1
Building a Learning Community

• School Development

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Past School Development Efforts

• Challenge for Excellence
• Provincial School Assessment Project 1995
• District School Improvement programs
• Possible reasons for limited success
• Not focused on results
• Not staying the course
• Not paying attention to the change process
  (Kotter 1996)
• Complacency establish a sense of urgency
• Critical mass
• Vision
• Removing barriers
• Short term wins
• Anchor in culture

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Approaches to School Development

• Each approach has emerged from problems
  encountered in the previous approach

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Approach 1

• Planning of school development by senior
  administration and/or leadership team
• Assumes that if it is planned by administration
  and/or leadership team, plans will be executed
  and change will occur

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Approach 2

• Detailed attention needs to be paid to
  implementation
• Middle management are included in the formulation
  of plans to gain support and commitment
• Assumes that coming up with great plans is not
  sufficient

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Approach 3

• Building awareness of the need for change
• Creating a climate or culture supportive of
  desired change
• Equipping people throughout the organization with
  the skills needed to participate in planning and
  implementation of change
• Assumes that it is essential to create readiness
  before, planning and implementation

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Approach 4

• The organization must be in a state of constant
  readiness
• Continuous plans that are open and flexible are
  developed, shared, and embraced by the entire
  organization
• Implementation occurs as a process that is
  dependent upon experimentation rather than a
  prescribed plan
• Over time, successes are institutionalized
• Change occurs through action learning on an
  ongoing basis (not re-evaluating only
  once-a-year)
• Change occurs through action, reflection, and
  adjusting course throughout the process
• Assumes that change efforts when treated as
  established programs, and not unfolding
  processes, almost always fail

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• For the past two decades there has been a
  growing body of research to support the claim
  that
• if schools and school systems are to make
  meaningful improvements to support teaching and
  learning, they must increase their organizational
  learning capacity.
• Schools must become
• Professional Learning Communities.
• (Barth, 2001 Darling-Hammond,1996
  Fullan,1998 Leithwood, 2000).

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Theory

• Organizational Learning  
• Learning Organizations
• Professional Learning Communities
• Learning Communities

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Five Disciplines

• Personal Mastery
• Mental Models
• Shared Vision
• Systems Thinking
• Team Learning
• Senge, 1990

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Characteristics of a Learning Community

• Shared vision, mission, and values
• Collective inquiry
• Collaborative Teams
• Action orientation and experimentation
• Continuous improvement
• Results Orientation
• 
  Dufour and Eaker 1998

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Defining a Learning Community

• A school learning community is one that
  promotes and values learning as an ongoing,
  active collaborative process with dynamic
  dialogue by teachers, students, staff,
  principal, parents, and the school community
  to improve the quality of learning and
  life within the school. Speck (1999)

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Learning Communities

• Organizations in which all people at all levels
  are collectively,
• continually enhancing their capacity to create
  and pursue
• overall visions. (Senge)
• principals, teachers, students, and parents
• learning together can create within their schools
  an
• ecology of reflection, growth, and refinement of
• practice in short, a community of learners.
  Barth (1990)
• The most promising strategy for sustained,
  substantive
• school improvement is developing the ability of
  school
• personnel to function as professional learning
  communities.
• 
  (DuFour Eaker)

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3 Dimensions of the Professional Learning
Community Kruse, Louis, and Bryk (1995)

• Characteristics
• Structural Conditions
• Human/Social Resources

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3 Dimensions of the Professional Learning
Community Kruse, Louis, and Bryk (1995)

• 1. Characteristics
• Reflective dialogue
• Collective focus on student learning
• Deprivatization of practice
• Collaboration
• Shared values and norms

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3 Dimensions of the Professional Learning
Community Kruse, Louis, and Bryk (1995)

• 2. Structural Conditions
• Time to meet and discuss
• Physical proximity
• Interdependent teaching roles
• Teacher empowerment/school autonomy
• Communication Structures

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3 Dimensions of the Professional Learning
Community Kruse, Louis, and Bryk (1995)

