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What The District Needs to Say PLCs are the way we are

going to do business. It is not an option. The system will do what

ever it takes to make this work.

Focus is instruction not management.

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The New Model

for Adult

Learning

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Seymour Sarason said in 1996-----

“Our decade-long effort to reform U.S. education has failed. It has failed because it has not let go of an educational vision that is neither workable nor appropriate to today’s needs.”

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Eric Hoffer in 1972 opined----

“In times of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves beautifully equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

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“If schools are to be transformed into learning communities, educators must be prepared first of all to acknowledge that the traditional guiding model of education is no longer relevant in a post-industrial, knowledge-based society. Second, they must embrace ideas and assumptions that are radically different than those that have guided schools in the past.”

Richard DeFour , 1998, Professional Learning Communities at Work

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Prevailing principles at work in our school cultures----Schools continue to focus on procedures rather than results

Less attention is paid to determining whether or not learning has actually occurred

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So What Do We KnowThe Factory model is woefully inadequate to meet the goals of the Iowa Core.

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The Iowa Coreo Each and Every K-12 student will learnwill learn

the essential concepts and skills identified…...

o Each K-12 educator will embedwill embed the essential concepts and skill sets in rigorous and relevant instruction informed by ongoing formative assessment.

o Each and Every educational leader will will ensureensure an aligned system…….

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What Is The Objective?

Success for all children

which means ---

Each and Every Child is

LEARNING

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Success will be achieved when…..

We can answer these questions Does the system have the capacitycapacity and capabilitycapability to do the work?

What are our staff’s strengths – weaknesses?

What are our resource capabilities?

Capacity: ability and power to actCapability: competency to act

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Phil Schlecty (1997), Inventing better schools: An action plan for educational reform, said,

“I have come to the conclusion that change is peculiarly difficult in schools because the schools, and the school districts of which they are typically a part, lack the capacitiescapacities needed to support and sustain change efforts.” (page 80)

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Those capacities are ……

o The capacity to establish and maintain a focusfocus on the future

o The capacity to maintain a constant directionconstant direction

o The capacity to act act strategicallystrategically

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Questions continued ……….

Does the system have the capacitycapacity and capabilitycapability to engage in Continuous Improvement?

Does the system have the knowledge, skills, attitude, knowledge, skills, attitude, aspirationsaspirations and behaviorsbehaviors necessary for Continuous Improvement (action planning, data collection, continuous monitoring)?

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Questions continued …….

Does the system have the capacitycapacity and capabilitycapability to engage in quality Professional Development?

Does the system have the knowledge, skills, attitude, knowledge, skills, attitude, aspirationsaspirations and behaviors behaviors necessary for determining Professional Development needs?

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Questions continued …….Does the system have the knowledge, skills, attitude, knowledge, skills, attitude, aspirationsaspirations and behaviorsbehaviors necessary to understand and implement effective instructional practices?

Does the system have the desiredesire and processesprocesses to routinely conduct instructional reviews and adjust practice as necessary?

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Questions continued ………Is the system teaching the right stuff in the right places?

Does the system have the desire and processes to eliminate eliminate practicespractices when necessary?

Does the system have the capacitycapacity and capabilitycapability to implement effective instructional practices?

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The System –

A Who Who or A WhatWhat?

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What Does It Take To Reach Success?

A clear mental modelmental model supported by strong moral purposemoral purpose following a proven processproven process embedded within each staff member …..

“to ensure that each and every student is learning……”

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Let’s ReviewWhat is “shaping” the work is not going away

Children are what they areParents are what they areWe/They concept no longer acceptable, the idea of us and them is now just USUS

You must participate in the work

All of the above are uncontrollable and therefore can no longer be an excuse; so don’t

bring them up.

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The Right Work …for the PLC

Focused work on the factors that have the highest probability of enhancing student growth.

