1. Professional Learning Communities at Work
Mary Open
Dale Make name cards. Four corners activity ….Who attended the PLC conference? Acknowledge and include during the presentation

2. The Real Question Why are Professional Learning Teams so critical?
How are they linked to student learning?
Our topic today is Professional Learning Communities or PL teams. Whatever you want to call them. They are not new – many years ago, we were introduced to them by Dr. Rick DuFour. But, over the years, they have come to mean different things to different people and schools are all over the place on their implementation.

3. Ask Yourself? Do I meet the needs of all learners in my classroom?
Do I have enough time to plan effectively for re-teaching so that all students learn?
Are all my students successful and ready for the next grade?
Before we talk about them, and answer these two questions, I want you to ask yourself these three questions. Really think about them. The National Education Forum has just met. Everyone is concerned about the progress of students in our schools.

4. The Power of Professional Learning Communities
“The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is building the capacity of school personnel to function as a professional learning community.”
McLaughlin, 1995
The path to change in the classroom lies within and
through professional learning communities.
McLaughlin says…read slide. What he is saying is that the path to change in our classrooms, lies within the capacity of the adults – the teachers .

5. On PLCs…..
“The best strategy for improving schools and districts is developing the collective capacity of educators to function as members of a Professional Learning Community (PLC)—a concept based on the premise that if students are to learn at higher levels, processes must be in place to ensure the ongoing, job-embedded learning of the adults who serve them”.
Rick DuFour, co-author of Leaders of Learning
Everyone has an opinion about how to fix our schools, but listen to what Rick DuFour says…
Rick DuFour states the same thing…Read slide…the collective capacity of educators to function as a team is how students will learn at high levels.
How many of you believe that? How many of you understand that when people work together, as a team, to produce a product, the product is more successful. We are no longer in the business of being individuals – all alone on an island – in fact, we will not survive in the coming next few years with common core, if we do not function as a team.

6. Dr. Anthony Muhammad… www.allthingsplc.com
Dale The experts say that this is the vehicle to the right work……
Dr. Muhammad brought failing schools to Blue Ribbon status by building the capacity of his teachers within professional learning communities. Let’s hear his words…

7. Traditional School Structure5K
Individual
1st gr.
2nd gr.
3rd gr.
4th gr.
5th gr.
6th gr.
Mary – Let’s start with where we are in education today. Many schools are still traditional in structure. This visual shows that teachers are all in their individual classrooms – their independent kingdoms, doing their own thing and trying to do the job all alone. Perhaps that was possible at one time, but with CCSS coming and a greater push for more rigorous curriculum and teaching to occur, teachers are going to need to support each other and put their brains together.
Independent
Kingdoms

8. Pseudo PLC Structure Kindergarten Group First Grade Group
Second Grade Group
Third Grade Group
Fourth Grade Group
Fifth Grade Group
Sixth Grade Group
Mary – This visual shows that some schools are thinking toward working collaboratively. They work together in Pseudo PLC structures. They might meet weekly or even more often to decide upon such things as common procedures, field trips, etc. They meet as a team, but they are still teaching in their own individual kingdoms with no thought about collaborating to improve the teaching and learning.
Individual
Kingdoms

9. PLC Cohesive Interdependent Collaborative Teams Foundation
Kindergarten Team
First Grade Team
Second Grade Team
Third Grade Team
Fourth Grade Team
Mary – And then, many schools are moving toward real PLCs where teams are collaborative and interdependent – Teachers depend upon each other and work interdependently to discuss lesson plans, teaching strategies, assessments, and data. They all have a shared purpose and vision. They all collectively commit to working as a team, and they have shared goals. The team claims all children on that grade level as their children. It is not my class and your class. These are our students and how can we meet their needs this year and ensure high levels of learning.
Shared Purpose
Shared
Vision
Collective
Commitments
Shared
Goals
PLC
Cohesive
Foundation

10. Paradigm Shifts…. New Paradigm Old Paradigm Every Student WILL learn
Every Student CAN learn
Assessment OF Learning (Summative)
Teach and move on
Winners and Losers
Focus on Teaching
New Paradigm
Every Student WILL learn
Assessment FOR Learning (Formative)
Pyramid of Intervention
Failure is Not an Option
Focus on Learning
MARY TO SUMMARIZE……The PLC process moves us to new mindsets….. Before going on…do 4 corner activity

11. Professional Learning Community Defined
An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve.
PLCs operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous, job-embedded learning for educators.
(DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many, 2010)
Can you put this definition into your own words. What is it saying about PLCs

12. Ensure that all students learn at high levels.
The BIG IDEAS of a PLC….
Ensure that all students learn at high levels.
Create a collaborative culture.
Focus on results.
Ensure – We will spend most of our time on this.
Collaborative Culture - A systematic process in which we work together, interdependently, to analyze and impact professional practice in order to improve our individual and collective results.”
Its all about the team. We have the mindset that these are our kids – not your kids and my kids, but our kids.
Focus on Results – The results not only direct our instruction, but they determine what we as teachers need to do differently in our teaching.
We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results, rather than intentions. Individuals, teams, and schools seek relevant data and information and use that information to promote continuous improvement.

