PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY HOW TO RAISE
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT HOW TO IMPACT NATIONAL AND
STATE TESTS HOW TO RAISE GRADES ON SCHOOL
COURSES Plan Review DR. DAN EDWARDSASSISTANT
EDUCATION PROFESSOR LINDENWOOD UNIVERSITY ST
CHARLES, MISSOURI 63301636-458-5046dhiltenedwar
ds_at_aol.com dedwards_at_lindenwood.edu
Dan Edwards
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Dan Edwards He Needs The Work!
EDWARDS EDUCATIONAL CONSUL TING Dr. Dan
Edwards 18147 Country Trails Ct. Wildwood,
Missouri 63038 636-458-5046 or 314-341-2788 Dr.
Edwards served as an educator for over thirty
years and as a middle and high school principal
for more than twenty years. He is currently an
Assistant Education Professor at Lindenwood
University. Schools under his administration
have received two Missouri Gold Stars and a
National Blue Ribbon. He has extensive experience
with school integration, academic climate, test
score enrichment (Professional Learning
Collaborative Teaming), student and staff
recognition, student leadership (including
outdoor education), curriculum and assessment
development, instructional strategies and
administrative mentoring. Dr. Edwards has served
as a member of the Jostens Educational Speakers
Bureau for the last fifteen years and is
available to provide a practical and humorous
approach to any of the above-mentioned areas. His
talks presented to students, staff or
administrators range from keynotes to day- long
workshops and extended consultative support,
depending on client requirements. If you have
interest in contracting Dr. Dan Edwards'
services, please call or e-mail. Phone
636-458-5046 or 314-341-2788 E-mail
dhiltenedwards_at_aol.com
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Plan Considerations

• Culture and Vision

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Dan Edwards The Starting Point for cultural
change.
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DIRECTION

• Were the mission, vision, values and goals
  developed collaboratively? Are they well
  understood and practiced by all staff? Are
  student and staff values published and practiced?

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The following slide depicts the mission of my
high school and unfortunately I wasnt alone!
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Dan Edwards Use the all kids can learn

• Our Real Mission
• is to sort and select students into widely
  varying programs on the basis of their innate,
  fixed aptitude. We are responsible for assessing
  each students ability and/or willingness to
  learn, and we then teach them accordingly. We
  take credit for the achievements of
  high-performing students and assign blame for low
  performance to others.

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Dan Edwards Its The MAP
No Child Left Behind George W. Bush
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ACHIEVEMNT GOALS

• Are you reaching and/or exceeding federal and
  state achievement goals? As defined in
  disaggregated data? What are your defined areas
  of disaggregation?

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The passage of the federal No Child Left Behind
Act, Congress fundamentally redefined what it
means to be a successful school. From now on,
schools will be judged not only on their average
standardized test scores, but also

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The passage of the federal No Child Left Behind
Act, Congress fundamentally redefined what it
means to be a successful school. From now on,
schools will be judged not only on their average
standardized test scores, but also
on their ability to improve achievement among all
groups of students.
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Plan Considerations

• Culture and Vision
• 100 Commitment.

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CHANGE!!!

• The following slide depicts how nearly everyone
  feels about change, especially if lifes okay
  or at least perceived to be okay.

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Get down before you hurt yourself.
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If you dont change.

• Even if you work harder, and how many school
  people do you know who have time to work harder?

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Dan Edwards All Kids Can Learn?.!
Increasing scores requires everyone.
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Convincing Others

• How do building lead teachers, department
  chairpersons, grade coordinators, professional
  develop chairs, principals, curriculum
  coordinators, etc. avoid defensiveness and
  institute positive change? It isnt easy!

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There is only one way to improve a
school.people development.
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Teaching Culture

• Have the items on the next slide been discussed
  and some common agreement attained?

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Instruction

• Instruction changes schools.
• How do you monitor teaching and learning.
• Student products verses teacher inputs.
• Common observations.
• Common assessments.
• Assessment drives evaluation.

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Plan Considerations

• Culture and Vision
• 100 Commitment.
• Define achievement.

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Is There a First Thing?

• There are several critical steps in raising
  measurable and valid student achievement. Were
  talking aboutbeing at the top of the state
  chart in ACT, MAP, etc. Or the most improved.

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Make Your List

• So what is the critical first step in raising
  student achievement?
• What is first?

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Dan Edwards This is the starting point, dont
skip it!
How do you define achievement? Because..You
cant raise what you cant define? Does your
answer change, if a parent asks, How is my
child doing?
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What Raises Student Achievement?

• What must students know to do well on a test,
  any test.???

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CONTENT MASTERY!
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Content Mastery

• How can a school, a grade level, department or
  a teacher define content mastery.

