conversation that is
dialogical must be open-ended. If I come to you
with a plan, and I expect you to implement it, I
am not engaging in dialogue.” (p. 42)
Norms for Engaging in Dialogue
• Listen Actively
• Question to Expand Understanding
• Respect Divergent Views
• Suspend Judgment
• Voice Your Personal View
LISTENING
“Dialogue is not just talking with one another.
More than speaking, it is a special way of
listening to one another—listening without
resistance. . . It is listening from a stand of
being willing to be influenced.”
—Sarita Chawla
QUESTIONING
Do I understand the speaker’s thinking, or do I
need to ask questions to get behind his/her
thinking?
What are we leaving out of this
conversation?
What am I personally curious about? What
kinds of wonderings do I have?
RESPECTING
“Respect is not a passive act.”
“At its core, the act of respect invites us to see
others as legitimate.”
--William Isaacs, Dialogue, pp. 110-111.
Respecting means—
• Accepting that another has something to
teach us
• Seeing the potential that another carries
within
• Honoring people’s boundaries to the point
of protecting them
SUSPENDING JUDGMENT
“Suspension means that we neither
suppress what we think nor advocate it
with unilateral conviction.” --Isaacs, p. 134
How do we go about suspending
judgment?
• To suspend is to change direction, to stop, step
back, see things with new eyes, to loosen one’s
grip, to gain new perspectives
VOICING
“Finding your voice in dialogue
means learning to ask a simple
question: What needs to be
expressed now?” –Isaacs, p. 159
Activity #3: Exploring 5 Other
Partnership Principles—Jigsaw
WHAT? Deepening your understanding of
equality, choice, voice, praxis, and
reciprocity
WHY? To expand our shared understanding of
partnership principles and their
relationship to professional learning
HOW? Jigsaw Cooperative Learning activity;
see Activity Sheet #3.
Organizing for Jigsaw
I. Forming a “Home Team.”
1. Count off as directed by your facilitators.
2. Gather with others of your same number at
designated table.
3. Decide who will go to which of the 5 expert
groups. That individual should take the colored
index card corresponding to his/her principle.
4. Read about your assigned principle, highlighting
and preparing to discuss it with others.
Organizing for Jigsaw
II. Working in your “expert” group.
1.
2.
3.
Find 1-2 others who have your assignment. Hint:
Hold up colored index card to find a match.
Talk about your chosen principle, using guiding
questions on Activity Sheet #3.
Take notes so that you can share back with the
“home” team of which you are a part.
III. Return to your “home” group for sharing
around about the 5 partnership principles.
The Final Partnership Principle: Reflection
“Reflection stands at the heart of the partnership
approach, but it is only possible when people
have the freedom to accept or reject what they
are learning as they see fit.”—p. 37
Reflection (p. 37)
Looking Back—thinking about an event that has
passed, how it went, and what we might have
done differently
Looking At—thinking about what we are doing
in the midst of the act itself; monitoring how
well an activity is going, making adjustments in
real time
Looking Ahead—thinking about how to use an
idea of strategy in the future; explore how an
idea might be shaped and modified to fit future
action
Activity #4: Looking Ahead—How might I
incorporate partnership principles into my
work to nurture professional learning?
WHAT? Individual reflection, looking ahead to
potential use of partnership principles;
sharing in district team
WHY? Need to make meaning of content
introduced over past hour; opportunity
for individual choice and commitment
HOW? Individual reflection, using questions
for reflection on Activity Sheet #4;
district team sharing, as desired
Formative Assessment is a
Partnership
“Formative Assessment is an active and
intentional learning process that partners the
teacher and the students to continuously and
systematically gather evidence of learning with
the express goal of improving student
achievement.” -Moss and Brookhart, p.6
Formative Assessment is a Process
“Formative assessment is a process used by
teachers and students during instruction
that provides feedback to adjust ongoing
teaching and learning to improve students’
achievement of intended instructional
outcomes.”
