Creating A Professional Learning Community...Effective leaders focus on developing the culture and the collective ... PLC’s operate under the assumption that the key to improved

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Creating A Professional

Learning Community

Greg Kushnir PLC Associate


Norms for Today n  Support and encourage

each other in understanding.

n  Listen with respect and

presume positive intentions.

n  Be “fully present” – on time, silence cell phones, ask questions, etc


Session Objectives

n Understand the 3 Big Ideas of a PLC n Understand the 4 questions of a PLC n Understand what a Professional

Learning Community is and isn’t. n Help clarify next steps. n Create a desire to act.


Schools Do Make A Difference

An analysis of research conducted over a thirty five year period demonstrates that schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student backgrounds.

Robert Marzano, What Works in Schools, 2003


Teachers Matter

Regardless of the research basis, it is clear that effective teachers have a profound impact on student achievement and ineffective teachers do not. In fact, ineffective teachers might actually impede the learning of their students.

Marzano (2003) pg. 75


Impact of Teacher Effectiveness on Student Achievement

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The Impact of Teachers

Sanders and Horn 1994


Individual Growth Does Not Ensure Organizational Growth

Student achievement gains and other benefits are influenced by organizational characteristics beyond the skills of individual staff. We saw schools with competent teachers that lacked the organizational capacity to be effective with many students. The task for schools is to organize human resources into an effective collective effort.

Newmann and Wehlage, (1995), p. 29-30


The Impact of Effective Schools

The Effects of a School and It's Teachers on Student Entering at the 50th Percentile

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Teacher

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Marzano 2000


Individual Growth Does Not Ensure Organizational Growth

We became attuned to the limitations of an exclusive focus on individual development. Organizations… need more than well developed individuals. Effective leaders focus on developing the culture and the collective capacity of the organization.

Richard Elmore & Michael Fullan


The Law of Bad Systems

We over-attribute actions and consequences to individuals rather than to the constraints under which they operate. Wide-ranging research shows a well-designed system filled with ordinary people can achieve stunning performance levels.

Pfeffer and Sutton (2006), pg. 96


The Power of Professional Learning Communities

The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is building the capacity of school personnel to function as a professional learning community.

The path to change in the classroom lies within and through professional learning communities.

Milbrey McLaughlin (1995)


Researchers Who Endorse PLC’s

n  Roland Barth n  Paul Byrk n  Linda Darling-Hammond n  Richard Elmore n  Michael Fullan n  Carl Glickman n  Any Hargreaves n  Shirley Ford n  Sharon Kruse n  Joan Little n  Robert Marzano n  Milbrey McLaughlin

n  Fred Newmann n  Douglas Reeves n  Jonathan Saphier n  Phil Schlecty n  Mike Schmoker n  Karen Seashore Lewis n  Thomas Sergiovanni n  Dennis Sparks n  Richard Stiggins n  Joan Talbert n  Gary Wehlage n  Dylan William n  Art Wise


What is a PLC?

A professional learning community is an ethos that infuses every single aspect of a school’s operation. When a school becomes a professional learning community, everything in the school looks different than it did before.

Andy Hargreaves (2004)


Professional Learning Community Defined

Educators are committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research in order to achieve better results for the students they serve.

PLC’s operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.

Dufour, Dufour, Eaker and Many (2006)


What is a PLC?

A professional learning community exists when all teachers within a school commit to take collective responsibility for all children in their building. The actions taken by the staff demonstrate a commitment to ensuring high levels of learning take place for ALL students rather than a commitment to adult comfort. These behaviour changes are brought about by collaborative processes which engage teachers in work that will actually bring about meaningful changes in classroom practice. Teachers who are part of a professional learning community are able to collectively achieve results previously unattainable in isolation. As a result, they have renewed hope and a sense of collective efficacy develops.

Greg Kushnir (2009)


Why Operate as a Professional Learning Community?

