Establishing and Maintaining Professional Learning Communities

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Establishing and Maintaining Professional
Learning Communities

• First Annual Summit on Curriculum, Instruction,
• and Assessment
• Marlborough, MA
• December 10, 2008
• M.Kate Carbone, Laura Miceli, and Julia Phelps
• Office of Urban District Assistance

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Todays Outcomes

• Provide data to illustrate the effect of the
  achievement gap
• Consider Professional Learning Communities as a
  strategy for improving the learning of all
  students
• Share a framework for establishing and
  maintaining Professional Learning Communities
  across levels in a district
• Provide an overview of a toolkit designed to
  assist leaders with implementing portions of the
  Professional Learning Communities framework

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Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment
Projections. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. http//www.bls.gov/emp/emptab7.htm
(accessed November 30, 2008).
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Achievement for All Matters

• For individuals
• Increased salary
• Health risks reduced
• Longevity
• Likelihood for family members to further
  education
• For society
• Lower criminal justice costs
• Lower healthcare costs
• 21st Century Skills and increased economic growth
• Wiliam, Dylan. Content then process teacher
  learning communities in the service of formative
  assessment. Presented at the conference ahead
  of the curve The Power of Assessment to Transform
  Teaching and Learning. Atlanta, Georgia, October
  29 November 1, 2008.

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Graduation

• Ready for 21st Century Success The New Promise
  of Public Education, The Patrick Administration
  Education Action Agenda, Commonwealth of
  Massachusetts, June 2008.

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• In the 2007 Massachusetts four-year cohort,
• nearly 23 percent of African American students
  and nearly
• 23 percent of Hispanic students dropped out of
  high
• school, compared to only 6.6 percent of white
  students.
• Ready for 21st Century Success The New Promise
  of Public Education, The Patrick
• Administration Education Action Agenda,
  Commonwealth of Massachusetts, June 2008.

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Improving Student AchievementWhat Works

• Characteristics of effective schools
• Clear essential learning standards
• Early exposure to concepts
• Formative assessment
• Teacher collaboration
• Embedded professional development
• Safety nets
• Teachers who believe they can make a difference
• Students who feel respected and valued
• Johnson, J. F. (2008) National Center for Urban
  School Transformation, http//www.ncust.org
• Black, P. Wiliam, D. Inside the black box
  Raising standards through classroom assessment,
  Phi Delta Kappan (Oct 1998) 139-148.

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Bridging the Knowing-Doing Gap

• The knowing/doing gap is one of the great
  mysteries in organizational management why
  knowledge of what needs to be done frequently
  fails to result in action or behavior consistent
  with that knowledge.
• Pfeffer, J., Sutton, R. (2000). The
  knowing-doing gap How smart companies turn
  knowledge into action. Boston, MA Harvard
  Business School.

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Fixing Systems Not People
Its time to create better systemsto make
schools more hospitable places for students and
adults so that ordinary people can accomplish
extraordinary things. DuFour, R., DuFour, R.
Eaker, R. (2008). Revisiting professional
learning communities at work New insights for
improving schools. Bloomington, IN Solution
Tree.
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Making the Case for Professional Learning
Communities

• Professional learning communities have emerged
  as arguably the best, most agreed-upon means by
  which to continuously improve instruction and
  student performance.
• Schmoker, M. (2006) Results now. Alexandria, VA
  Association for Supervision and Curriculum
  Development.

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Making the Case for Professional Learning
Communities

• Doug Reeves Michael Fullan
• Dylan Wiliam Richard Elmore
• Linda Darling-Hammond Roland Barth
• Andy Hargreaves Tom Sergiovanni
• Jonathan Saphier Richard Stiggins

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What are Professional Learning Communities?

• Building-based collaborative teacher teams
• Shared mission, vision, goals
• Focus on student learning
• Action oriented
• Shared accountability for results in student
  achievement
• DuFour, Rebecca. (2008) Power of professional
  learning communities Bringing the big ideas to
  life. Presented at the PLCs at Work Best
  Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement
  conference. Boston, MA, Aug. 7-9.
• Wiliam, Dylan. Changing classroom practice,
  Educational Leadership vol. 4 (Dec 2007/Jan
  2008) 40-41.

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Possible Team Structures

• Elementary schools
• Grade-level
• Middle schools
• Grade-level, content
• High schools
• Course or content

• Size
• Optimal 5-10 members
• Meeting Frequency
• At least 1 hour per week (DuFour)
• 2 hour monthly meeting (Wiliam)

DuFour, Rebecca. (2008) Power of professional
learning communities Bringing the big ideas to
life. Presented at the PLCs at Work Best
Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement
conference. Boston, MA, Aug. 7-9. Wiliam, Dylan.
Changing classroom practice, Educational
Leadership vol. 4 (Dec 2007/Jan 2008) 40-41.
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Challenges to Establishing a New Culture

• Teacher isolation
• DRIP (Data Rich/Information Poor)
• Change Program
• Filtering the brutal facts
• Failure to implement
• Leadership disconnect
• DuFour, R., DuFour, R. Eaker, R. (2008).
  Revisiting professional learning communities at
  work New insights for improving schools.
  Bloomington, IN Solution Tree.

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Establishing Maintaining Professional
Learning Communities

• Designed to support implementation
• Developed in partnership with district leaders
  and principals
• Based on the prevailing research
• Articulated across roles teachers, principal,
  superintendent
• Organized into 6 fluid stages

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Professional Learning Communities
Stage 1 Launching Vision, Urgency Purpose
Stage 6 Celebrating Success, Reviewing Progress
Stage 2 Analyzing Data Setting Targets
PLC
Stage 5 Implementing Standards-Based Lessons
Stage 3 Developing Focus Process for
Monitoring Progress
Stage 4 Developing Standards-Based Lessons
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What is ESEs Role?

• As stated in the Framework for Leadership
  Action for the Department
• to work in partnership with key stakeholders
  to build capacity of schools and districts to
  provide high quality curriculum and instruction
  for all students and prepare them for career and
  college.
• Development of Tool Kits

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Professional Learning Communities
PLC
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Learning Walk Tool Kit

• Protocol for Conducting a Learning Walk
• Defines what to do before, during and after a
  Learning Walk
• Provides all stakeholders with clear expectations
  for the Learning Walk process
• The Learning Walk Continuum
• Provides a framework for classroom observations
• Defines 17 characteristics
• Provides examples of teaching learning in
  stages developing, providing, sustaining
• Learning Walk Feedback Template
• Provides a sample of feedback following a
  Learning Walk
• Data Collection Tool
• Creates a data set that allows improvements to be
  tracked
• Allows data files to be shared easily

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What do we hope you do after today?

• Review and reflect on your districts culture for
  supporting changes at the classroom level.
• Consider how to advance implementation of
  Professional Learning Communities as a means for
  improving student achievement in your district.
• Convene a team of stakeholders to review
  Establishing Maintaining Professional Learning
  Communities as a resource to advance
  implementation.

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Closing thought

• Only organizations that have a passion for
  learning will have an enduring influence.
• Covey, S., Merrill, A. Merrill, R. (1996) First
  things first To live, to love, to learn, to
  leave a legacy. New York Fireside.

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Questions Discussion
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• For More Information
• www.allthingsplc.info
• M. Kate Carbone, 781-338-3517, mcarbone_at_doe.mass.e
  du
• Laura Miceli, 781-338-3503, lmiceli_at_doe.mass.edu
• Julia Phelps, 781-338-3506, jphelps_at_doe.mass.edu