Transcript Document 7349636

Professional Learning Communities
Delayed Start Proposal
January 26, 2012
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Agenda
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Proposal
Review of PLC’s
Research
Building Accomplishments and Delayed Start
Activities
 Schedule Highlights
 Details
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Proposal
 Implement a one hour delayed start on the 2nd and 4th
Wednesday of each month.
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March 14
April 11
April 25
May 9
May 23
 Goal: Reach a sustaining level of implementation as
defined by The PLC Communities at Work Continuums.
(Samples Provided)
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Defined
 Professional Learning Community Defined
 An on-going process in which educators work collaboratively
in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research
to achieve better results for the students they serve.
 PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved
learning for students is continuous, job-embedded learning
for educators.
(DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many, 2010)
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PLC’s
 The Big 3 Ideas:
1. Focus on Learning
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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?
2.Build a Collaborative Culture
 To clarify essential student learning, develop common assessments,
analyze evidence and use evidence to learn from each other
3.Focus on Results
 Measure our effectiveness on the basis of results not intentions
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Six Characteristics of a PLC
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Goal: Full Implementation of the Six Characteristics of a PLC
1.
Shared mission, vision, values and goals
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2.
Collaborative teams focused on learning
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3.
Turn learning into action
Commitment to continuous improvement
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Relentlessly question the status quo (seek, test and reflect)
Action orientation and experimentation
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5.
Working interdependently to achieve common goals
Collective inquiry
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Clarity, shared purpose, common understanding
Gathering evidence, develop strategies, implement, analyze, apply
Results orientation
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Hungry for evidence of student learning
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Research
 Multiple studies have been conducted
 Many esteemed experts and respected professional
organizations in education endorse and advocate for
the development of PLCs. In a review of this
research DuFour’s conclude that;
 “Successfully implementing professional learning
community practices is the most promising path for
sustained and substantive improvement of our schools
and districts.”
 What are the researchers common conclusions?
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Research
 Synthesis of Research on School Culture
 Researchers* conducted “meta-analysis” of studies that have
been done on productive school cultures. They determined
these cultures were characterized by the following:
1. Predispositions of; student centered with frequent monitoring,
high expectations, an improvement orientation
2. Collaborative work behavior; continuous dialogue among
staff, focused on common goals
3. Professional productivity; group goals and commitments,
focused and involved staff
*Georgiades, Snyder, and Fuetes, 1983
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Research
 Center on Organization and Restructuring of
Schools
 Five year study of 1,500 schools that were
successful in linking their improvement initiatives
with improved student learning. Schools were
characterized by having:
1. A focused on and agreed-upon vision on what students
should learn
2. Teachers that required students to think
3. Well functioning professional learning communities
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Research
 What works: School Factors That Increase Student
Achievement
 Robert Morzano (2003) synthesized 35 years of research of
factors that impact student achievement
1. A guaranteed and viable curriculum; essential content
2. Challenging goals and effective feedback; emphasizing
formative assessments
3. Parent and community involvement
4. Safe and orderly environment
5. Collegiality and professionalism; active learning and ongoing
discussion
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Research
 Practices of Improving Schools and District
 Doug Reeves (2006) research on 90/90/90 schools
found the following to be present:
1. Promotion of distributed leadership
2. Frequent monitoring of valued outcomes
3. Frequent common assessments
4. Decisive timely intervention when students do not learn
5. Achievement data openly shared among teachers who
work collaboratively
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Research
 Most Promising Practices for Improving Student
Learning
 John Hattie (2009) synthesized of 800 meta-analyses of
factors impacting student achievement. He concluded:
1. Teachers work in collaborative teams
2. Teacher teams clarify the essential learning for each student
3. Teacher teams gather evidence of student learning
4. Teachers analyze evidence of student learning and implement
powerful instructional strategies
5. Schools provide a collaborative culture
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Research
 Leadership That Leads to Learning
 The Wallace Foundation commissioned the “largest in-depth
study of school leadership to date” to determine the link
between school leadership and student achievement. They
concluded:
1. School leadership improves student achievement by
strengthening a school’s professional learning community
2. The environment is characterized by:
a. A common focus on student learning
b. Collaboration in the development of curriculum
c. Purposeful sharing of practice to improve student learning
d. Shared leadership
e. Clear goals, widely shared
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Research
 DuFour presented the Synthesis of Research on the Characteristics
of Effective Schools (Lezotte 1991). The following is called the
second generation of research and includes seven factors that are
correlated with effective schools.