13. The BIG IDEAS of a PLC….
Ensure that all students learn at high levels by focusing on four critical questions:
1. What do we want students to learn?
2. How will we know if they learn it?
3. What will we do if they do not learn it?
4. How can we enrich those who do learn it?
These four questions should lead the PLC work time after time.

14. What Do We Want Students To Learn?
The PLC commits to:
a guaranteed and viable curriculum- the priority standards, skills, and essential outcomes.
embedded learning targets and agrees on the depth of knowledge.
Dale We have to have a shared understanding of what the curriculum is. Passing out standards and pacing guides is not enough. Teachers have to have dialogue about what to teach and what it looks like. Vertical discussions are important here, too. Receiving grade can tell you exactly what they wish students had mastery of before they enter their grade.
Example: Dr. Muhammad shared at summer leadership the example of onomatopeia versus reading informational text to cite evidence and gather opinions or arguments. Have to know the overall enduring understandings in order to create critical learning concepts along the way. Algebraic equations in solving problems.
Agree on depth of knowledge and levels of proficiency.

15. Verbs help identify the type of target to be assessed
Verbs help identify the type of target to be assessed. It’s more than the verb… what are the levels of thinking that a student must engage in to understand this essential outcome?

16. How Will We Know if They Learn It?
The PLC:
gathers evidence of student learning through common assessments.
establishes criteria to assess the quality of student work.
collectively analyzes the data to determine next steps.
It’s a good practice to collaboratively score student work to see specific issues and to help in determining proficiency levels.

17. What Will We Do If They Do Not Learn It?
The PLC:
determines re-teaching/intervention strategies different from first strategies used.
Implements systematic interventions for students based on need.
Checks the collective ability of the team.
Provides feedback to and from students.
Pyramid of Interventions Hattie effect size Most effective instructional strategy

18. Pyramid of Interventions

19. < 11% MAP 11-24% MAP 25%+ MAP Student 18 450-580 M
DATA WALL SAMPLE: C. Harris 3rd Fall ELA MAP / Spring 2011 PASS results
< 11% MAP
11-24% MAP
25%+ MAP
Interventions/
Enrichments
Student NM
Student NM
Student NM
Student NM
Student NM
Student NM
Student NM
Student 1 NM L
Student NM
Student NM
Student M
Student NM
Student =450 M
Student M
Student NM
Student M
Student NM
Student M
Student M
Student M

20. How Can We Enrich Those Who DO Learn It?
The PLC:
differentiates through extended learning activities.
assists students to a deeper understanding of concepts by applying the new learning.

21. What Will It Look Like? Setting Up The Teams
- Teams determine Norms for Meeting
- Teams receive the expectations for meetings from principal
- Teams determine meeting times and places
Action Steps in Planning Sessions
- Look at current data to determine student weaknesses
- Select concepts or skills to be taught based on state standards – develop Smart Goals
- Create or select common assessments and set the criteria for student performance on the
assessment (percentage to meet criteria)
- Use all resources for planning of instruction (CCSS, district guides, teacher guides, state support
documents, researched lessons
- Discuss and share instructional strategies and teach the lessons
- Make adjustments in common assessments and/or instructional plans accordingly
- Regroup students for interventions or enrichment.
After the Process
- Provide feedback to students
- As a team celebrate the successes of students

22. Action Steps in Planning
Select concepts or skills to be taught based on state standards –
develop Smart Goals.
Create or select common assessments and set the criteria for student performance on the assessment (percentage to meet criteria).
Use all resources for planning of instruction (CCSS, district guides, teacher guides, state support documents, researched lessons).
Discuss and share instructional strategies and teach the lessons.
After teaching, give common assessments – Teachers record the
data for analysis.
Adjust common assessments and/or instructional plans accordingly.
Regroup students for interventions or enrichment. Reassess

23. SMART GOALS Strategic and specific Measurable Attainable
Results-oriented
Time bound
Leaders foster effective teams when they help teams establish specific, measurable, results-oriented performance goals. So as example, the teams receives summative PASS data or fall MAP results and use this data to establish their results-oriented goals for the year…..

24. Which of these are SMART goals?
By the end of the school year we will:
Develop and administer 5 common assessments
Implement the Common Core state standards in 100% of our classrooms
Increase the percentage of students achieving and exceeding the target score (80% or higher) on each strand of our end –of- the- year assessment from 81% last year to at least 90% this year.
Teams goals are strategically aligned with school wide goals.. Each year we start the year with “What can we do better?” Everyone’s students is my students. These are OUR students. Collective capacity! WE START THE YEAR with WHAT CAN WE DO BETTER? Number 3 is smart goal.

25. www.allthingsplc.com Go to www.allthingsplc.com to find:
Research articles
School success stories
PLC forms
Getting started suggestions
ALL THINGS related to PLCs!
DOING VS BEING A PLC………..This is the “GO TO” web-site for additional information about getting started in the PLC process.

26. Suggested resources: Web-sites: Suggested Books:
(Click: I’m looking for common core…. Common core support site; look on left column under “resources”)
Suggested Books:
The School Leader’s Guide to Professional Learning Communities at Work- DuFour
Transforming School Culture- Muhammad
Learning by Doing -DuFour
Leaders of Learning- DuFour and Marzano