We have an increasingly clear picture of the nature and importance of professional learning communities in schools. We now understand that such communities do not merely represent congeniality. Rather, they dig deeply into learning. They engage in disciplined inquiry and continuous improvement in order to “raise the bar” and “close the gap” of student learning and achievement. Michael Fullan – “On Common Ground”, 2005


What Gets In The Way?



“We embrace explicitly that the proposition that effective practice and popular practice are very likely two different things.”

Douglas Reeves



n Factory Model of Schooling n  Designed to sort and select

n  Designed to create winners and losers

n A teacher’s apprenticeship n  13000 hr’s from K-12


School Culture

n The School’s culture dictates “how we do things around here.”

n The school’s culture has more influence than any external influence.

Roland Barth 2001


School Culture

n The school’s culture is historically transmitted from teacher to teacher.

n The school’s culture wields astonishing power in shaping how people think and act.

Roland Barth 2001


A Candid Mission Statement

It is our mission to help kids learn if they are conscientious, responsible, attentive, developmentally ready, fluent in English, and come from homes with concerned parents who take an interest in their education.



Our mission is to create a school with an unrelenting focus on learning; failure is not an option. But, ultimately, it will be the responsibility of the student and his or her parents to take advantage of the opportunities for learning.



Our mission is to take credit for the accomplishments of our highest achieving students and to assign blame for low performance to others.



It is our mission to ensure the comfort and convenience of the adults in our school. In order to promote this mission, we place a higher value on individual autonomy than we do on ensuring that all students learn. We will avoid any change or conversation that might create anxiety or discomfort or infringe on individual autonomy.


Discussion Point

n What culture exists at your school?


Creating A PLC

Restructure Vs.

Reculture


The Three Big Ideas

1.  Focus on Learning not Teaching

2.  Focus on Collaboration

3.  Focus on Results


Big Idea #1: Focus on Learning

n  We accept that the core purpose of our school is “Student Learning” not teaching.

n  We accept that high levels of learning are possible for all students.

n  To accomplish this goal we will constantly examine all of our practices in light of their impact on student learning.


Four Questions Help Create a Focus on Learning

n  What do we want all students to learn?

n  How will we know if they have learned it? n  How will we respond when they don’t

learn? n  How will we respond when they already

know it?


Marzano’s Review of Curriculum

•  On Average a student took 14 different subjects from K-12.

•  These 14 subjects contained 255 standards which contained 3500 indicators.

•  To actually teach all of those indicators in a meaningful way you would require a school system that was K-22.


Conclusions from Marzano’s Study

•  It is impossible to teach all areas of the curriculum in a meaningful way to students in the time allotted.

•  Teachers are already making individual decisions everyday regarding what to leave out, how long to spend, what constitutes evidence of success, etc.

•  The quality of the teacher decisions determines student success or failure.

•  It is plausible to assume that a students success or failure is dependent on random chance. Were they lucky enough to get the teacher who can interpret curriculum correctly.



n To ensure high levels of learning for all we must: n  Clarify the essential outcomes each student

must learn •  Teachers must be crystal clear on what outcomes

are essential for their subject or grade.

•  Curriculum must be vertically aligned in the school to ensure that there are no gaps, overlaps or omissions.


Criteria for Identifying Essential Outcomes

1.  Endurance – Students are expected to retain the skills/knowledge long after the test is completed.

2.  Leverage – A skill/knowledge applicable across academic disciplines.

3.  Readiness for the next level – A skill/knowledge that is required to prepare the student for success in the next grade.

Learning by Doing Pg. 47 - 48



n To ensure high levels of learning for all we must: n  determine common pacing (year plans) for the

content to be taught (within grade levels or subject areas)

n  align lesson and unit plans with the year plan (assure that the designated curriculum is the “taught” curriculum)


Rationale for ELO Collaboration

Collaborative study of Essential Learning…

n  promotes clarity.

n  promotes consistent priorities

n  is crucial to the common pacing required for formative assessments.

n  can help establish a viable curriculum.

n  creates ownership of the curriculum amongst those who teach it.

