FOURTH PLENARY SESSION Educational institutions as communities of learning: the context for effective teaching VII Meeting of OAS Ministers of Education Suriname 1-2 March 2012 Dr. Michael Johanek University of Pennsylvania

In 15 minutes…! Locating the learning community How does it work? –Essential supports model of an effective school –How adults learn in high performing schools –The role of context and a new educational leadership How to support them? –OAS/Inter-American Educational Leadership Network (IAELN)

Locating the learning community

Teaching / Learning Levels of the Current Problem

Organization Teaching / Learning

Organization Context/Community Teaching / Learning

Organization Context/Community Teaching / Learning Teachers Leadership Students Interaction

Intermediary Governance/Organizations Policy/Legal Authority

Organization Context/Community Teaching / Learning Teachers Leadership Students Interaction BUFFER - BUILD CAPACITY

When it works, how does it work?

Essential supports model of an effective school

Bryk, Anthony S., et al. Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press Print. Essential supports model

How adults learn in high performing schools

High-performing schools learn more High-performing schools tend to be characterized as learning organizations Learning organizations tend to have the following characteristics: Supportive and shared leadership, participation in decisions Shared values, vision, goals Collective learning, shared application of learning, horizontal network of information flow (Schechter/Qadach), commitment to improvement Supportive conditions, resources, culture Shared personal practice, break with traditional isolated practice –Recent research has been trying to link such characteristics to changes in instructional practice and student achievement

Schechter, Chen. "Organizational Learning Mechanisms: The Meaning, Measure, and Implications for School Improvement." Educational Administration Quarterly 44.2 (2008): Print. The conceptual framework of organizational learning

Supovitz, Jonathan, Philip Sirinides, and Henry May. "How Principals and Peers Influence Teaching and Learning." Educational Administration Quarterly 46, no. 1 (2010): Peer Influence

Geijsel, Femke¬P, et al. "The Effect of Teacher Psychological and School Organizational and Leadership Factors on Teachers' Professional Learning in Dutch Schools." The Elementary School Journal (2009): Print. Collaboration, shared decisions Internalized mission, self-efficacy

Thoonen, Erik E. J., et al. "How to Improve Teaching Practices: The Role of Teacher Motivation, Organizational Factors, and Leadership Practices." Educational Administration Quarterly 47.3 (2011): Print. Relational trust, tolerance to uncertainty

Schechter, Chen, and Mowafaq Qadach. "The Contribution of Organizational Learning Mechanisms -- toward an Organizational Model of Change in Elementary Schools." Educational Administration Quarterly 48.1 (2012): Print. Organizational Leaning Mechanisms

How do adults learn in high performing schools? Maintain stability, a level of certainty within the inevitable uncertainty, focus on students development, fight distractions There is trust between adults and students, transparency in decisions Leaders that develop and monitor organizational learning mechanisms Professional learning communities

The role of context and A new educational leadership

Bryk, Anthony S., et al. Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press Print. Essential supports model

Organization Context/Community Teaching / Leaning Teachers Leadership Students Interaction

Knowledge on part of the leader of curricular content e.g., observation/evaluation Resolution of unstructured problems Checking assumptions, looking for alternative perspectives, colaborate, make values explicit, etc. Development of relational trust Interpersonal respect, personal steem among coleagues, personal integrity, capabilities requiered by the position Diagnosis of the surroundings and the organization ecometrics Focused development of distributed leadership Robinson, Viviane M. J. "From Instructional Leadership to Leadership Capabilities: Empirical Findings and Methodological Challenges." Leadership & Policy in Schools 9, no. 1 (2010): 1-26.; Nelson/Stein, 2003; Nelson et al, 2007; National College; Burdick-Will et al, 2011; Harding et al, 2011; Spillane et al. Competencies/challenges of the new leadership

25 Leaders Administrators, Specialists, Teachers Situations Tools, routines, structures Followers Teachers, Administrators, Specialists Leadership – Interacctions The practice of leadership

Leadership Theory (iterative, cumulative; principles + judgment) Name, categorize and analyze ideas and underlying issues Redirect with conceptual frameworks, Dimensions and theories Challenges of leadership practice Data and analysis Act towards a problem or challenge Analysis and reflection Around results

How to support them?

International collaboration OAS and IAELN Inter-American Educational Leadership Network

State Market Hemispheric community pushing sustainable, continuous innovation Community NGOs Educational Leaders

… Innovative leaders from different fields and sectors… with a dedication to push relevant reforms of the educational system … a network of leaders through the Americas that are thinking and facilitating dramatic changes in schools and other educational institutions …especially for the most vulnerable sectors.

Research Development Direct exchange

Virtual space

Webinars

Web-based simulations

Simulacros virtuales X

Professional Conferences UCEA, 2011

1st joint international certificate Universidad Católica de Chile and Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania blended distance / onsite

Interamerican professional learning community

Thanks! Michael Johanek, Ed.D. Senior Fellow Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania

FOURTH PLENARY SESSION Educational institutions as communities of learning: the context for effective teaching VII Meeting of OAS Ministers of Education Suriname 1-2 March 2012 Ministerial Dialogue Prof. Mario Mora Quiroz Viceminister of Institutional Planning and Regional Coordination Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica