District Office and Professional Learning Communities March 30, 2007 Dr. Dennis King dking@bluevalleyk12.org

The norms for our school are not like the norms for other schools…we expect our school to do things differently. Fred Newman

Current Reality Vs Our Ideal School

Connecting the Strategic Plan to Each Student District - Strategic Plan District Mission, Vision, Goals, Targets School Improvement Plan Mission, Vision, SMART Goals, Initiatives, Interventions Grade Level, Department Collaboration Team Protocols, Goals and Interventions Essential Questions of a PLC

District School Improvement Model What are the essential components of a school improvement model in your school district? How are they implemented? Are they standardized throughout each school? How do you guarantee the district curriculum is being taught?

“The real voyage of discovery consists, not of seeking new landscapes, but in seeing through new eyes” Marcel Proust

Traditional Model of School Improvement Instruction Assessment FOR Learning QPA Q NCA Curriculum Mapping Literacy

School Improvement/Professional Development & PLC’s Professional Learning Communities Student Support Foundation, Collaboration, Results Orientation Interventions, SMART Goals Professional Development Plan Professional Learning Communities Grade Level or Dept. Grade Level or Dept. Grade Level or Dept. Grade Level or Dept. Grade Level or Dept. Grade Level or Dept. Grade Level or Dept. Grade Level or Dept. Unit/CurriculumDesign Unit/CurriculumDesign Assessment Assessment Literacy Literacy Instruction Instruction

Mission, Vision, Values, Goals Process for School Improvement Foundation for School Improvement Professional Learning Communities Foundation, Collaboration, Results Orientation Interventions, SMART Goals Professional Learning Communities Student Support Foundation, Collaboration, Results Orientation Interventions, SMART Goals Mission, Vision, Values, Goals Process for School Improvement Collaborative teams throughout the district – grade level and departmental Developed team protocols to allow teams to function as teams vs. groups School Improvement Plans – alignment

Professional Development Plan Professional Learning Communities School Professional Development Plans Aligned to District Initiatives and School Improvement Plans Focused Professional Development Embedded within the Collaborative Team Professional Development Initiatives Assessment FOR Learning Curriculum Mapping Literacy Instruction

Curriculum Mapping What we want students to learn? Curriculum Management System Curriculum Diary Mapping (content, skills, assessments) Read Through Aligned to State Standards/Indicators

Assessment Assessment FOR Learning Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Five Keys to Highly Effective Assessment Clear Purpose Clear Targets – knowledge, skills, reasoning and products Good Design Sound Communication Student Involvement Assessment Methods Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)

Literacy Reading Continuum Essentials Reading Writing Communication

Instruction Permeates throughout the initiatives Teacher “tool kit” Researched Based Strategies

INTERVENTION PYRAMID Problem Solving Team District Interventions Special Education Placement Screening and Evaluation for Special Education Problem Solving Team District Interventions Systematic School Interventions How does the school respond when students don’t get it? Grade Level / Department/Classroom Interventions - SMART Goals Early Interventions – What do we need to know prior to the start of school?

District Interventions AVID READ 180 Larsen Math Personal Plans of Progress High School Advisory K-12 Reading Continuum Language Program Early Intervention Summer School

Implementation of Professional Development Embedding Professional Development How do we act as a team? Establish Team Protocols What do students need to know? Curriculum Mapping and Unit Design How do we know students have learned? Assessment For Learning What do we do if they haven’t learned? Instruction/Interventions What do we do if they have learned? Differentiation

Aligning the School Improvement Plans to the School Improvement Process Mission - Why we exist? Vision - What we want to become? SMART Goals - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results Oriented, Time-bound Initiatives - What do we need to do to reach the desired results? (District and School) Interventions Collaboration

Developing a School Improvement Plan Model Plans Rubric How do we begin?

Culture What is culture? How do we define culture in a PLC? How is culture defined in your school?

Pyramid of Intervention Strategies Least Restrictive Most Restrictive

Interventions As a school – How do you respond when a student doesn’t learn? As a department – How do you respond when a student doesn’t learn? As a teacher – How do you respond when a student doesn’t learn?

INTERVENTION PYRAMID Problem Solving Team District Interventions Special Education Placement Screening and Evaluation for Special Education Problem Solving Team District Interventions Systematic School Interventions How does the school respond when students don’t get it? Grade Level / Department/Classroom Interventions - SMART Goals Early Interventions – What do we need to know prior to the start of school?