Learning by Doing Pg. 51 - 53



n  What do we want all students to learn? n  How will we know if they have learned

it? n  How will we respond when they don’t

learn? n  How will we respond when they already

know it?



n To ensure high levels of learning for all we must: n  Monitor each student’s learning on a timely basis

•  Assessment for learning – formative assessments that inform teachers about ongoing student learning needs (daily)

•  Assessment of learning – summative assessments of instruction designed for accountability (every 3 to 4 weeks)



n To ensure high levels of learning for all we must: n  Align assessment practices throughout the

school.

n  Use the data from common assessments to guide next steps.

n  Use the data to determine students who require extra time and support.


Rationale for Common Assessments

Common Assessments… n  are more efficient than assessments created by

individual teachers. n  are more equitable for students. n  represent the most effective strategy for

determining whether the guaranteed curriculum is being taught and, more importantly, learned.

n  inform the practice of individual teachers. n  build a team’s capacity to improve its program. n  facilitate a systemic, collective response to

students who are experiencing difficulty. Learning by Doing Pg. 56 - 58


Discussion Point

n What is the evidence your school is focused on learning not teaching?

n What does your school do to ensure educational equity for each child?

n What is your school doing to promote student engagement?

n What is one thing you could do differently at your school?



n  What do we want all students to learn?

n  How will we know if they have learned it?

n  How will we respond when they don’t learn?

n  How will we respond when they already know it?



n  To ensure high levels of learning for all we must:

n  Create systems that ensure students receive

additional time and support

•  Pyramids of Intervention

n  Create systems that provide enrichment

and accelerate growth opportunities for

students.


Take a 15 min Break


Pyramids of Intervention


Why Create A Pyramid?

n One of the biggest hurdles to learning for all is the school’s response to failure.

n The responsibility for learning must be a shared responsibility amongst all of the adults in the building.



n  It is extremely difficult for teachers to individually deal with the fact that all students learn at different rates.

n With a Pyramid of Intervention we can address this issue and level the playing field.



The Typical School’s Response

n No systemic response

n Intervention left up to individual teachers •  Inconsistent response

n No response •  I taught it they just didn’t learn it

•  It’s my job to teach and their job to learn



The Traditional School’s Message

n  Learning is a choice.

n Students can be involved or not.

n Only students are accountable for their success or failure.

n We will make little effort to connect with students or their families.



Message Of A PLC School

n Focused on Learning.

n All Students Will Learn.

n  Learning Is A Shared Responsibility.

n The Actions of the Staff Demonstrate a Commitment to Achieving the Vision of Learning for All.


Time and Support

School Comparison

Traditional School

PLC School

Constant

Variable

Time and Support

Learning

Learning

Time and Support



n  “It is disingenuous for any school to claim its purpose is to help all students learn at high levels and then fail to create a system of interventions to give struggling learners additional time and support for learning.”

Rick DuFour, Becky DuFour, Bob Eaker and Thomas May

Learning By Doing, 2006, pg.78


Characteristics of an Effective Pyramid of Intervention

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1



1.  Practical n  The plan is affordable

n  The plan is sustainable



1.  Practical

2.  Directive n  Students are not invited to

participate, they are directed

n  Part of their regular school day



1.  Practical

2.  Directive

3.  Effective n  Must be available at the time

intervention is required

n  Must have flexible entrance and exit requirements



1.  Practical

2.  Directive

3.  Effective

4.  Systemic n  The plan is school-wide,

independent of individual teachers

n  The plan is communicated to everyone (students, teachers, parents)



1.  Practical 2.  Directive 3.  Effective 4.  Systemic

5.  Targeted n  Students who don’t do their work n  Students who currently lack the skills to do

their work



1.  Practical

2.  Directive 3.  Effective

4.  Systemic

5.  Targeted

6.  Essential n  Focuses on agreed upon standards and ELO’s.

n  Determined by common assessments.