“A student-focused measurable result that the PLC has the ability, desire, or needability, desire, or need to influence and for which it is willing, or required, to be held accountable.” ( adapted from Root Cause Analysis, Paul Preuss)

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The Right Work continued …The system must be committed to--

A clear mental modelmental model supported by strong moral purposemoral purpose following a proven processproven process embedded within each staff member…

“to ensure that each and every student is learning……”

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The Right Work continued ……….

Align the Intended, Enacted and AssessedStudent Learning Goals

drives

Standardsdrives

Benchmarksdrives

Learner Will (Grade Level Expectations)drives

Assessmentcouples with

Current Student Profiledrives

Instruction

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“While the idea of focusing on student learning is simple, its implications are profound. It means turning most school improvement activities on their heads. Frequently, school improvement begins with some activity such as implementing a new curriculum. Clearly, planners want these innovations to improve student learning, but they are often unclear about what they mean by student learning, how they will measure it, and whether their actions are getting them to where they want to go. The result is a vicious cycle of doing, doing, doing, without knowing the effect on learning.”

Nancy Love, Using Data---Getting Results

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Professional Learning Communities are the

RIGHTRIGHT way to begin the journey to success…..

“to ensure that each and every student is

learning……”

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What does research say……“Only the organizations that have a passion for learning will have a enduring influence.” (Covey, 1996)

“The most successful corporation of the future will be a learning organization.” (Senge, 1990)

“The new problem of change…is what would it take to make the educational system a learning organization—expert at dealing with change as a normal part of its work, not just in relation to the latest policy, but as a way of life.” (Fullan, 1993)

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Newman and Wehlage said in 1995 –

“If schools want to enhance their organizational capacity to boost student learning, they should work on building a professional learning* community that is characterized by shared shared purpose,purpose, collaborative collaborative activityactivity, and collective collective responsibilityresponsibility among staff.”

(*added for emphasis)

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Characteristics of PLCs

Shared mission, vision, and values Collective inquiry Collaborative teams Action orientation &

experimentation Continuous improvement Results orientation

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Why We Fail (John Kotter, 1996, Harvard Business School)

…….. Allowing too much complacency* Failing to create sufficiently powerful

guiding coalition Underestimating the power of vision Undercommunicating the vision Permitting structural & cultural

obstacles to block the change process*

Failing to create short-term wins Declaring victory too soon Neglecting to anchor changes firmly

in the culture*

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“In the learning community’s work, the faculty is focused on what data about student academic performance and other measures tell them. They examine all data from multiple perspectives to determine where gaps exist. Then they establish a purposeful learning agenda that will support their own acquisition of new knowledge and skills to assist all students.” (JSD, August 2010 page 11)

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Questions to direct your work----

• What is the current district Data?• What are the current goals/targets?• What data do you have available to do your

job?• What does your “team” data tell you? **

** Data about each child that team members come in contact with on a daily basis. • What is the “root” problem?• What knowledge/skill does your team already

have to address the problem?• What have you tried?• What worked and Why?• What didn’t work and Why? • Given current situation, what are you going to

do to solve the issue?• What do you need?

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Doug Reeves says there are two types of data--- Cause And Effect Effect data is student data -- Data

which represents the results of the actions and/or activities imposed on the student by the adult community.

Cause data is adult data -- Data which represents the actions and/or activities implemented by adults that positively or negatively impact the effect dataeffect data exhibited by the student.

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A Piece of “Cause Data”

A completed up-to-date staff profile for each staff

member.

See packet for sample

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Practical Application of the PLC

Elementary example

MS/HS example

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What do you need to know? Do all our staff members really

care about each and every child? Are all our staff members

committed to doing what ever it takes?

Is our school and community ready to take on cultural and traditional hurdles (the ghosts in the closets)?

Is our school board, administration and staff ready to deal with the non-compliant staff member(s)?

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“We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need in order to do this. Whether we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact the we haven’t so far”from a speech by Maria Goodloe-Johnson, Supt. Seattle Public Schools quoting Ron Edmonds,

JSD August 2010 page 19

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Tools for Schools to Use

You have been given a packet of materials related to the development and function of a Collaborative Learning Community, which have been adapted from work done by Linda Munger for the Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Core Network .

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