(Definition by Council of Chief State School Officers, 2006, reported in
Popham, 2008, p. 5)
Assessment
FOR
Learning
Formative
Assessment FOR Learning
Summative
Assessment OF Learning
Purpose: To improve learning
and achievement
• Occurs during instruction
• Focused on checking for
understanding
• Promotes self-monitoring
• Teachers and students use
evidence to make
adjustments for continuous
improvements
Purpose: To measure
competency
• Occurs after instruction
• Focused on products/grades
• Externally determined criteria
• Teachers use results to make
“success or failure” decisions
Formative Assessment is Different
from Summative Assessment
Activity #5: Formative Assessment
or Summative Assessment?
• Number off 1-5; circle up with those in your group.
• Read the corresponding vignette silently and
determine whether it is formative or summative.
• Be able to provide a rationale for your choice.
• When directed, each individual should read her/his
vignette aloud.
• The other participants should indicate whether they
think it is formative or summative by using a
“Thumbs up” or “Thumbs down.”
• Share your rationale.
Activity #6: Going Deeper in Thinking about
Formative Assessment—Say Something
WHAT?
Reacting to selected paragraphs in the article,
“Formative Assessment” by Brookhart, Moss,
and Long—thinking about what you might say
to a colleague about the content
WHY?
To deepen your understanding of formative
assessment
HOW?
Say Something--When directed, stand up and
find a partner who is NOT from your
organization. “Say Something” to your partner
about this article, and listen to your partner
“say something” to you.
Components of Visible Learning
“Teachers need to know the learning
intentions and success criteria of their
lessons, know how well they are attaining these
for all students, and know where to go next in
light of the gap between students’ current
knowledge and understanding and the success
criteria of ‘Where are you going?’, ‘How are you
going?’, and ‘Where to next?’ ”—John Hattie (2009).
Visible Learning: A Synthesis of 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to
Achievement, New York: Routledge, p. 239.
A Look at the “Big Picture” of
Formative Assessment
A Formative Assessment System
(see next slide)
Source: From Visible Learning: A
Synthesis of over 800 Meta-Analyses
Relating to Achievement (p. 176, by J.
Hattie, 2009, New York: Routledge)
Purpose
To reduce discrepancies
between current
understanding/performance &
a desired goal
The discrepancy
can be reduced
by
Teachers
Students
Providing appropriate challenging &
specific goals OR
Assisting students to reach goals
through formative assessment systems
Increased effort or use of more
effective strategies OR
Abandoning, blurring, or
lowering the goals
Effective formative
assessment systems
answer three questions
Feed-Up
Where am I
going?
Feedback
How am I
doing?
FeedForward
Where am I
going next?
Formative Assessment Informs BOTH
Teachers & Students’ Learning
Uses
Formative
Feedback to
Modify
Instruction
Develops
Learning
Goal
Uses
Formative
Feedback to
Adjust
Learning
Strategies
Teacher
Cycle
Uses
Ongoing
Formative
Assessments
Designs PreAssessments
& Uses
Results to
Differentiate
Develops
Learning
Targets
Student
Cycle
SelfMonitors
and SelfAssesses
Reflects on
Prior
Knowledge
& Sets
Learning
Goals
What about Formative Assessment
for Teacher Learning and Growth?
Formative Assessment and Feedback:
A Process to Improve Performance of
Both Students and Adults in Schools
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT AND FORMATIVE FEEDBACK
for students’ learning in the classroom & increased
achievement
for adults’ learning &
improvement of practice
Purpose: to improve learning, not to assign a grade
Purpose: to improve practice, not to assign a rating
Prerequisite: students and teachers have a mutual
understanding of and commitment to the purpose and
process
Prerequisite: educator and observer have a mutual
understanding of and commitment to the purpose and
process
connected to learning targets
connected to standards of practice
descriptive, evidence-based
descriptive, evidence-based
embedded in learning
embedded in professional practice
ongoing, continual
ongoing, continual
nurtures self-assessment
nurtures self-assessment
can be enhanced by structures that provide for peer
assessments; for example, using rubrics to assess and
provide feedback to one another
can be enhanced by structures that provide for peer
review and feedback
supports conversations between student and teacher
that involve two-way communications
Supports conversations between teacher and observer
that involve two-way communication
leads to timely, useable feedback
leads to timely, useable feedback
results in improved understanding and learning
results in improvement in practice
• Formative assessment is a reflective
process that promotes self-awareness by
highlighting strengths and identifying
opportunities for professional growth.
