But What are Your

PLC’s Talking About?

January 7, 2009

Leadership Innovations Team

Alison Olzendam, Ph. D.

alison@leadershipinnovationsteam.com

Targets for today

• Know and understand the research behind

effective teaching practices

• Understand why a PLC is powerful

• Know how to provide data driven staff

development

Operating principles for today

• Safe learning environment

• No learners can opt out

• No wrong answers

• Model, not mandate!

Strategy we will use today

• Find a partner for each of the following:

• Rock N Roll

• Disco

• Latin

Why an instructional focus? WhyWhy an instructional focus? Why

leadership? Marzanoleadership? Marzano

Scenario Percentile Entering Percentile Leaving

Average School / Average

Teacher

50 50

Highly IneffectiveSchool /

Ineffective Teacher

50 3

Highly Effective School /

Ineffective Teacher

50 34

Ineffective School / Highly

Effective Teacher

50 63

Highly Effective School /

Highly Effective Teacher

50 96

Highly Effective School /

Average Teacher

50 78

Factors Affecting Student Achievement

School Factors

•Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum

•Challenging goals and effective feedback

•Parent & community involvement

•Safe and orderly environment

•Collegiality and professionalism

Teacher Factors

•Classroom curriculum design

•Instructional Strategies

•Classroom management

Marzano “What Works n Schools”

Why Collaborate in PLCWhy Collaborate in PLC’’s?s?

Schools with strong ProfessionalLearning Communities (PLC’s) are4 times more likely to be improving

academically than schools withweaker professional communities.

Kappan “School Reform and Professional Development” Lewis, Anne.

Why Collaborate in PLCWhy Collaborate in PLC’’s?s?

Grade 10, Writing 1999

Percent Low Income (Free or Reduced Lunch)

100806040200

Perc

ent M

eetin

g S

tandard

100

80

60

40

20

0

1. What conclusions can you make?

2. What are you curious about?

Rock n Roll over to that partner

• Scatterplots.

• How do you explain the differences

between the two slides?

Effective Staff Development?

• Think of a training that was effective in

changing your practice

• What were the elements of that training

that made the difference?

• Write them down

• Disco on over

• Share them with your partner

Effective School…Effective Teacher

• How do teachers improve practice?

• Staff Development

• What staff development activities have the

greatest impact?

Professional Development Processes:

Impact and Use

Why a focus on instruction?

• “The top performing school systems

recognize that the only way to improve

outcomes is to improve instruction”

• McKinsey & Company. How the Worlds

Top Performing Systems Come Out On

Top (2007)

So how do students learn best?

• Instruction that works for all students

• How People Learn

• Project-National Research Council

• Funded by US Department of Education

office of Educational Research and

Improvement

• Research based messages that are clear

and directly relevant to classroom practice

Research: How People Learn

You have 20 minutes. Jigsaw “How People

Learn.” Groups of 4-similar roles

1-page 15 #1

2-page 16, #2

3-page 17, #3

4-page 18 Bringing Order, to page 19

Read to yourself first. You will then teach

your section to the group. Underline, etc.

What are the implications for your work?

Be ready to discuss.

Looking at the Research

How People Learn – Key Findings

• Students come to the classroom with

preconceptions about how the world works.

• To develop competence in an area of inquiry,

students must have opportunities to learn with

understanding.

• A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can

help students learn to take control of their own

learning.

How People Learn

• Adults are people too!

• Dance over to your Latin partner

• Read the last page of Chapter 2 of How

People Learn

Share your staff development training

With your partner discuss which elements were

present:

Learner centered?

Knowledge centered?

Assessment centered?

Community centered?

If instruction is the key, and PLC’s

are the structure

• How do we talk about instruction?

• An instructional Protocol

• Provides a common language and a clear

target

• The first instructional protocol?

• We use The Student Learning Protocol

• “The Essential Practices of High Quality

Teaching and Learning” MacGregor

What an instructional framework is

NOT…

• Intended to be used for evaluation

• A silver bullet

• It will not be the tool, but how teachers

utilize it that will make the difference

• A program, a new thing to add to already

overloaded teachers

• Teachers already talk about instruction

• This tool provides clarity and focus

Two powerful tools for teachers:

• A structure that allows them to talk to each

other and share knowledge

• Professional Learning Communities,

Critical Friends, etc.

• And a way to talk to each other, an

instructional framework or protocol

• Provides a common language and clear

target

THE GOAL!

• To turn over the ownership of student

achievement to those that have the greatest

impact…

• Teachers!

• And then support them.

Charlotte Danielson

• When teachers use the same framework,

they improve communication because

they’re using the same set of concepts

and terms to describe phenomena. In

addition, by using the framework, they can

be sure that the areas chosen for

improvement are truly those most in need

of work.

Using the Student Learning Protocol…

• Not every practice every day

• Look for evidence in what students are

doing

• Page for reflection

A tool for use in PLC’s

• Common language, clear target

• A Professional Learning

Community…what better way to improve

practice than with other experts?

• Teacher factor…school factor

PLC’s…collaboration? Talking about

what?

• The results suggest that although these types oforganizational reforms may succeed inimproving the culture within which teachersteach, they alone are unlikely to improveinstruction and student learning. Thecommunities that develop are often notcommunities engaged in instructionalimprovement (Supovitz, 2002).

• It is clearly not enough for teachers just tocollaborate; there needs to be a focus oninstructional practice and an intentionalstructure for observation and dialogue

A four year study in a district

• Developing Communities of

Instructional Practice

by Jonathan Supovitz

• About a fourth of the time

Professional Learning Communities

made an impact on student

achievement.

Effective communities of learners…

• First, effective communities prepare for

instruction collaboratively, taking

advantage of preparation as a learning

opportunity. They examine and discuss

student work in relation to standards and

how it is differentially produced through a

variety of instructional approaches.

Effective Communities of Learners…

• Second, community members sometimes

teach together, often observe each other

in the act of teaching, and always feel safe

in doing so. Based on these common

experiences, they offer constructive

criticism of each other’s strategies.

Effective Communities of Learners…

• Third, communities flexibly and

purposefully regroup their students to take

advantage of both the strengths of team

members and the advantages of small

student groups for particular instructional

purposes.

Together…

• A multiplier effect

• A structure, a Professional Learning

Community

• A tool that provides a target for instruction

• A survey that gives direction to

instructional teams

• Adults don’t argue with their own data!

Resources

• McKinsey & Company. How the WorldsTop Performing Systems Come Out OnTop (2007).

• www.effectiveness.org The EssentialPractices of High Quality Teaching andLearning. MacGregor

• Marzano, R. What Works in Schools.

• www.nsdc.org Graham, Ferriter. OneStep at a Time. Summer 2008, Vol 29 No.3