Professional Learning Communities At Work

Union Township School System

Linda Hrevnack Mary Ellen Patricco Joan Pikula

Professional Learning Community (PLC) Defined

Educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research in order 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, Many 2006)

Consider the following:

A collaborative community where students are grouped into teams of four or five. Much learning takes place as a result of the teams brainstorming, engaging in collaborative research and reporting to the larger group. Teachers are facilitators. Groups are restructured four times a year.

Make the Connection

Families are invited to a workshop conference prior to Open House. Books are available, homework process is explained, and personal questions answered. Parents are invited to take an active role in the learning process. Parents understand what they need to do at home to help students meet success.

Let Them Learn!

Learning centers include SuccessMaker, science lab, writers corner, reading room, math challenge and a research lab. Students rotate through the activities on a daily basis for three weeks. The fourth week is reserved for assessments. Students complete and present alternative assessments and share research projects.

Let Them Learn! (continued)

Direct instruction may take place in a whole group or small group setting. Much learning takes place as a result of the teams brainstorming, engaging in collaborative research and reporting to the larger group. Groups are reassigned four times a year or for special assignments.

Make Learning Relevant

Essential learning is identified. Students read a common novel. Lessons and coursework are designed using the novel as a basis for study. Students engage in collaborative study to determine what it is good authors do. Interdisciplinary activities connect learning to self, other text, and world.

Make Learning Relevant (continued)

Learning reaches across the grade levels. Fourth grade and second grade students collaborate using units of study. Students read a common novel. Essential learning is identified and students work collaboratively to solve problems, complete activities, and present research.

The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is developing the ability of school personnel to function as professional learning communities. (DuFour 1998)

If schools are to be transformed into learning communities, educators must be prepared first of all to acknowledge that the guiding model of education is no longer relevant in a post industrial, knowledge based society. Second, they must embrace ideas and assumptions that are radically different than those that have guided schools in the past. (DuFour 1998)

Todays Educational Goals

All students master rigorous content

Learn how to learn

Pursue productive employment

Compete in a global economy

The rationale for any strategy for building a learning organization revolves around the premise that such organizations will produce dramatically improved results. (Peter Senge 1996)

Professional Learning Communities

The challenge for educators is to create a community of commitment - a Professional Learning Community. The very essence of a learning community is a focus on and a commitment to the learning of each student. Embrace high levels of learning for all students Create a Vision Collective Commitments (results-oriented goals to mark progress) Clarify what each student must learn Monitor students learning Provide systematic interventions Extend/enrich learning

Characteristics of PLC

Shared mission, vision and values Collective inquiry Collaborative Teams Action orientation and experimentation

Continuous improvement
Results oriented

Mission / Purpose

Why do we exist? What are we here to do together? The most successful schools function as professional communities:
When teachers pursue a clear shared purpose for all students learning. Engage in collaborative activity to achieve that purpose. Take collective responsibility for student learning.

The Vision What Do We Hope To Become?

Shared Vision:

Motivates and energizes people Creates proactive orientation Gives direction to the people within the organization Establishes specific standards of excellence Creates a clear agenda for action

Values
The clarification and promotion of values have been cited as key factors both for effective schools and for successful principles.

While all of the building blocks of school improvement are significant, implementing values represents the critical cornerstone of the process.

Collective Inquiry / Collaborative Teams

Collective Inquiry enables team members to develop new skills and capabilities that in turn lead to new experiences and awareness. People who engage in Collaborative Team Learning are able to learn from one another, thus creating momentum to fuel continued improvement.

Action Orientation and Experimentation

Willingness to experiment, to develop and test hypotheses. PLC members reflect on what happened and why, develop new theories, try new tests, evaluate the results.

Continuous Improvement

What is our fundamental purpose? What do we hope to achieve? What are our strategies for becoming better? What criteria will we use to assess our improvement efforts? Members of a PLC realize that all of their efforts must be assessed on the basis of results rather than intentions.

Visions may inspire, but goals foster ongoing accountability.

Goals
Measurable milestones that can be used to assess progress in advancing toward a vision. It is the identification and pursuit of explicit goals that foster experimentation, results orientation, and commitment to continuous improvement that characterize the PLC.

Four Pillars of PLC

MISSION VISION VALUES GOALS

Why do we exist?

WHY?

What must our school become to accomplish our purpose?

WHAT?

How must we behave to achieve our vision?

HOW?

HOW WILL WE MARK OUR PROGRESS?

FUNDAMENTAL PURPOSE

COMPELLING FUTURE

COLLECTIVE COMMITMENTS

TARGETS AND TIMELINES

Clarifies Priorities and Sharpens Focus

Gives Directions

Guides Behavior

Establishes Priorities

What is the Focus?

The three BIG questions
1. What is it that we want our students to learn? 2. How will we know when each student has learned it? 3. How will we respond when some students dont learn?

What is it we want our students to learn?

Essential Learning is Aligned with state standards and district curriculum goals. Must ensure students are well prepared to demonstrate proficiency on state, district and national assessments.