• Formative assessment describes multiple
dimensions of one’s practice.
Important Features of Formative
Assessment for Adults in Schools, cont’d
• Formative Assessment is supported by descriptive
observations such as those used in instructional
rounds.
• Formative assessment relies on a two-way
communication process, i.e, dialogue, between the
observer and the person whose practice is being
assessed.
• Formative assessment is used to improve practice
rather than to assign a performance level or grade
from an outside evaluator.
The Alabama Continuum for
Teacher Development was
designed to support formative
assessment, including selfassessments, and to identify
strengths as well as areas for
growth.
Alabama Quality Teaching Standards
Standard 2: Teaching and Learning
▫ Organization and Management of Learning
Environment
▫ Using Instructional Strategies to Engage
Learners
▫Assessment of Learning
Standard 2: Teaching and Learning
Indicator 2.8 Uses formative assessments to
provide specific and timely feedback to
assist learners in meeting learning targets
and to adjust instruction
Indicator 2.9 Uses summative assessments to measure learner
attainment of specified learning targets
Indicator 2.10 Maintains evidence and records of learning
performance to communicate progress
Indicator 2.11 Analyzes and uses disaggregated standardized
assessment results to inform planning for individual
learners and classes
Activity #7: Informal Assessment of
Teacher Practice Related to Indicator 2.8
WHAT? Review the practices associated with
Indicator 2.8, and identify one that you
believe needs to be strengthened by
large numbers of teachers in your
school or district
WHY? To begin assessing where our teachers
are in their practice of formative
assessment
HOW? Individual review and selection; sharing
around with district team members
Activity #7: Self-Assessment of
Indicator 2.8
• Review the practices associated with Indicator 2.8.
Select the practices you think should be strengthened
over the course of this year in your school or district.
• Identify one of these practices to share with your table
team.
• Be prepared to (1) describe this practice in your own
words, (2) tell why you selected it; that is, why you
think strengthening this practice would improve
student learning, and (3) identify possible evidences of
these practices.
How can you use the Teacher Continuum?
• Planning formative assessment and professional
learning
• Supporting and coaching teachers in formative
assessment
• Assisting teachers/administrators in developing
and using PLPs
Activity #8: “The Principal As Formative
Coach”—4 A’s
WHAT? Considering the potential of formative
coaching by instructional leaders
WHY? Formative coaching is aligned with
partnership principles for professional
learning and growth; this article
provides a vignette of what formative
coaching might look like
HOW? 4 A’s Text-Based Protocol
Team Dialogue: “Taking It Home—
Now What?”
• What do we need to do with this information?
How does it connect to current
goals/initiatives or needs? (When, who, how,
etc.?)
• How can we use this information to support
work in our schools?
Extending Your Personal Learning
1. Access the online module on “Formative Assessment”—a
product of the ALSDE’s Commission on Quality Teaching.
1. Work through this module individually or with a group of
colleagues.
2. Consider its potential use within your district or
organization.
2. Consider acquiring and reading Advancing Formative
Assessment in Every Classroom: A Guide for Instructional
Leaders by C.M. Moss & S.M. Brookhart, Alexandria, VA:
ASCD, 2009. Note: If you are an ASCD member, this was a
member selection during 2009.
3. Free online tool kit complete with videotaped classrooms and
other resources to support classroom improvement of
formative assessment and other facets of instruction:
www.successatthecore.com
Reflection and Feedback
• Please complete the session feedback form as
completely as possible.
• Your suggestions are welcomed.