Principal Student Achievement Meeting PLC Visioning and Beyond

Tight Budgets Regardless of your political views, the fact is that school budgets are tight. Two related factors: The public and most political leaders seem to be unwilling to raise taxes to continue the expansion of public services. The demand for other services and other commitments means tight state and local budgets.

Improving Learning Compounding the fiscal realities is the continuing pressure to increase student performance and close achievement gaps. Simply put, despite decreasing school budgets, educators must boost student learning.

Improving Learning Schools and districts must now figure out how to set new strategic direction and align dollars with programs, strategies, and systems that together boost student learning, whether the overall budget stays the same or must be reduced.

Improving Learning A strategic approach means aligning the use of resources to a solid, powerful and comprehensive improvement strategy. Further, using the education dollar strategically would mean specific and clear links between the resource and staffing needs of the improvement strategy and the allocations of the dollars toward those resources and staffing needs.

The Research The main outline of a comprehensive strategy to improve student learning and close the achievement gaps in schools with diverse student populations is not a secret. The elements have been described in countless case studies, books, and articles.

Some Key Elements Organizing teacher work in different ways to positively impact student performance. Implementing a systemic approach (PLCs) to change the culture in order to achieve a more uniform deployment of effective instructional practice into all classrooms. Investing in ongoing, comprehensive, and intensive professional learning.

Some Key Elements Embedding professional learning into the school day. Utilizing an instructional coaching model to increase teacher effectiveness. A recent randomized trial study of coaching found significant, positive impact on student achievement in all core subjects. Developing an understanding among all stakeholders that professional learning cannot be viewed as a once and done element.

Doing Differently The type of district and schools that I envision as we move forward embraces the current research as to what is the best way for leaders and teachers to act. They are also fiscally responsible and committed to our mission, vision and priorities as established by the community.

Doing Differently John Hattie (2009), in his book Visible Learning, examines numerous instructional practices and concludes that teachers working together in collaborative teams to clarify what students must learn, gather evidence of learning, and analyze that evidence so that they can identify the most powerful teaching strategy is indeed the practice that yields the most results in improving student learning. Getting this powerful continuous model in place requires both structural adjustments and cultural shifts.

John Hattie-Visible Learning What is the barrier to high quality learning in every classroom: *The variation of implementation causes different impact on learning

Doing Differently What is the RIGHT Work? *All Educators work collaboratively and take collective responsibility for student learning *Collaborative teams implement a guaranteed and viable curriculum, unit by unit *Collaborative teams monitor student learning through ongoing common formative assessments *Educators use the results of the assessments to: Improve individual practice Build the team’s capacity to achieve its goals Intervene on behalf of students

Doing Differently A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is: -An on-going 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

Next Steps No single person can unilaterally bring about substantive change in an organization.

Next Steps Effective leaders: -recognize they cannot accomplish great things alone -the ability to lead is not the private reserve of a few Leadership is broadly distributed in the population of our schools

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Communication There is a clear core purpose and it is communicated both verbally and through adult action.

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Commitment PLC schools don’t pick and choose. They commit to deep implementation of all PLC concepts.

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Participation and Shared Responsibility Professional Learning Communities find ways for all staff members to contribute toward the accomplishment of their stated goals. Helping to facilitate the work of collaborative teams is very different than telling them what to do.

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Shared Accountability Teachers have to take ownership for the results they achieve and must come to believe that their actions can change the result.

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Respect The rules they establish for themselves ensure respectful relationships develop and as a result, contribute to developing shared accountability.

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Solution Orientation A Professional Learning Community thinks differently, they move past identifying the problem to relentlessly pursuing the solution.

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Honesty Honesty builds trust which is an essential element of all professional learning communities.

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Support They understand that to establish a culture that continually improves teacher practice, they must find ways to support all teachers regardless of experience or expertise. Punishing people into improving doesn’t work.

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Equity Teams of teachers engage in processes to determine curricular essentials and align them throughout the school, they develop common assessments and collectively analysis the data they produce,and they develop a system of intervention that guarantees all struggling students additional time and support.

10 Steps to Creating a PLC Culture Celebration A gain, no matter how small is still a gain. Professional learning communities recognize this fact and as a result, they celebrate each success that moves them one step closer to accomplishing their shared goals. They understand that success breeds more success!

Creating a PLC Culture A universal truth in becoming a professional learning community is that it doesn’t happen overnight. However, school leaders can shorten the journey and make the road much smoother by understanding the importance of paying attention to their school’s cultural development.

Creating Buy-in “I define leadership as the ability to get people to do what they would normally not do.”