• 3. Human/Social Resources
• Support openness to improvement
• Trust and respect
• Supportive leadership
• Socialization
• Cognitive skill base

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Fundamental Principles of School Development

• School Development
• Is focused on student learning and achievement
• Reflects the uniqueness of the local school
  environment
• Is consistent with, and linked to individual,
  district, and department plans
• Is a process that builds capacity within a
  learning community, characterized by honesty,
  trust, and a collaborative culture where learning
  is valued by all

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Fundamental Principles of School Development
(continued)

• School Development
• Ensures practice is guided by a vision and
  mission consistent with shared values
• Directs resource allocation and use
• Is a cyclical process involving research,
• reflection, discovery, and renewal

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Fundamental Principles of School Development
(continued

• School Development
• Is predicated upon the principle of empowerment
  and shared leadership
• Involves all members of the learning community
• Has accountability as an integral component

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Defining a Learning Community

• organizations where people continually expand
  their capacity to create the results they truly
  desire, where new and expansive patterns of
  thinking are nurtured, where collective
  aspiration is set free, and where people are
  continually learning to see the whole together.

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Provincial School Development Process

• Research based (school effectiveness/school
  improvement/learning communities)
• Developed collaboratively with districts
• Steeped in practice and theory

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BUILDING CAPACITY
COMMUNICATION
VALUES VISION
School Development Cycle
IMPLEMENTATION MONITORING
INTERNAL SCHOOL REVIEW
3-5 YEAR PLAN (Goals)
EXTERNAL REVIEW
MISSION
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BUILDING CAPACITY
School Development Cycle

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Building Capacity

• Building Capacity for School Development
  involves
• Sharing and discussing related literature
• Building a culture for school development
• Building commitment and motivation
• Understanding benefits and limitations
• Building leadership capacity
• Developing skill levels in consensus building,
  team building, shared decision-making
• Understanding implications for teaching and
  learning
• Understanding and establishing timelines
• Understanding roles and responsibilities

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BUILDING CAPACITY
VALUES VISION
School Development Cycle
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VALUES

• Values
• Shared
• Fundamental convictions
• Used to establish ethical, moral priorities
  within the educational system
• Guides to all behavior
• Reflected in the mission and vision

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VISION

• A short statement describing the ideal state a
  school is striving to achieve

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BUILDING CAPACITY
VALUES VISION
School Development Cycle
INTERNAL SCHOOL REVIEW
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15 Criteria Statements 4 Areas
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Internal Review Includes

• Student achievement data
• Teaching and Learning Experience
• School Climate and Culture
• Student Support Services
• Leadership
• Professional Development
• School Councils (partnerships)
• Policies
• Resources (human and financial)
• Programming
• Communication
• School Development Plan
• Organization/Program delivery
• Staff deployment
• Validation of Process

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Internal Review Process

• Establish time lines for internal review
• Establish data collection teams
• Gather and organize relevant data (criteria
  statements)
• Interpretation of the data
• Report on the data

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Internal Review Handbook

• Step by step procedure of the process
• Outline of roles and responsibilities of
  stakeholders
• Guides, templates, and samples for criteria
  statements
• Surveys/focus group questions for data gathering
• Guides to finding achievement and demographic
  data
• Toolbox of School Development processes, such as
  building learning communities and building
  leadership capacity

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BUILDING CAPACITY
VALUES VISION
School Development Cycle
INTERNAL SCHOOL REVIEW
3-5 YEAR PLAN (Goals)
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Goals

• General statements of desired results to be
• achieved over time
• Measurable and attainable
• Few in number
• Reflected in the schools mission statement
• Focused on student achievement
• Linked to district, provincial and teachers
  personal
• professional plans
• Results oriented
• Listed in order of priority

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Objectives

• Specific targets or milestones set to promote
  achievement of a particular goal by a specific
  date
• Answer both what and when
• Express, in measurable, broadly stated terms,
  what will be done in a reasonable and specified
  period of time.

