Whole Faculty Group Study

1. Whole Faculty Group Study An Overview of WFGS Feb 5-12, 2006 Dr. Eric Jakubowski

2. Mediocrity is so easily achievable, there’s no need for planning at all! Roger Kaufman, 1998

3. Topics • Paradigms of Change • Importance of Collaboration • Professional Learning Communities (PLC) Overview of WFSG • What it is and is not • Steps in WFSG • Nuts and Bolts • Does it work? • What it takes 2 make it work?

4. Traditional Teaching Paradigm Teacher Student Student Student Student

5. Collaborative Paradigm Teacher Student Student Student Student

6. Network Paradigm Parents Other Schools Teacher Student Student Student Student Internet Other WWW Sources

7. Which is the Best Paradigm • It depends: school culture what is being taught in the paradigm outcomes of what education is about

8. Paradigm Thoughts . . . Assumptions Beliefs Values Judgments Consistency Stability Tradition

9. Traditional Change Paradigm Values Tradition Belief Judgment • Means Change In

10. Rethinking Change Paradigm Tradition Assumptions

11. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT IS NEVER QUICK AND EASY Even the grandest design eventually degenerates into hard work. Richard DuFour

12. Resistance • Change is difficult because: • takes us out of tradition, stability • challenges our beliefs and assumptions • may show our vulnerabilities • learning curve • However, change is inevitable • We can choose to be the master of change or its constant victim

13. Carlene Murphy Meaningful change requires collaborative processes that are different from most we have attempted in the past.

14. Need for a Collaborative Culture Improving schools require collaborative cultures. . . Without collaborative skills and relationships, it is not possible to learn and to continue to learn as much as you need to know to improve. • Michael Fullan

15. What Educational Researchers Say … “Throughout our ten-year study, whenever we found an effective school or an effective department within a school, without exception, that school or department has been a part of a collaborative professional learning community.” Milbrey McLaughlin, Stanford University

16. Personal Learning Community A Professional Learning Community has: • shared mission, vision, and values • collective inquiry • collaborative teams • action orientation and experimentation • continuous improvement • results orientations

17. The WFSG System is …. • A structure for implementing a School Improvement Plan • A vehicle for doing what teachers already have to do, i.e., design lessons for implementing new reading program • A place to work ‘on the work’ with colleagues instead of working alone

18. What is WFSG? • Organizing teachers into small groups or study groups is not a new idea • Organizing the ENTIRE school faculty into study groups based on student need to bring about school wide improvement is a new idea in many districts

19. Attributes of WFSG • Research Based • Addresses student needs • Student needs are based on data • Respects, validates and uses teachers as professionals who have the capacity to “do the work” • Structured to provide accountability for implementation • Aligns with and supports SIP and the PLC model • Aligns with NSDC standards

20. What WGFS is Not • A quick fix solution • A technique or one-time workshop • Committee work • Another thing that we have to do • Busy work • Just another educational flash in the pan

22. We’re off to see the Wizard? If we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always gotten. The Wizard of Oz

23. Points to Ponder Think about your PD plan or model. • Are we learning what students need us to learn? How do we know? • Are students learning and achieving as a result of what we are learning and doing in our current professional development model? How do we know?

24. The Logic of WFSG • If schools are to improve, they must develop a collaborative culture • If schools are to develop a collaborative culture, they must overcome a tradition of teacher isolation • If schools are to overcome their tradition of teacher isolation, teachers must learn to work in effective, high performing teams • WFSG helps teachers learn to work in effective, high performing teams

25. A Proven Practice • The WFSG process began in 1986 as a strategy for providing pressure and support to teachers for implementing several models of teaching in Augusta, GA. • It has evolved into a nationally recognized, proven in practice professional development system.

26. WFSG Are Working In …. • High schools with as many as 3000 students • Middle schools with different teaming patterns • Elementary schools of all sizes • Schools in large, urban cities • Schools in suburban and rural communities • Schools representing all demographics • Charter schools, boarding schools • Schools implementing different national comprehensive school reform designs

27. Why Use it? • Has the greatest chance of changing the tradition and culture • Focuses site and individual PD on school improvement related to student performance • Provides a vehicle for proactively managing change, now and in the future!

28. Why Use It? • Change becomes manageable as collaborative teams become units of change • Can be accomplished with a limited budget • Avoids allowing resisters to stop necessary change • This process is NOT perfect, but it provides a proven method for real results!

29. Nuts & Bolts of WFSG • Student “needs” are used as “topics” for study groups • Needs are generated by data (state, school) • Study groups are organized with 3-5 people per group • Needs are placed on sheets and narrowed down into clusters • group members select a study group topic

30. Nuts and Bolts • Each groups develops norms and a meeting schedule • Each group develops an action plan • Each group meets 2X per month, logs meetings, determines if action plan is working-makes adjustments • Results are shared • Progress is measured by student work and student data

31. To Be Successful • TIME • Recommendation: A minimum of 1 hour every other week • EXPLICIT PURPOSE • Essential question and each group’s action plan • An understanding of “HOW TO COLLABORATE” • Group norms, guidelines for meeting, and use of protocols • ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY for working collaboratively • Agreement to begin and develop own action plans • FEEDBACK • Groups must have timely feedback on their action plans

32. I don’t have time . . . • Must honor faculty meeting time weekly or monthly • Reorganize current PD contract time • Use collaborative planning time-- “trade out” contract time? Others?

33. What Will Guide the Work? • Critical questions • What do students need for us to do? • What are students learning and achieving as a result of what we are learning and doing in study groups?

34. WFSGRoles & Responsibilities • District Level Support • Focus Team • Principal • Study Group Leader • Individual Study Group Member • Instructional Council

35. Roles and Responsibilities • District Level Support • Collects and distributes relevant info to principals • Helps identify and makes available resources • Provides expertise to the study groups, as needed • Supports need for time for study groups to meet • Communicates with district level staff what groups are studying

36. Roles and Responsibilities • Principal - Establishes the expectation. - Is an active participant in the training and planning sessions. - Receives action plans and responds to them. - Receives the study group logs and responds to them.

37. Roles and Responsibilities • Focus Team • Composed of the principal and a representative group of teachers • Attends training on how to begin WFSG • Leads the whole faculty through the WFSG orientation • Leads the whole faculty through the Decision-Making-Cycle, resulting in the establishment of what study groups will do. • Is represented on the Instructional Council.

38. Roles and Responsibilities • The Study Group Leader • Rotates every meeting so that leadership is a shared responsibility among all study group members • Confirms logistics of meetings with study group members • Starts & ends meeting on time • Reminds members that stray from the focus of the meeting to refocus • Sees that the study group log is completed and that the members and the principal receive a copy

39. Roles and Responsibilities • Individual Study Group Members • Respect norms established by the study group. • Take turns serving as leader, recognizing that leadership is a shared responsibility. • Participate in the development of the study group action plan and commits to its actions. • Take responsibility for his or her own learning and for seeking resources for the study group. • Take responsibility for regularly bringing student work to the study group meeting. • Bring back to the study group what he or she has done in the classroom as a result of the study group work.

40. Instructional Council • The IC provides the network for communication and includes: • 1 representative from each SG • The principal • 2-3 Focus Team members • Meets 4-8 times per year • Information from the IC disseminated? • Minutes • Newsletters • Reps report/share at their next SG meetings.

41. Bottom Line • >75% of your teacher don’t buy in, go fishing! • Must have principal endorsement, support, and do whatever it takes to make it work • Time commitments MUST BE HONORED • Content of SG work must be embedded into teacher practices (GIGO principle)