1. Safe and orderly environment
2. Climate of high expectation for student success
3. Instructional leadership; collaborative work behavior with a focus
on productivity
4. Clear and focused mission
5. Opportunity to learn~student time on task
6. Frequent monitoring of student progress
7. Home school relations
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Research Summary
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The research has many commonalities
It is all embedded in the practices of PLCs
The District is engaged in these practices
We are on the right path
 During our principal presentations, listen for
activities that have occurred and are planned that
are consistent with what research says is best
practice.
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Time
 #2 Factor of Effective Teaming*; “Scheduling
time for collaboration into the school day and
school calendar”
 If we value and want these practices, successful
implementation requires the District and Buildings
to make the commitment of time.
*DuFour, DuFour, Eaker
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Commitment/Planning
 Focus of this time will be devoted to building
and engaging in the practices of PLC’s.
 Each principal has developed a plan for
utilization of this time, based on their stage of
implementation.
 They will cover:
 What they have Accomplished
 Next steps / Delayed Start Activities
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Outcome
 Five schools engaged in a systematic, self
sustained, relentless pursuit of increased
student learning
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Collaborative Teams
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WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SO FAR
Teams Developed
4th Grade Team
5th Grade Team
6th Grade Team
Language Arts (7/8) Team
Social Studies (7/8) Team
Math (7/8) Team
Special Education/Reading Specialist Team
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Accomplished
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Wednesday morning meetings 7:15-7:50 AM
Team norms established
S.M.A.R.T Goals written for each team
Essential Skills created for each unit
Common Formative Assessments created
across grade levels.
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Delayed Start Activities
 Continued work on common formative assessments
 Continued work on our Essential Skills – Making
sure we are teaching our most critical elements of
each unit
 Analyzing student data to make informed decisions
about the direction of our lesson planning and
instruction
 Creating RTI processes and rules that will help
insure consistency school wide with multiple levels
of support
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Why?
 Right now we have momentum.
 Our teachers can accomplish more with increased time.
 It is imperative that we provide the necessary time to
accomplish the important work we have ahead of us.
 The great thing is – The Teachers Are Asking For The
Time!!
 This Collaborative team time is the most powerful piece
that has been implemented into our district practice.
 Creating this TEAM time will move this district forward
into one of the premier learning environments in the
state.
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PLC at Mari-Linn
 We have established 3 teams
 Middle School (grades 6-8) and Behavior Support
Assistant
 Intermediate School (grades 3/4, 4/5) and Music
teacher
 Primary School (grades K-2)
 PE is not currently on team due to ½ time schedule
 Reading Specialist and Special Education join
teams depending on the week’s focus
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Current Structures
 We hold two meetings weekly
 Mondays are general staff meetings in which we cover general
information and upcoming events, we also review whole school
data or work on learning the principles of PLC (which has been
impacted by time limits)
 Wednesdays are our team meetings in which teams review more
student specific data and have attempted to develop formative
assessments
 Delayed start will allow our staff as a whole to develop and
deepen our knowledge and skills of a PLC
 This joint knowledge will allow for us to work more efficiently and
effectively
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Accomplished
 Used teams to review student behavior and academic
data to move students in and out of intervention groups
 Completed Session One of the Professional Learning
Communities at Work
 Two staff members (Andy Rasmussen & Laura
Murray) attended the DuFour Conference this month
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Delayed Start Activities
 Clarify and Define Essential Learning Outcomes
 Four Fundamental Questions
 Use the PLC continuum to develop a Plan of action
 Clarify and Define Effective Interventions
 Intervention does not mean an automatic pull out to resource
room of reading specialist
 How do we use data to impact intervention
 Develop a pyramid of intervention for Mari-Linn
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Delayed Start Activities
 Focus on Results
 The importance of using common formative assessments
 Define and building “SMART goals”