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Strategies

• Broad commitments to deploy resources
• Express broadly how the objectives are to be
  achieved

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Action Plans

• A detailed description of what is required to
  accomplish each strategy. Includes
• Individual responsibility
• Target Dates (beginning and ending dates)
• Monitoring
• Resource requirements
• Communication methods
• Professional development needs

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BUILDING CAPACITY
VALUES VISION
School Development Cycle
INTERNAL SCHOOL REVIEW
3-5 YEAR PLAN (Goals)
MISSION
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MISSION

• A brief, clear statement reflecting the goals of
  the school
• Sets out purpose of the goals
• Anchor points for developing and assessing
• goals, objectives, and strategies
• Is cyclical

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BUILDING CAPACITY
VALUES VISION
School Development Cycle
INTERNAL SCHOOL REVIEW
3-5 YEAR PLAN (Goals)
EXTERNAL REVIEW
MISSION
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External Review

• Conducted every 3-5 years
• Provides feedback to school on validity of the
  Internal School Review and the School Development
  Plan
• Conducted by an individual or team external to
  the school
• Uses the same provincial criteria statements used
  in the internal Review
• Involves a school visit
• Provides a report to the school, school council,
  district and department
• Makes recommendations for change where deemed
  appropriate

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15 Criteria Statements 4 Areas
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External Review Includes

• Student achievement data
• Teaching and Learning Experience
• School Climate and Culture
• Student Support Services
• Leadership
• Professional Development
• School Councils (partnerships)
• Policies
• Resources (human and financial)
• Programming
• Communication
• School Development Plan
• Organization/Program delivery
• Staff deployment
• Validation of Process

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External Review Handbook

• Overview (context, purpose, expectations)
• Procedures (before, during, after school visit)
• Responsibilities
• Reporting
• Appendices
• Report template

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BUILDING CAPACITY
VALUES VISION
School Development Cycle
IMPLEMENTATION MONITORING
INTERNAL SCHOOL REVIEW
3-5 YEAR PLAN (Goals)
EXTERNAL REVIEW
MISSION
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Implementing and Monitoring

• Includes
• Continuously monitoring progress and effect
• Making necessary adjustments
• Developing support structures
• Working in teams and team building
• Involving various stakeholders
• Professional development
• Multi-level monitoring
• Accountability
• Commitment to the Plan
• Appropriate resourcing

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Roles for Implementation and Monitoring

• School Planning Team
• Action Teams
• Administrators
• Staff
• Students
• School Development Program Specialist
• District Personnel
• School Councils/Parents
• Department of Education
• Other

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BUILDING CAPACITY
COMMUNICATION
VALUES VISION
School Development Cycle
IMPLEMENTATION MONITORING
INTERNAL SCHOOL REVIEW
3-5 YEAR PLAN (Goals)
EXTERNAL REVIEW
MISSION
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Communication

• Plan submitted to the School Council
• Members of the school community are informed
  about the plan (Websites, newspaper, newsletters,
  memos, meetings )
• Plan submitted to district office, board members
• Regular School development progress reports
  (School Council, staff, SD planning team,
  parents, district office)
• Celebrate successes
• Annual School Report (primary means)

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Annual School Development Report

• 1. Cover Page
• 2. Overview of School
• - Physical Location
• - Number of Employees/students/classes
• - Programs and services provided
• - Some key highlights/special projects
• - Partnerships
• 3. 3-5 Year School Development Plan
• 4. Report on School Development Plan from
  Previous Year
• 5. School Development Plan for Current Year

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BUILDING CAPACITY
COMMUNICATION
VALUES VISION
School Development Cycle
IMPLEMENTATION MONITORING
INTERNAL SCHOOL REVIEW
3-5 YEAR PLAN (Goals)
EXTERNAL REVIEW
MISSION
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• The most promising strategy for sustained,
  substantive school improvement is developing the
  ability of school personnel to function as
  professional learning communities. (Defour
  Eaker)