The School District Of Osceola County, Florida November 12, 2009
• Adults without a high school diploma are twice as likely to be unemployed.
• Dropouts make up nearly 70% of US inmates.
• A dropout’s life expectancy is 9.2 years lower than that of high school graduates.
• The average 45-year-old dropout is in worse health than the average 65-year-old high school graduate. Source: Henry Levin, Columbia University
So....
Keeping The End In Mind….
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Administrators And Teachers Working Together To…
give studentsthe best of the best
encourage eachother to achievemore professionally
ensure that
ALL students
are successful
share knowledge
and
teaching strateg
ies
look at the datato make instructional
decisionsincrease student successes
increase graduationrates
maximize theirefforts
bring out
the
best in AL
L
children
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Professional Learning Communities…..
•Have the support of their administrators
•Have clear and common goals
•Have a regular agreed-upon meeting time
•Use data to drive instruction
•Work collaboratively to plan and revise lessons
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Professional Learning Communities…..
•Ensure that students learn
•Focus on results
•Create a culture of collaboration(and actually collaborate)
DuFour, Richard. 2004. “What Is A Professional Learning Community?” 6
A Professional Learning Community Is NOT……
• just one more thing to add to our already-busy schedule.
• a book-of-the-month club or study program.
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A Professional Learning Community Is NOT……
• one more program from the district or state that they want us to implement. “Here we go again!”
• a sure-fire system that worked at some other school.
• a bandwagon program that will go away.
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The Traditional School Structure
Teachers are dispersed into isolated classrooms
Room 412
Room 414
Room 416
Room 413
Room 415
Room 417
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The Pseudo PLC Structure
Individual classrooms organized into isolated groups on an infrequent basis.Kindergarten
First Grade TeamSecond Grade TeamThird Grade TeamFourth Grade TeamFifth Grade Team
pseu-do: adjective, 1.not actually but having the appearance of; pretend; false; sham.2.almost, approaching, or trying to be.
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The PLC Structure
A cohesive school organized into Interdependent Collaborative Teams.
KindergartenFirst Grade TeamSecond Grade TeamThird Grade TeamFourth Grade TeamFifth Grade Team
Vertical Dial ogue
Horizontal DialogueHorizontal DialogueHorizontal Dialogue
Horizontal Dialogue
Horizontal Dialogue
Horizontal Dialogue
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The GreatsTiger Woods
He works in a foursome, but he is truly independent. No matter which foursome he is with, he does not collaborate, help or encourage them. Tiger wants to get all the glory.
Room 417
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The GreatsMichael Jordan
In the pros, Michael earned many individual accolades including league MVP. But of all those accolades, his greatest desire was to win the World Championship. It wasn’t until he began to collaborate with his teammates that the ultimate goal was attained. 15
Create Your Teams And Choose Your Team Facilitators
The fundamental question in organizing teams is:
Do the people on this team have a shared responsibility for responding to the learning of their students?Have your teams brought to the forefront new Believers, Tweeners and Fundamentalists? Balance is essential!
Step 1
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Possible Team Structures:• All teachers teaching the same grade level
• All teachers teaching the same course
• Vertical teams (K-2/3-5 or Spanish I-IV)
• Similar Responsibility Teams (Guidance, Special Area ‘Job Alike’)(Vital components of PLC’s are common assessments and the 4 critical questions. To maximize effectiveness, groupings of teachers need to be teaching the same standards to create common assessment and have focused discussion on standards. ) 18
Facilitators• Administrators should be in constant communication with facilitators to provide the following in order to guide the movement:- suggested agenda items- providing poignant research article for teams to discuss- supporting the “people” issues (“Is your team coming to consensus?” “Is everyone arriving on time and coming prepared?” “How can administration support you?”)
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Step 2Develop Team Norms
The Standards Of Behavior by Which We Agree To Operate While We Are In This
Group (Refer to reproducible #211)
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Effective teams review the norms as their first agenda item
at each meeting (1 min.)
SMART Goals• With one nine weeks
complete, PLC teams should begin the next phase of writing SMART Goals.
• Teams should write at least one SMART goal for each subject area (i.e. On our October Monthly Writes 63% of our students scored 4 or above. By the January Writes, 88% will score a 4 or more.)
• Even more important than setting the goal…How will we accomplish this goal? Small groups, focused-writing groups…
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Team TimelinesAug./Sept. - Develop Teams
Teams Develop Norms
Team Develop SMART Goal
Aug. 31-Sept. 4 - First Formative Assessment
Sept. 15 - Analysis of Student Data From First Formative Assessment (Reflect on data,
Create a plan)
Every 2 Weeks - Create Common Assessments
Following Week - Meet to analyze data and form
strategies
Nov. 30-Dec. 4 - Second Formative Assessment23
Formative Assessments - Round Two
What’s Next?How can we ensure our teachers use the data to make meaningful decisions???
Give teachers the right questions!Create a data question sheet to guide your PLC’s on how to view
the data. Questions could include some of the items below: • Do you see specific strands that need to be re-taught? How will you
adjust your instructional calendars?• Look at the standards that have already been taught. Find the data
where students are excelling in mastery. What is happening in that classroom? Could the teacher come and model a lesson in your classroom?
• Look at the item analysis. Do you see a pattern of incorrect answers? Look at the answer choices and identify any major misconceptions. Use tricky questions/answers as a teaching tool with students.
• Attach each question to a standard. Use the item analysis to identify small groups of children who need specific skills. Provide remediation through small group instruction and specific skill activities.
• Growth? Identify students who made tremendous gains. What is different about this child’s instructional experience. How can we emulate that for other children?
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1.What is the instructional focus?
2.What are the instructional strategies?
3.How will we know when they have learned it?
4.How will we respond when they need
remediation or enrichment?
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PLC Meets
Focus
Using data,the team
creates a lessonplan and a
commonassessment
Strategies
Teacher instructs using effectivestrategies fromthe team’s focus
meeting
PLC Meets
Assessment
The teamconductscommon
assessmentthen meets
to analyze dataand discussstrategies
Response
Teacher remediatesor enriches
basedon the pre-
determinedproficiency
level
The Team Cycle
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If we continue to take in data as we have always taken in data,
Then we will continue to think as we have always thought.
If we continue to think as we have always thought,
Then we will continue to believe as we have always believed.
If we continue to believe as we have always believed,
Then we will continue to act as we have always acted,
Then we will continue to get what we have always gotten.
An Act Of Futility
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AchievementTeamwork
Shared Knowledge
College-boundstudents
We All Play A Vital Role In Student Success
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Art TweediePLC District CoachThe Office Of Research, Evaluation & Accountability817 Bill Beck BoulevardKissimmee, FL 34744407-870-4932Internal [email protected]
Contact Information
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