Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s)

1. 3 minutes Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s)

2. PLC 101 • -3 Big Ideas • -The process… (norms, goals, assessments) • -Tight & Loose • Understanding data •  Leading in a PLC •  How do you measure PLC success?

10. Organized Abandonment • Limit initiatives “To have more than one priority is to have none”

11. Is PLC’s just another “thing”? Endorsements from the National Education Association, National Middle School Association, National Association of Elementary & Secondary School Principals, American Federation of Teachers, Center for Teaching Quality, Research in Action, National Staff Development Council, the Partnership for 21st Century Schools, etc. PLC’s is not an event, kit, room, or program – it’s an ongoing process

12. PLC’s Content-Area Teams (PLC’s) Interdisciplinary Teams (PLC’s) Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) Faculty Meetings SALT Meetings Team Leader Meetings Department Meetings Committee Meetings

13. 3 • Focus on learning • What is it that we expect them to learn? • How will we know when they have learned it? • How will we respond when they don’t learn? • How will we respond when they already know it? •  Build a collaborative culture •  Focus on results

14. BIG IDEA #1 learning

15. We accept learning as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning.

16. What’s more important? Teachers teaching at high levels or students learning at high levels? FOCUS on LEARNING

17. “I teach the students the material. If they pay attention in class and do their homework, then they will learn.”

19. What is it that we expect them to learn? • How will we know when they have learned it? • How will we respond when they don’t learn? •  How will we respond when they already know it?

22. remediation enrichment

23. Ultimately there are 2 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. Teacher and students go hand and hand as learners… or they don’t go at all.”

24. Big Idea #2 Building a Collaborative Culture TEAMS vs. GROUPS ISOLATION vs. COLLABORATION

25. “Collaboration in a PLC is a systematic process in which we work together interdependently to analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual and collective results.” -DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker

26. K-12 Assessment and Grading Common Expectations #4 Refining assessment & grading practices requires collaborative effort among teachers.

27. Collaboration is not optional, it’s your professional duty “The era of isolated teachers, working alone to meet the myriad needs of all their students, is neither educationally effective nor economically viable in the 21st century… When teachers collaborate, they become life-long learners, their instructional practice improves, and they are ultimately able to increase achievement far beyond what any of them could accomplish alone.” -Carroll, Fulton, & Doerr

31. A past present & future Prior to working as a professional learning community, we all worked hard, but we all worked in isolation. Our efforts were limited. Working as a professional learning community, we all work in collaboration. We have common goals and our impact on student achievement and our own personal growth is limitless.

32. Collaborate on the Right Issues To Impact Child and Adult Learning

33. Big Idea #3 Focus on Results

34. We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions. PLC’s must seek relevant data and information from various professionals to promote continuous improvement.

36. FOCUS on LEARNING

37. Situational Leadership Everyone has an expertise, and everyone should have the opportunity to lead “No single person has all the expertise, skill, and energy to lead a school, improve a school, or meet the needs of every child in his or her classroom.”

38. Formative vs. Summative

39. K-12 Assessment and Grading Common Expectations #3 Formative assessment is used to adjust instruction in order to move students to the learning target. #7 …Formative assessments are not used for grading purposes.

40. “In every case we have seen so far, common assessments linked with collaborative discussions is the key to improve learning.” -Fullan, 2011

41. How often should we give common formative assessments? How often are you prepared to do something with the results?

42. Accurate Assessment is Not Enough Team-developed common formative assessments are the most powerful tool for helping schools begin to function as PLC, but only if they are used to: • Inform and improve individual practice • Improve the effectiveness of the team • Identify students who need additional time & support for • learning • Identify students who are ready for enrichment

43. The Culture of a PLC is Simultaneously Loose & Tight

45. A leadership team must create clarity about what is tight, communicate what is tight “clearly, repeatedly, enthusiastically, and repeatedly (that is not a typo). When it comes to reinforcing clarity, there is no such thing as too much communication.” -Lenciono, 2012

46. Resources • www.allthingsPLC.com • www.marzanoresearch.com