Discussion Point n  What does your school do to assure all students receive

Extra Time and Support for learning? n  How do you know your school’s response is equitable

for all students? n  How do you identify students who need extra time and

support? n  Is your response SYSTEMIC? Do kids receive this

intervention as part of a school wide plan or is it left up to the individual teacher?

n  What does your school need to do differently?


How Can I Make This Happen in My School?


Big Idea #2: Create a Collaborative Culture

n Adult learning must drive student learning “In times of drastic change, it is the learners who

inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves beautifully equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

Eric Hoffer, Reflections on the Human Condition, 1972.


Hand in Hand, We All Learn

Ultimately there are two kinds of schools: learning enriched schools and learning-impoverished schools. I have yet to see a school where the learning curves… of the adults were steep upward and those of the students were not. Teachers and students go hand and hand as learners… or they don’t go at all.

Roland Barth, (2001), p.23


Big Idea #2: Create a Collaborative Culture

n Traditional isolationist model n  My own experience – all too common

VS

n Collaborative Model n  What should have happened?


The Need for Collaboration

There is such a thing as group IQ. While a

group can be no smarter than the sum

total of the knowledge and skills of its

members, it can be much “dumber” if its

internal workings don’t allow people to

share their talents. - Robert Sternberg (Educational/Psychological researcher)


The Focus of Collaboration

Collaborative cultures, which by definition

have close relationships, are indeed

powerful, but unless they are focusing on

the right things they may end up being

powerfully wrong.

- Michael Fullan


The Focus of Collaboration

Four Key Questions:

1.  What do we want kids to learn?

2.  How will we know if they have learned?

3.  How will we respond when they don’t learn?

4.  How will we respond when they already know it?


Collaboration Time is Learning Time

Which one of us learned what today at our team meeting which is likely to impact what we do when we return to our classrooms and shut the door?

Improving Schools from Within – Roland Barth


The Bottom Line

PLCs will shift the focus of their school improvement efforts from the supervision and evaluation of individual teachers to an emphasis on building the collective capacity of collaborative teams of teachers to take responsibility for their own learning.

DuFour and Marzano – Educational Leadership, February 2009


Discussion Point

1.  What does collaboration look like in your school?

2.  What is the focus of collaborative meetings in your school?

3.  Do your collaborative teams help individual teachers, the team at large, and the school do a better job of helping all students learn at high levels?

•  What is the evidence?


Big Idea #3: Focus on Results

n Professional learning communities assess their effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions

n Adult comfort vs. continuous improvement

n Mistakes are an excepted part of learning



We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions. Individuals, teams, schools, and districts seek relevant data and information and use that information to promote continuous improvement.

Dufour, Dufour and Eaker



To guide our intervention program, common assessment information must tell us

•  Which students did or did not master specific essential standards

•  Which instructional practices did or did not work.

Dufour, Dufour and Eaker



Success will be judged not by how many teachers and principals participate in staff development or how they perceive its value, but whether it alters instructional behavior and practices in a way that benefits students.

Dennis Sparks (1995)


Creating a Results Focus n  Identify a limited number of very focused

district goals.

n School’s establish goals based upon district goals.

n Teams link their SMART goals to school goals.

n Goals are focused on results NOT activities.

n Teams set attainable short term goals. Learning by Doing Chapter 6


Discussion Point

1.  What practices exist in your school for looking at data?

2.  What evidence exists to prove that there is equity in how teachers determine results?

3.  How does your school gather data to determine the effectiveness of instructional strategies?

4.  What measures are in place in your school to

determine student growth outside of standardized assessments?


Passion and Persistence

Documents

Creating A Professional Learning Community...Effective leaders focus on developing the culture and the collective ... PLC’s operate under the assumption that the key to improved