 How will we monitor students proficiency of each essential skill
 How will we celebrate progress in meeting set goals
 Plan for 2012-2013
 Using the knowledge gained, how will we plan for improvement
for the following year
 Given barriers, how will we connect with more horizontal teams
within the district
 Set SMART Goals for 2012-2013 at the team and individual level
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Accomplished
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Implemented a Professional Learning Community model in order to
build a collaborative team environment, provide clear, precise learning
targets directly connected to State Standards, implement formative
assessments to provide concise data to guide student interventions,
instruction and planning
 Built shared knowledge by introducing PLC foundations and
supporting research
 Completed building wide common agreements and commitments
through a collaborative activity at ‘back to school’ in-service
 Created a PLC leadership team with representatives from each grade
level
 Completed “The Power of PLC at Work” video series
 Attended PLC Du Four conference
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Accomplished
 Created horizontal (3 times/month) and vertical (1
time/month) PLC teams that meet regularly
 Following the “Critical Issues for Team Consideration”
 PLC teams created SMART goals in the area of math
as well as team working agreements
 Vertical teams are targeting their team goals, reviewing
data, and planning for interventions
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Delayed Start Activities
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Horizontal PLC Building Teams
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Continue creation and alignment of essential learning targets with State Standards in
math
Complete common pacing guide for math
Complete at least 2 common formative assessments in math
Use common assessment data to identify strengths and address weaknesses
Plan for grade level teacher-led intervention days following analysis of common
formative assessments for both students struggling to master learning targets, as
well as those that are excelling
Continue school-wide shared knowledge training/collaborative activities
Building Specialists
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Work in job-alike collaborative teams with other District specialists to create
learning targets for upcoming units of study
Complete PLC webinar training/The Power of PLC’s at Work to build shared
knowledge
Continue school-wide shared knowledge training/collaborative activities
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Delayed Start Activities
 Horizontal (grade level teams)
 4 Sessions:
 Continue specific work in teams on creating a map of identified
learning targets, scope and sequence pacing alignment,
common formative assessment development and data
tracking/analysis, and the creation/implementation plan for
teacher-directed targeted interventions in math
 1 Session:
 Continue school-wide shared knowledge training/collaborative
activities
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Delayed Start Activities
 Building Specialists
 Two (2) Sessions:
 Work in job-like teams with District specialists to create
learning targets for upcoming units of study
 Two (2) Sessions:
 Complete PLC webinar training/The Power of PLC’s at Work
to build shared knowledge
 One (1) Session:
 School-wide shared knowledge training/collaborative activities
to share and model team accomplishments and work to date
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Accomplished
 Since August our staff has formed professional learning teams using
vertical alignment due to the size of our teaching staff, established
team norms and commitments, teams have created a professional
SMART goal to be worked on collaboratively throughout the year,
instead of individually.
 The staff has also completed surveys of team effectiveness, selected
essential learning skills in math and focused on learning targets for
each lesson.
 We have also been working interdependently to purposely plan
instructional lessons using Bloom’s Taxonomy that requires our
students to use higher level thinking skills to challenge every
student to his/her highest level.
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Delayed Start Activities
 Teachers will work in their PLC teams to design
common formative assessments and analyze both these
and our state summative assessments to create
individual action plans and instructional lessons to
motivate students.
 Our staff will interpret and prioritize the ten elements
of an effective PLC using resources from the Dufour
Conference that the administrative and teacher teams
attended. I will seek the help and support from our
PLC Leadership Team to present and instruct others.
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Delayed Start Activities
 Teams will also work to develop effective systemic
interventions as well as enrichment for those students
who already know the material.
 We will continue to share ideas on how to implement
higher order thinking within our daily lessons/target
objectives.