Resources made available by principal/facilitator for use in determining essential learning

State standards Recommended standards District Curriculum Guides Pre-requisite Skills Assessment Frameworks Data on past assessments Examples of student work Recommendations for workplace skills Released test items from the state Recommendations from Research (Reeves, Jacobs, Marzano, Wiggins, McTighe)

Selecting Essential Learning

The Three Part Test
(Doug Reeves, 2002)

1. Does it have endurance? 2. Does it have leverage? 3. Does it develop student readiness for the next level of learning?

How will we know if our students are learning?

Why common assessments? Efficiency Fairness Effective monitoring Informs individual teacher practice Builds team capacity Collective response to interventions

Intervention
(rather than remediation) takes place in many ways:

Small group instruction (in class) Grade level interventions Students join another class for instruction Enlisting the assistance of special area teachers and support staff Designing an at home strategy

Summary of the Day

Need for Change Definition of PLC

Characteristics of PLC
4 Pillars of Learning 3 BIG questions

PLC at Work!
Read the Connie Donovan Scenario: Is the school culture in which she is working desirable, preferable, feasible or possible? Review the different elements in this scenario. Which would require additional funding before a school could move forward with implementation? Which could be initiated without substantial new funding?

Teaching in a Professional Learning Community

The willingness to examine issues outside of individual classrooms and to seek solutions together is a major factor in the success of a professional learning community.

Welcome Back!
Professional Learning Communities
Day 2

Collaboration
To build Professional Learning Communities, meaningful collaboration must be systematically embedded into the daily life of the school.

Collaborative Teams
The best structures for fostering collaboration is the team- the basic building block of the intelligent organization.

Collaborative Culture

A Professional Learning Community is composed of collaborative teams whose members work interdependently to achieve common goals linked to the purpose of learning for all. Characteristics of Professional Learning Communities Shared Mission, Vision, and Values Collective Inquiry (referred to as the team learning wheels) Public Reflection Shared Meaning Joint Planning Coordinated Action

How Can We Find Time for Collaboration?

Provide common preparation time. Use parallel scheduling. Adjust start and end times. Share classes. Schedule group activities, events, and testing. Bank time. Use in-service and faculty meeting time wisely.

The degree to which people are working together in a coordinated, focused effort is a major determinant of the effectiveness of any organization.

One of the most effective strategies for bringing district goals to life is to insist that all schools create goals that are specifically linked to district goals.

SMART GOALS
S trategic and specific
M easureable

A ttainable R esults - Oriented T imebound

District Goals
1.

2.

All students will successfully complete every course and every grade level and will demonstrate proficiency on local, state and national assessment. We will eliminate the gaps in student achievement that are connected to race, socioeconomic status, and gender.

School Goals
Our reality: Our goal:
Last year 14% of the grade assigned to students were failing grades. This year we will reduce the % of failing grades to 7% or less.

Our reality:
Our goal:

Last year 76% of students met the proficiency standard on the state math test.
This year we will increase the % of students meeting the proficiency standard to 80% or higher.

A team is a group of people working interdependently to achieve a common goal for which members are held mutually accountable.

Short Term Goals

Create short term goals that serve as benchmarks. Example: 23% of students demonstrate proficiency on a pre-assessment instrument administered at the beginning of a unit. Establish a short term goal: 90% of the students will demonstrate proficiency by the end of the unit.

Helping Teams Translate long-term purpose into specific, measurable short term goals and then helping members develop skills to achieve those goals is one of the most important steps leaders can take in building the capacity of a group to function as a high performing collaborative team. (Katzenbach & Smith, 1993)

The Role of the Principal in the Professional Learning Community

Principles of PLC: Lead through shared vision and values. Involve members in the schools decision-making processes and empower individuals to act. Provide staff with the information, training, and parameters they need to make good decisions. Establish credibility by modeling behavior that is congruent with the vision and values of their school. They are results-oriented.

Community begins with a shared vision. Its sustained by teachers who, as school leaders, bring inspiration and direction to the institution. Who, after all, knows more about the classroom? Who can evaluate, more sensitively, the educational progress of each student? And who but teachers create a true community for learning? Teachers are, without question, the heartbeat of a successful school. (Ernest Boyer 1995 p.31)

The bottom line is that there is just no way to create good schools without good teachers.
(What Matters Most: Teaching for Americas Future 1996 p.9)

Every member of the teaching and classified staff must have an active role in restructuring school improvement.
(Donahue 1993)

John Gardner (1986) observes: Every Great Leader is clearly teaching- and every great teacher is leading.

Good teaching is not just a matter of being efficient, developing competence, mastering technique, and possessing the right kind of knowledge. Good teaching involves emotional work. It is infused with pleasure, passion, creativity, challenge, and joy. It is a passionate vocation.
(Andy Hargreaves 1997)

Kanter (1995) writes,

Change is always a threat when it is done to people, but it is an opportunity when it is done by people.