Plcs Port Susan

Knights

What We Do Matters

PORT SUSAN MIDDLE SCHOOL

Professional Learning Communities 2006-2007 Defining Professional Learning Communities Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are very similar to Critical Friends Groups (CFGs). They are teams of teachers from the same school, department, and grade level who come together to help each other improve student learning (Sather, 2005). PLCs are goal oriented and maintain an unrelenting focus on student learning. PLCs assume that the needs of every student are not being fully met: This is not any one teacher’s fault but all teachers are responsible for addressing the problem. The driving engine of a PLC is the collaborative team, on which members work interdependently to achieve a common goal for which each team member is

Four Critical Questions of Learning for PLCs

mutually accountable (Dufour, Durfour, Eaker, and Many, 2006). PLC members collaboratively learn and improve practices together by: • Examining and analyzing student achievement and classroom data to make decisions • Selecting specific areas to investigate as a focus for changing practice • Investigating research and best practices • Trying out new strategies or changing existing practices that affect classroom learning • Sharing personal practices and expertise through reflective dialogue, analysis of student work, and observing each other’s classroom practices • Documenting activities and results

• • • •

Functioning effectively as a team Focusing on results Creating shared understandings Ensuring that students learn

PLC Activities for 2006-2007 • Develop team norms • Develop common SMART Goals • Develop common outcomes (Power Standards): 8-10 per semester • Develop four common units (UbD) • Develop three common assessments and implement one ESD 189 CBA • Calibrate and score common assessments • Analyze student performance on assessments • Develop common curriculum maps

In a PLC the following four questions guide the conversations of the entire staff, the collaborative teams, and the day-to day work of teachers in every classroom. We are all encouraged to answer these questions for each unit of study we plan: 1. 2. 3. 4.

What is it we expect all students to learn? How will we know when they have learned it? How will we respond when they do not learn? How will we respond when they already know it?

What We Do Matters

Professional Learning Communities Timeline for First Attempt 2006-2007

Develop Team Norms on 30 August 2006

Develop Common SMART Goals 13 October 2006

Develop 8-10 Common Outcomes By The Third Late Start Wednesday

Develop A Common Unit Using The UbD Framework By The Sixth Late Start Wednesday

Develop a Common Assessment For The First Unit By The Ninth Late Start Wednesday

Analyze Student Performance on Assessment By The End of The First Semester

Curriculum Map Your Work Monthly

Why Professional Learning Communities SIPs Usually Don’t Work For the 2006-2007 School Improvement Plan process, Port Susan Middle School is going to dramatically change its practice of developing a whole school improvement plan to grade level improvement plans. Recent studies have indicated that most teachers and school leaders are unable to link their professional practices to student achievement because many do not know how their practices influence success (Reeves, 2006). Recent literature suggests that school improvement plans have become ineffective and a waste of time because they have become little more than exquisitely formatted planning documents that cause little change in student learning (Guskey, 2005).

A New Plan School Improvement Plans can create positive change in student learning if they become more than a document completed by a few people and intimately known by even less. Schmoker (2006) and Reeves (2006) provide several suggestions for essential elements of a school improvement plan that will create immediate and lasting change in the schoolhouse and student learning. • School improvement needs to be focused on inquiry and focused on the underlying causes of deficiencies and success in student achievement and equity • Successful School Improvement Plans recognize implementation is continuos and subject to quantitative and narrative description

• School Improvement Plans need to be monitored and adjusted frequently • Quality School Improvement Plans ensure follow-up and reflection on instruction and its impact • School Improvement Plans need to be results-oriented • Effective School Improvement Plans reinforce a focus on essential common standards aligned with state assessments, providing for a guaranteed and viable curriculum • School Improvement Plans need to be social to create the best kind of accountability--a deep commitment to the people we know and care about--our colleagues and students • Effective School Improvement Plans honor and empower teachers and their intelligence, capturing the vast reserves of expertise in any team and school

Works Cited Guskey, T.R. (2005). Five key concepts kick of the process. Journal of Staff Development 26 (1), 36-40 Reeves, B.D. (2006) The learning leader: How to focus school improvement for better results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Schmoker, M. (2006). Results now: How we can achieve unprecedented improvements in teaching and learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

A Closer Look At PLCs This year our plan is to continue building on the collaborative skills and processes we established last year. Instead of gathering the entire building together and looking at our achievement trends and making a building wide action plan, we are going to maximize our efforts by working in Professional Learning Teams. Each grade level content area will analyze their specific data. Each content grade level PLC will then crate SMART goals and action plans to support student achievement. We then will dedicate every building directed Late Start Wednesday to support what DuFour (2006) calls strategies for closing the Knowing-Doing Gap. Port Susan Middle School’s focus for this year’s School Improvement Plan is as follows: • Define our purpose ensuring all students learn rather than all students are taught • Work together collaboratively rather than in isolation • Monitor each student’s learning on a frequent and timely basis • Create systematic interventions that give students extra time and support for learning • Build continuous improvement processes into routine team practices • Create a results orientation by frequently gathering and using achievement data to inform and improve our practice, to establish SMART goals, and to direct team dialogue