Using the Data Protocol to Identify Student Learning Problems Triangulate Student Learning Data 1 2 3 Aggregate / Summary Reports Disaggregated results Strand / Indicator Item Analysis /Curriculum maps Student Work /Classroom Assessments (12) Describe how the process “drills down” into data to identify student problems. The Data Protocol is most effective when used within a PLC to develop Grade-level or Departmental interventions. Student Learning Problem

Strategic Plan Mission, Vision, Goals Initiatives Instruction Data Driven Decisions Professional Learning Communities Pyramid of Interventions

District Data School Data Grade/Department Data Teacher SPED Strategic Plan Personalized Learning & Academic Growth District Data District Interventions (Read 180, Advisories) School Improvement Plan School Goals School Data KSA, MAP School Interventions (Structured Study Hall, etc.) Professional Learning Communities Department/Grade Level Goals Grade/Department Data Common Assessments, Curriculum Maps Dept./Grade level Interventions (13) Explain how data on each level is used to develop interventions to promote student learning and show how the pyramid of interventions is supported by the process. Show how teachers support their PLC goals, which support the school improvement plan, which in turn supports the district strategic plan. Teacher Data Formative Assessments, Student work, etc. Instruction, Literacy, Unit Design, Interventions, etc.

Team Protocol Timeline Week 2 – Team Norms / Consensus Week 4 – Team Vision Week 6 – SMART Goal Week 8 – Team Interventions Week 9 –

Leading and Following Through Change

Leading and Following through Change What are the implications for leaders? What should we be doing? What are the implications for followers? What should they be doing? What are the implications for the system? What gets in the way of moving forward?

Myth vs. Realities of Change Myth – Everyone wants to embrace change because the organization wants to change Realities Most people act first in their own self interest, not in the interest of the organization Most people do not want to understand the What and Why of organizational change Most people engage in organizational change because of their own pain, not because of the merits of change Jerry Patterson, Coming Even Clearer About Organizational Change

Leading through Change All my life, I assumed that somebody, somewhere knew the answer to the problem. I thought politicians knew but refused to do it … but now I realize that nobody knows the answer. (Senge, 1990)

How has the concept of our leadership practice changed?

How has the leadership model changed? From hierarchical leadership-decisions are best made at the top to distributive leadership-enlisting more of the professional staff to assume leadership roles servant leadership-a sincere desire to work in service to the needs of others stewardship-holding in trust the authority and responsibilities we have been given

What did Jim Collins find in their five year research project on great organizations? Any system is designed to produce exactly what it produces. To change performance, we must change the system, and this requires new approaches to leadership. Good is the enemy of great!

What did Jim Collins find in their five year research project on great organizations? The good to great organizations did not focus principally on what to do; they focused equally on what not to do and what to stop doing. They created a culture of discipline where disciplined people meant less hierarchy, bureaucracy, control.

What did Jim Collins find in their five year research project on great organizations? They had leadership that was a blend of humility and professional will. They believed that you first had to get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats and then figure out where to drive. They realized that the concept of “good is the enemy of great” is not just an organizational problem – it is a human problem.

What did Jim Collins find in their five year research project on great organizations? They put their best people on their biggest opportunities, not their biggest problems. They created a climate where truth was heard through questions, dialogue, autopsies not blame, and red flags. They created from complexity a single organizing idea that unified and guided everything.

Michael Fullan’s lessons for leading complex change? Give up the idea that the pace of change will slow down Coherence making is a never-ending proposition and is everyone’s responsibility Changing context is the focus Premature clarity is a dangerous thing

Michael Fullan’s - lessons for leading complex change? The public’s thirst for transparency is irreversible You can’t get large-scale reform through bottom-up strategies – but beware of the trap Mobilize the social attractors – moral purpose, quality relationships, quality knowledge Charismatic leadership is negatively associated with sustainability

What is the overriding theme present in all research on improving student and teacher success and in reforming our schools to help all students learn? Leadership!!!

Having thought about these attributes of great leaders and understood that leaders are made “more by themselves than any external means”, what is the evolution of your professional practice at this point in your career? How would you characterize your current practice?

Change is Complex! Any significant innovation, if it is to result in true change, requires individual implementers to work out their own meaning. Michael Fullan

PLC School Improvement Knowing Doing Being

not make yesterday wrong, What we know today does not make yesterday wrong, it makes tomorrow better. Carol Commodore