 We will strive to celebrate the successes of all of our
students and staff. This will be an important piece for
our PLC teams to plan and be involved with.
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Accomplished
 Teams Developed
1.
2.
3.
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5.
6.
7.
Language Arts
Math
Social Studies
Applied and Fine Arts (Vertical teaming opportunities)
Science
Health/Physical Education (Vertical teaming opportunities)
Special Education
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Accomplished
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Wednesday Collaborative Meetings 7:15-7:50 2/mo
Staff meetings 1/mo
Collaborative Leads meeting 1/mo
Team norms established
S.M.A.R.T. goals written for each team
Working on Essential Skills/Common Formative
Assessments depending on subject Area
 Five (5) additional individuals trained at DuFour
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Delayed Start Activities
1. Establish Effective Collaborative Teaming practices
2. Focus on implementation and learning of the four (4) critical
question of a PLC
 What is it we expect them to learn? (Essential Skills)
 How will we know when they have learned it? (Common
Formative Assessments)
 How will we respond when they don’t learn? (Interventions)
 How will we respond when they already know it?
(Enrichment)
3. Implementation of Electronic Collaborative Team for specialists
(MWEC)
4. Analyze student learning data to plan for 2012-2013
 Master Schedule
 Interventions available to students
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Why?
 “If you keep doing the things you have always
done, you will be where you always have been”
(Anon)
 Collaboration is powerful
 No longer working in isolation
 It becomes a true focus on kids and learning
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Building Schedule Highlights
 Stayton Elementary
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One hour delayed start
Switch Music/PE time to afternoon
Cancel Kindergarten strategic program
Adjust Special Education and English Language
Learner times
 Kindergarten sessions:
 9:05-11:20
 12:20-2:30
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Building Schedules Highlights
 Sublimity
 Delayed start one hour
 Kindergarten Sessions:
 9:00-11:15
 12:15 to 2:35
 Condensed schedule K-8
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Building Schedules Highlights
 Mari-Linn
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Delay start one hour
Increase .5 employees by 1 hour
Condensed middle school schedule
Kindergarten Session
 8:45 to 11:00
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Building Schedules Highlights
 Stayton Intermediate/Middle School
 Delayed start one hour
 Condensed schedule in Intermediate and Middle
School
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Building Schedules Highlights
 Stayton High School
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Delayed start one hour
Condensed schedule
Transitions program delayed one hour
Chemeketa programs delayed one hour at this time
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Employee Schedules
 Certified:
 Same
 May need to add time to .5 time people
 Classified:
 same
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Details
 Communications:
 Newspaper Editorial (Andy Gardner) Next Week
 To Parents February 6
 Common letter with building level specific information
 Brochure with PLC information
 Questions and Answers Document
 Kindergarten bussing schedule details
 Building Newsletters / week of February 1
 Auto Dialer message February 6
 PTC discussions
 All websites
 Concerns: Parent dialogue and communications
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Details
 Hardship Applications and Accommodations
 Hardship applications will be available at all buildings
 Requests considered in the order they are received and
dependent on the number of classified staff or parent
volunteers available to supervise
 Hardship students will be engaged in learning activities and
supports
 No transportation is provided
 High School will open the library and lab, supervised by
classified staff
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Details
 Private Schools
 4-6 students impacted
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Details
 Specialists:
 Music and Physical Education teachers will meet in
large and small groups district wide
 Special Education and English Language Learners
teachers will be engaged in their buildings
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Details
 Transportation
 Cost
 Additional drivers will be added with minor cost increases
 Grades 1-12
 Morning pick up will be one (1) hour delayed
 PM drop off will remain the same
 Kindergarten
 Morning pick up will be one (1) hour delayed
 AM drop off and PM pick up will be adjusted
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Closing
 “The successful implementation of professional
learning practices is the most promising path
for sustained and substantive improvement of
schools and districts.”*
 The research is clear
 Our plans are solid
 The time will only propel us forward
*DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker, 2008
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