dlt/blt teacher connection spdg

DLT/BLTTeacher Connection

SPDG

March 11, 2009

The real work

• The district work has been challenging, but…

• The real challenging work is going to be getting follow- through in the buildings

What are we communicating to the buildings and BLTs?

• We are exploring whether we can learn together

As a whole building, and

As a whole district

The DLT tried to:

• Chose what we think are powerful strategies.

• We can spend our time disagreeing which strategy we chose, but

• The purpose is to develop our capacity “to learn together” as a school, and as a district, resulting in the use of shared powerful teaching strategies

1. What Matters Most in Terms of Student Achievement?

The variations in student learning are directly correlated with the quality of the teacher.

McKinsey & Company, 2007

The difference in performance between students who are

assigned three effective teachers in a row versus

those assigned three ineffective teachers in a row is

49 percentile points

The single most important influence on student learning is the quality of teaching.

But despite this recognition, most school districts have not defined what they mean by good teaching.

Danielson, 2006

2. What Matters Most in Terms of Teacher Effectiveness?

Teachers have the tendency to gravitate towards approaches that are congruent with their prior practices.

Stein and Coburn, 2008

It appears that the most important difference between the most and least effective classrooms is the teacher, but the most important variable appears to be what they do rather than what they know.

Wiliam, 2007

Effective Teachers

If the research on professional development over the last twenty years has shown us anything, it is that we can change teacher thinking without changing teacher practice.

The only thing that impacts student achievement is teacher practice.

Wiliam, 2007

So if we are serious about raising student achievement, we must focus on helping teachers change what they do in classrooms.

Wiliam, 2007

What Does Powerful Teaching Look Like?

3. What Does Powerful Teaching Look Like?

Take five minutes and identify at your table.

Authentic Pedagogy

An analysis of NELS data found that students in restructured schools where authentic instruction was widespread experienced greater achievement gains.

Lee et al., 2006

Authentic Pedagogy

Average students in schools with high levels of authentic instructions would learn about 78 percent more in mathematics between eighth and tenth grades.

Lee et al., 2006

Authentic Pedagogy

• Instruction focused on―• Active learning in real-world

contexts

• Higher-level thinking skills

• Extended writing and demonstration

Newman et al., 2006

What Affects Teaching/Instruction?

• Having shared norms about teaching and assessment are particularly important.

• Consensus on what high-quality instruction looks like

• Only when there is agreement on effective pedagogy, is it possible to raise questions about how to eliminate ineffective or extraneous activities.

Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

Three Things About Instruction We Know from the Research

That Matter

1. Powerful teaching

2. Focused instruction

3. Flexible grouping practices Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

Powerful Teaching

1. Provides attention toward specific learning goals, plenty of choices, and interesting things to think about

2. Presents materials in small steps linked with guided practice

3. Presents information in multiple different ways

Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

Powerful Teaching4. Involves student problem solving

through the active exploration of new ideas, inventing, and trying out their own approaches to real-life problems

5. Uses questions to determine students’ understanding at many levels, including application outside of the classroom

Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

Powerful Teaching

6. Assists learners in developing cognitive strategies that enable them to perform higher-level operations independently.

Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

Another Similar View

Highly Effective Teachers Support Meaningful Learning by:

1. Creating ambitious and meaningful tasks that reflect how knowledge is used in the field

2. Engaging students in active learning, so that they apply and test what they know

Darling-Hammond, 2008

3. Drawing connections to students’ prior knowledge and experiences

4. Diagnosing students’ understanding in order to scaffold the learning process step by step

Highly Effective Teachers Support Meaningful Learning by:

Darling-Hammond, 2008

5. Assessing student learning continuously and adapting teaching to student needs

6. Providing clear standards, constant feedback, and opportunities for work

Darling-Hammond, 2008

Highly Effective Teachers Support Meaningful Learning by:

7. Encouraging strategic and meta-cognitive thinking so students can learn to evaluate and guide their own learning

Highly Effective Teachers Support Meaningful Learning by:

Darling-Hammond, 2008

Compare these findings to your own list that you created

• Similarities?

• Differences?

Students Know More Ways to Learn, Than We Know How to Teach

Hord & Sommers, 2008

4. What Matters Most in Terms of Teacher Learning and Changing their Practice?

Take five minutes and identify at your table.

What Affects Teaching Practices?

• The development of teacher professional community that includes

• Reflective dialogue• Deprivatized practices• Shared norms

• All have a robust effect on teacher practices.

Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

Reflective dialogue (opportunities to discuss practices with other teachers) is particularly important in changing teaching practices.

What Affects Teaching Practices?

Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008

This Is Why the Concept of Learning Communities or Data Teams Is So Important.

In schools where teachers examined the evidence of the impact of teaching effectiveness on student achievement and regarded their professional practices as the primary cause of student achievement,…

…the gains in student achievement were three times higher than in schools where the faculty and leaders attributed the causes to factors beyond their control.

Reeves, 2007

So What Does This Mean for the Work of―

• The DLT?

• The BLT?

• Grade level, department, and vertical teams?

• Individual teachers?

Work of the BLT Implementing

Shared Practices

PLC/DataTeams

Refined Practices/

Lesson/Unit Plans

ImplementingShared

Assessments

DLT/BLT Work

Monitoring ofShared

Practices

Monitoring of PLC/Data

Teams

Feedback,PD,

Learning

Monitoring of Shared

Assessments

What Are Data Teams?

• Small grade-level or department teams that examine individual student work generated from common formative assessments

• Collaborative, structured, scheduled meetings that focus on the effectiveness of teaching and learning

The Data Team Process

• Step 1 Collect and chart data• Step 2 Analyze strengths and

obstacles• Step 3 Establish goals: Set,

review, revise• Step 4 Select instructional

strategies• Step 5 Determine results

indicators

Common Assessments

• Provide a degree of consistency

• Represent common, agreed-upon expectations

• Align with Power Standards

• Help identify effective practices for replication

• Make data collection possible!

BLT Data Team Work

• Meet at least monthly to discuss

• Achievement gaps• Successes and challenges• Progress monitoring• Assessment schedules• Intervention needs• Resources

DLT/ BLT Work

1. Support the understanding for the need for consistent use of the strategies.

• Intervention strategies• Team development and learning strategies• Pragmatics―Scheduling, roles, outcomes

2. Support the consistent use of the strategies.1. PD, coaching, mentoring, observations

DLT/ BLT Work

3. Develop and implement monitoring and feedback tools and strategies.

• Tools, schedules, methodologies

4. Develop and refine team and systems learning.

Questions and Discussion

Brian McNultyThe Leadership and Learning Center

866.399.6019BMcNulty@LeadandLearn.com

LeadandLearn.com

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