Professional Learning Communities

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Professional Learning Communities
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Professional Learning Communities

• Our Olathe Negotiated Agreement states that All
  certified/licensed personnel will participate in
  PLCs!
• Purpose of PLCs
• Establish specific, results oriented goals for
  learning
• Collaborating and developing common strategies
• Analyzing and monitoring student data
• Developing common assessments
• Examining Student Work
• Strategies for differentiating instruction/student
  interventions
• Creating joint lesson plans
• Sharing expertise in specific areas
• Keeping time focused on student learning by being
  agenda drive with a timeline for team products

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Getting Started

• Establish Norms Agree on Guidelines for Group
  Behavior
• Some Examples
• Attendance All members agree to attend every
  meeting. When someone cannot attend they must
  contact the PLC team leader 24 hours in advance.
• Participation We will participate in the
  meeting.
• Preparation We will come to all meetings with
  assignments completed, prepared to contribute to
  the discussions and decisions.
• Consensus building We will come to consensus on
  all decisions made.

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Getting Started

• Establish meeting dates and times.
• Establish Roles
• Examples Facilitator, Note taker, Time Keeper,
  etc.
• Be agenda drivenbe on the same page with the
  agenda you are going to use.

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SMART Goals are
Establish SMART goals after you have examined
your data!
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Sample SMART goal

• The percentage of 6th grade students
  scoring at the meets standard level or higher in
  Math will increase from 54 to 74 by the end of
  the 2007 school year as measured by the Kansas
  math assessment administered in April.
• We will improve this score by
• Analyzing our data by indicators and reteaching.
• Providing staff training on measurement and
  estimation.
• Implementing a building wide vocabulary program
  that focuses on math terms
• Implementing extended learning for targeted
  students.

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Sample SMART Goal

• The percentage of 8th grade students scoring
  above 80 on our unit exam will increase from 34
  (pretest) to 90 by the end of the September as
  measured by our common social studies assessment.
  
• We will improve this score by
• Developing common lessons and common assessments
  to (Analyzing our data by indicators and
  reteaching).
• Implementing Cornel Notes with students.
• Implementing a daily vocabulary focus on terms in
  our unit.

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Develop Common Assessments

• Purpose to gather evidence of student
  achievement to inform instructional decisions and
  to motivate learning.
• Key Questions
• What is it we want all students to learn?
• How will we know when each student has mastered
  the essential learning?
• How will we respond when a student experiences
  initial difficulty in learning?
• How will we deepen the learning for student who
  have already mastered essential knowledge and
  skills?

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Develop Common Assessments

• Determine if your assessments will be...
• Summative assessments assessments given at the
  end of a unit
• Formative assessments assessments given along
  the way to inform instruction
• Determine when you will administer the
  assessments and how you will collect and analyze
  the data.

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Working throughout the year

• Find time to Collaborating and developing common
  strategies for instruction
• Examining Student Work to Determine Strengths and
  Opportunities for Improvement
• Discuss Strategies for Differentiating
  instruction/student interventions
• Create joint lesson plans
• Share your expertise in specific areas

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Sample Resources

• Getting Started Reculturing Schools to Become
  Professional Learning Communities by Eaker,
  Dufour and Dufour
• Professional Learning Communities at Work by
  DuFour and Eaker
• The Power of SMART Goals Using Goals to Improve
  Student Learning by ONeill Conzemius
• The Handbook for SMART School Teams by ONeill
  Conzemius
• Learning by Doing A Handbook for Professional
  Learning Communities at Work by DuFour, DuFour,
  Eaker and Many