The School District Of Osceola County, Florida

Keeping The End In Mind…. 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....

What Can We Do Together To Change These Statistics?

Administrators And Teachers Working Together To… encourage each other to achieve more professionally bring out the best in ALL children give students the best of the best share knowledge and teaching strategies increase graduation rates look at the data to make instructional decisions ensure that ALL students are successful increase student successes maximize their efforts

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

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?”

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.

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 a school in Texas. a bandwagon program that will go away.

The Traditional School Structure Teachers are dispersed into isolated classrooms Room 412 Room 413 Room 414 Room 415 Room 416 Room 417

The Pseudo PLC Structure Individual classrooms organized into isolated groups on an infrequent basis. Team 6 Team 5 Team 4 Team 3 Team 2 Team 1 pseu-do: adjective, not actually but having the appearance of; pretend; false; sham. almost, approaching, or trying to be.

A cohesive school organized into Interdependent Collaborative Teams. The PLC Structure A cohesive school organized into Interdependent Collaborative Teams. Team 6 Team 5 Team 4 Team 3 Team 2 Team 1 Vertical Dialogue Horizontal Dialogue

It’s A Shift, A Shift In Fundamental Purpose From…… To…… a focus on teaching a focus on learning A Shift In Use Of Assessments isolated assessments collaborative on-going assessments A Shift In Response When Students Don’t Learn remediation intervention A Shift In the Work Of Teachers isolation collaboration

Which Champion Works Within A PLC? Tiger Woods: He works in a foursome, but he is truly independent. No matter who is foursome is with, he does not want to help or support them. When he was younger, his dad was his only coach, but as he grew far better, he needed more specialized coaches. So, he hired many different coaches. He had a great support network of coaches, but he is the only one who gets the glory. Michael Jordan: He rose to fame through some very trying times like not making the HS basketball team. In the pros, he earned many individual accolades, including league MVP. But all of those don’t mean much next to the World Championship. It wasn’t until he turned from a focus on himself to building interdependent relationships with his teammates that the ultimate goal was attained.

Tiger 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 Tiger Woods: He works in a foursome, but he is truly independent. No matter who is foursome is with, he does not want to help or support them. When he was younger, his dad was his only coach, but as he grew far better, he needed more specialized coaches. So, he hired many different coaches. He had a great support network of coaches, but he is the only one who gets the glory. Michael Jordan: He rose to fame through some very trying times like not making the HS basketball team. In the pros, he earned many individual accolades, including league MVP. But all of those don’t mean much next to the World Championship. It wasn’t until he turned from a focus on himself to building interdependent relationships with his teammates that the ultimate goal was attained.

Michael 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. Tiger Woods: He works in a foursome, but he is truly independent. No matter who is foursome is with, he does not want to help or support them. When he was younger, his dad was his only coach, but as he grew far better, he needed more specialized coaches. So, he hired many different coaches. He had a great support network of coaches, but he is the only one who gets the glory. Michael Jordan: He rose to fame through some very trying times like not making the HS basketball team. In the pros, he earned many individual accolades, including league MVP. But all of those don’t mean much next to the World Championship. It wasn’t until he turned from a focus on himself to building interdependent relationships with his teammates that the ultimate goal was attained.

Forming Collaborative Groups (PLCs)

Creation Of Collaborative Teams Step 1 Creation Of Collaborative Teams The fundamental question in organizing the team is: Do the people on this team have a shared responsibility for responding to the learning of their students?

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. )

Team Facilitators You are: No Pressure!!!! and Positive An Encourager A Team Member A Team Builder and A Listener The Trail Guide A Celebrator Looking Ahead

Facilitators Administrators should be in constant communication with facilitators to provide the following in order to guide the group: - suggested agenda items - occasional relevant research article for teams to discuss - supporting the “people” issues “Is your team coming to consensus?” “Is everyone arriving on time and coming prepared?” “Is the team seeing results from collaboration?” “How can we (administration) support you?”

Step 2 Develop Team Norms The Standards Of Behavior by Which We Agree To Operate While We Are In This Group Effective teams review the norms as their first agenda item at each meeting. (1 min.) (Refer to NORM reproducibles)

Teams Develop SMART Goals Step 3 Teams Develop SMART Goals Establish a SMART Goal: Strategic and Specific Measurable Attainable Results-oriented Time-bound (Refer to SMART Goals reproducibles)

SMART Goals At the end of each nine weeks, teams should begin the next phase of writing SMART Goals. (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…

(Refer to reproducible #133)

2009/2010 District Goals for Osceola County Public Schools Click Here Seacrest School Reading Gladiators Jeanne Winston Marge Blankston, Adam Markey, Paul Croft, Sheila Stone All high schools will improve their school performance by at least one letter grade. Increase the percentage of students scoring at or above level 3 in Reading by 10%. Our Reality: 61% of our currently-enrolled 10th grade students scored an achievement level of three or higher on FCAT Reading last year. Source: ODMS report DEM0050 Subtests of least growth include: Main Idea -12% and Comparisons -7%. Source: ODMS report CAR0010 Students will be identified who need assistance in the two subtests. Source: ODMS report CAR0025 Entire team End of August List of students who will be assigned to one of the two groups. Each day, students will be grouped and instructed for 25 minutes in the subtest of greatest need. Develop common formative assessments. Entire Team Common formative assessments will be administered every two weeks. Number of students demonstrating proficiency in the subtests of instruction based on assessment results. Our Goal: Increase the percentage of students scoring proficient in the two subtest categories to 80%. 2009/2010 District Goals for Osceola County Public Schools Click Here http://www.osceola.k12.fl.us/Superintendent/documents/SuptGoals20092010final.pdf 2009/2010 Osceola County Public Schools Improvement Plans Click Here http://www.osceola.k12.fl.us/depts/ResearchEvalAcct/SchoolImprovementPlans.asp 25

The 4 Driving Questions What is the instructional focus? What are the instructional strategies? How will we know when they have learned it? How will we respond when they need remediation or enrichment?

The Team Cycle Focus Response Strategies PLC Meets Using data, creates a lesson plan and a common assessment PLC Meets Assessment The team conducts common assessment then meets to analyze data and discuss strategies Strategies Teacher instructs using effective strategies from the team’s focus meeting Response Teacher remediates or enriches based on the pre-determined proficiency level

An Act Of Futility 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.

We Can All Make A Difference In The Life Of A Child Teamwork Achievement College-bound students Shared Knowledge

The Office Of Research, Evaluation & Accountability Contact Information Art Tweedie PLC District Coach The Office Of Research, Evaluation & Accountability 817 Bill Beck Boulevard Kissimmee, FL 34744 407-870-4932 Internal x66159 tweediea@osceola.k12.fl.us