The School District Of Osceola County, Florida November 12, 2009

• Adults without a high school diploma are twice as likely to be unemployed.

• Dropouts make up nearly 70% of US inmates.• A dropout’s life expectancy is 9.2 years lower

than that of high school graduates.• The average 45-year-old dropout is in worse

health than the average 65-year-old high school graduate. Source: Henry Levin, Columbia University

So....

Keeping The End In Mind….

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What Can We Do To Change Those Statistics?

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Administrators And Teachers Working Together To…

give studentsthe best of the best

encourage eachother to achievemore professionally

ensure that

ALL students

are successful

share knowledge

and

teaching strategies

look at the datato make instructional

decisionsincrease student successes

increase graduationrates

maximize theirefforts

bring out the

best in ALL

children

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Professional Learning Communities…..

•Have the support of their administrators

•Have clear and common goals

•Have a regular agreed-upon meeting time

•Use data to drive instruction

•Work collaboratively to plan and revise lessons

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Professional Learning Communities…..

•Ensure that students learn

•Focus on results

•Create a culture of collaboration(and actually collaborate)

DuFour, Richard. 2004. “What Is A Professional Learning Community?”

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A Professional Learning Community Is NOT……

• just one more thing to add to our already-busy schedule.

• a book-of-the-month club or study program.

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A Professional Learning Community Is NOT……

• one more program from the district or state that they want us to implement. “Here we go again!”

• a sure-fire system that worked at some other school.

• a bandwagon program that will go away.

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The Traditional School StructureTeachers are dispersed into isolated classrooms

Room 412

Room 414

Room 416

Room 413

Room 415

Room 417

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The Pseudo PLC StructureIndividual classrooms organized into isolated groups on an

infrequent basis.

KindergartenFirst Grade Team

Second Grade TeamThird Grade Team

Fourth Grade TeamFifth Grade Team

pseu-do: adjective, 1.not actually but having the appearance of; pretend; false; sham.2.almost, approaching, or trying to be.

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The PLC StructureA cohesive school organized into

Interdependent Collaborative Teams.

KindergartenFirst Grade Team

Second Grade TeamThird Grade Team

Fourth Grade TeamFifth Grade Team

Vertical Dialogue

Horizontal Dialogue

Horizontal Dialogue

Horizontal Dialogue

Horizontal Dialogue

Horizontal Dialogue

Horizontal Dialogue

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It’s A Shift,

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Which Champion Works Within A PLC?

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The GreatsTiger Woods

He works in a foursome, but he is truly independent. No matter which foursome he is with, he does not collaborate, help or encourage them. Tiger wants to get all the glory.

Room 417

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The GreatsMichael Jordan

In the pros, Michael earned many individual accolades including league MVP. But of all those accolades, his greatest desire was to win the World Championship. It wasn’t until he began to collaborate with his teammates that the ultimate goal was attained.

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Forming Collaborative Groups(PLCs)

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Create Your Teams And Choose Your Team Facilitators

The fundamental question in organizing teams is:

Do the people on this team have a shared responsibility for responding to the learning of their students?Have your teams brought to the forefront new Believers, Tweeners and Fundamentalists? Balance is essential!

Step 1

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Possible Team Structures:• All teachers teaching the same grade level

• All teachers teaching the same course

• Vertical teams (K-2/3-5 or Spanish I-IV)

• Similar Responsibility Teams (Guidance, Special Area ‘Job Alike’)

(Vital components of PLC’s are common assessments and the 4 critical questions.

To maximize effectiveness, groupings of teachers need to be teaching the same

standards to create common assessment and have focused discussion on

standards. )

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Facilitators• Administrators should be in constant

communication with facilitators to provide the following in order to guide the movement:

- suggested agenda items- providing poignant research article for teams to discuss- supporting the “people” issues (“Is your team coming to consensus?” “Is everyone arriving on time and coming prepared?” “How can administration support you?”)

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Step 2Develop Team Norms

The Standards Of Behavior by Which We Agree To Operate

While We Are In This Group

(Refer to reproducible #211)

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Effective teams review the norms

as their first agenda item at each meeting

(1 min.)

Step 3

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SMART Goals• With one nine weeks

complete, PLC teams should begin the next phase of writing SMART Goals.

• Teams should write at least one SMART goal for each subject area (i.e. On our October Monthly Writes 63% of our students scored 4 or above. By the January Writes, 88% will score a 4 or more.)

• Even more important than setting the goal…How will we accomplish this goal? Small groups, focused-writing groups…

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Team Timelines

Aug./Sept. - Develop Teams

Teams Develop Norms

Team Develop SMART Goal

Aug. 31-Sept. 4 - First Formative Assessment

Sept. 15 - Analysis of Student Data From First Formative Assessment (Reflect on data, Create a plan)

Every 2 Weeks - Create Common Assessments

Following Week - Meet to analyze data and form strategies

Nov. 30-Dec. 4 - Second Formative Assessment

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Formative Assessments - Round TwoWhat’s Next?

How can we ensure our teachers use the data to make meaningful decisions???

Give teachers the right questions!Create a data question sheet to guide your PLC’s on how to view the data.

Questions could include some of the items below: • Do you see specific strands that need to be re-taught? How will you adjust your instructional

calendars?• Look at the standards that have already been taught. Find the data where students are excelling

in mastery. What is happening in that classroom? Could the teacher come and model a lesson in your classroom?

• Look at the item analysis. Do you see a pattern of incorrect answers? Look at the answer choices and identify any major misconceptions. Use tricky questions/answers as a teaching tool with students.

• Attach each question to a standard. Use the item analysis to identify small groups of children who need specific skills. Provide remediation through small group instruction and specific skill activities.

• Growth? Identify students who made tremendous gains. What is different about this child’s instructional experience. How can we emulate that for other children?

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1. What is the instructional focus?

2. What are the instructional strategies?

3. How will we know when they have learned it?

4. How will we respond when they need

remediation or enrichment?

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PLC Meets

Focus

Using data,the team

creates a lessonplan and acommon

assessment

Strategies

Teacher instructs using effectivestrategies from

the team’s focusmeeting

PLC Meets

Assessment

The teamconductscommon

assessmentthen meets

to analyze dataand discussstrategies

Response

Teacher remediates

or enriches basedon the

pre-determinedproficiency level

The Team Cycle

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If we continue to take in data as we have always taken in data,

Then we will continue to think as we have always thought.

If we continue to think as we have always thought,

Then we will continue to believe as we have always believed.

If we continue to believe as we have always believed,

Then we will continue to act as we have always acted,

Then we will continue to get what we have always gotten.

An Act Of Futility

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Achievement

Teamwork

Shared Knowledge

College-boundstudents

We All Play A Vital Role In Student Success

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Art TweediePLC District CoachThe Office Of Research, Evaluation & Accountability817 Bill Beck BoulevardKissimmee, FL 34744407-870-4932Internal x66159tweediea@osceola.k12.fl.us

Contact Information

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