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Content Mastery

• What does content mastery look like? How do you
  determine if students have mastered course
  content at an acceptable level?

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Plan Considerations

• Culture and Vision
• 100 Commitment.
• Define achievement.
• Written and taught curriculum

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES What Do You
Want the kids to Know? a common curriculum taught
by all.
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Written, Defined Curriculum

• Two social studies teachers from the same school
  and both teaching ninth grade American History
  using the same textbook..Native American unit..
  

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Plan Considerations

• Culture and Vision
• 100 Commitment.
• Define achievement.
• Written and taught curriculum.
• Common assessments.

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES What Do You
Want the kids to Know? a common curriculum taught
by all. How do you know they know it? A
common assessment by all.
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Assessment Must Drive Instruction

• It doesnt matter if we are concerned with
  ACT, SAT, MAP or course content, in every case
  assessment must drive instruction.

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NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE PSAT - ACT - SAT STATE
PERSPECTIVE STANDARDS - MAP - BENCHMARK
DISTRICT LOCAL PERSPECTIVE CTBS - VERTICAL
TEAMING - COMMON FINALS 100 MATERIAL - 80
TIME 80 at 80 Mastery
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You Taught What?

• Do you believe your students learn what you
  taught..
• Here are some examples from a Blue Ribbon School

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Testing

• The same test at the same time with item analysis
  every time by each teacher who teaches the
  class. This is critical to the student
  achievement success however, it is skipped by
  too many educational leaders and resisted by too
  many classroom educators.

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Dan Edwards How, What And Where.
Common Assessments Formative and Summative
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• Value of Common Assessments
• focused instruction
• common core curriculum
• focused, common learning
• better tests
• identification of curricular areas needing
  attention
• provision of objective indicators of
  effectiveness for teachers
• promotes collaboration

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Plan Considerations

• Culture and Vision
• 100 Commitment.
• Define achievement.
• Written and taught curriculum.
• Common assessments.
• Team data analysis of the assessments goals.

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Now you have the Data! So what ...
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Organizational Delivery Structure

• After assuring the content curriculum is taught
  and assessed, how do you take the assessment data
  and use it to improve student achievement?

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY - TEAMS

• What is a collaborative teacher team? Is this an
  important step? Do all staff members
  participate? Where does the time come from?
  Great idea, but I dont want to play.

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Team Size

• The team size is dependent on the size of the
  school. The makeup is as close to the subject
  area being taught as possible.
• However, the base is the academic content.

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MAKING TIME

• Common time.
• Daily schedule.
• Bank time.
• Assembly time.
• Volunteers.
• Shared classrooms.

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Dan Edwards A Calendar Helps.

• Keys to Effective Teams
• Collaboration embedded in routine practices
• Time for collaboration built in school day and
  school calendar
• Products of collaboration are made explicit
• Team norms guide collaboration
• Teams pursue specific and measurable performance
  goals
• Teams focus on key questions
• Teams have access to relevant information

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• Key Questions I
• What is it we want all students to know and be
  able to do as a result of this course, grade
  level, unit of instruction?
• What, if any, prerequisite skills will students
  need to master the intended outcomes of this
  unit?
• How will we know if students have the
  prerequisite skills? How will we address those
  who do not?
• How will we know that all students have achieved
  the intended outcomes?
• How will we respond to those who do not?
• By what criteria will we judge the quality of
  student work?
• How will we assess student learning?
• What are our strategies for responding to those
  students who do not demonstrate mastery of the
  intended outcomes?
• Based on our analysis of data and information on
  student achievement, how can we get better
  results?

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Key Questions II 1. How can we (Collaborative
Team) improve student achievement? 2. What
strategies or research will help us? 3. Where do
we find the research to help and support our
problems or challenges? 4. Who will find the
research or practice? 5. What classrooms or
teachers should we visit? 6. Who will report the
information on each topic? 7. How can we
communicate more effectively as a team? 8. How
do you implement the decisions (outcomes) of
collaboration in your class? 9. How do you know
we are successful? 10. Team vision statement and
to align practice with vision. 11. How will we
respond to students that havent learned?
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This is a sign I saw in Linn, Missouri Veterinaria
n Taxidermist Either Way You Get Your Dog
Back.
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GOALS

• Clear, measurable goals are the center to the
  mystery of a schools success, mediocrity or
  failure.
• ..S.J. Rosenholz

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• PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY 
• Team Data Analysis 
• A. TEAM DATA ANALYSIS EXAMPLES 
• CTBS 9th Grade Teams
• MAP (State Test) 10th and 11th Grade Teams
• 3. PSAT 10th and 11th Honors Teams
• 4. ACT 11th and 12th Teams
• 5. Common Finals All Teams 
• B. PSAT (NATIONAL MERIT) EXAMPLE 
• 1 Identify all students with scores of 175,
  spring of 10th grade. 
• 2. Conduct a parent meeting. 
• 3. Provide a summer academy with individualized
  instruction (disaggregated date). 
• 4. Fall mini sessions. 
• C. RESULTS 
• 1. 8 in the state among private and public
  schools. 
• 2. Doubled the number of recognized students. 
• 3. Average point gain of 20 to 30 points.

Dan Edwards Does the goal reflect what and who
you teach?
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Dan Edwards Two Required Goals.

• PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY
• Team Goals
• STANDARDIZED TEST GOAL EXAMPLES
• Raise CTBS Vocabulary from 62 to 68.
• Increase the number of 4s and 5s on the MAP
  (state) proficiency test.
• Increase the number of students taking the AP
  test by 5 while maintaining a 3 plus average.
• COMMON FINAL COURSE GOAL EXAMPLES
• 80 of our students will master 80 of the course
  CCOs (Core Curriculum Objective)
• Reduce the percentage of Ds and Fs by 10.
• COMMON STRATEGIES
• Specific examples for all teams are available on
  request.

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Plan Considerations

• Culture and Vision
• 100 Commitment.
• Define achievement.
• Written and taught curriculum.
• Common assessments.
• Team data analysis of the assessments goals.
• Systematic re-teaching.

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PROFESSION LEARNING COMMUNITIES

• WHAT DO YOU WANT THEM TO KNOW. Common
  curriculum.
• HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN THEY KNOW IT? Common
  assessment.
• ? WHAT DO YOU DO IF THEY DONT Common response by
  allper team.

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Common Means Per Team

• A common response to non-mastery in upper level
  courses might be different from entry level
  however, all responses must increase mastery!

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RE-TEACHING

• After formative assessments are administered,
  what means of re-teaching non-mastered concepts
  have been developed and implemented by the team?

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• WHAT DO WE DO WHEN THEY DONT?
• Reducing the donts
• Targeting Instruction
• Modifying Instruction

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Plan Considerations

• Culture and Vision
• 100 Commitment.
• Define achievement.
• Written and taught curriculum.
• Common assessments.
• Team data analysis of the assessments goals.
• Systematic re-teaching.
• Celebration

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CEELEBRATION RECOGNITION

• Reorganizing a schools instructional deliver
  system, monitoring student achievement in a
  disaggregated fashion and re-teaching for mastery
  is a major undertaking. Celebrating success is a
  critical component to continuing momentum.

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Dan Edwards Too many repeat the past.
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Remedies For Riding A Dead Horse

• Purchase a stronger whip.
• Switch riders.
• Ride the horse for a longer period of time.
• Say, This is the way weve always ridden
  horses.
• Appoint a committee to study the horse.
• Increase standards for the riders.

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Remedies For Riding A Dead Horse

• Complain about the current status of horses.
• Blame the horses parents, because the problem is
  often in the breeding.
• It doesnt matter, because after all of this
• you still have

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A DEAD HORSE
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Survey Handouts

• The following series of handouts might be used
  to determine the level of practice at sites.
  For example, is the mission or vision clear to
  all.is everybody on the same page?

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Dan Edwards Critical Step Before Teaming.
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Dan Edwards Test your school against this
standard!
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Dan Edwards Results.
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Dan Edwards By Course.
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IS PLC WORTH YOUR TIME, ENERGY AND EFFORT?

• The next few slides validate the results of two
  PLC implementations in two very different schools
  over a six year period.

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Results!!

• Always question workshops and in-service where
  the implementation model really hasnt made any
  difference. You can spend a lot of money and
  time, without improving student achievement
  scores. It happens all the time.

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ACT Top ten with 90 percent of our students
taking the test Bright Flight 62 with a
score of 30 or above ACT PSAT 21 National
Recognized students Number four in public
schools in Missouri Top in Rockwood MAP
Top Ten in Missouri Top in Rockwood
10 to 25 percent increase over four years
The only high school in Missouri to be top
ten in all tested areas.
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Okay So What!

• You had affluent students and anyone can be
  successful in that situation. NOT!
• Well, okay, how about three percent proficient
  and seventy-five percent free and reduced lunch.
  

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The Only One

• Gateway Institute of Technology was the only city
  school, except the gifted school, to reach our
  ayp for 2004. This was after less than one
  year of implementation.

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Bob Ricks Books

• Our Professional Learning Community Model was
  based on Stevenson High School in Chicago and
  the work of Rick DuFour and Bob Eaker. It is
  content-based.

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The Books

• Professional Learning Communities -Best
  Practices
• Getting Started - Re-culturing Schools to
  Become Professional Learning Communities
• The Principal as Staff Developer
• Available at nesonline.com