Continuing the School Visit: Deepening the Next Level of Work East Boston High School December 9, 2014

Learning Goals Explore root causes for patterns of practice using the Five Whys protocol Develop next level of work suggestions with attention to explicit theories about adult learning Apply a developmental view to next level of work suggestions. (Move slowly.) Connect next level of work suggestions to school organizational capacity and improvement

Next level of work Our goal is to: Respond to the problem of practice (How are students participating with instructional tasks that involve the levels of Bloom’s – specifically with reading, writing, listening, and speaking?) Move and shift instructional practice across classrooms Provide suggestions consistent with the specific EBHS context (Organizational structure)

Share High Leverage PatternOrganizational ContextRoot Cause AnalysisDevelopmental View of ImprovementAdult Learning Theory Deepening The NLOW

After we observed across all classrooms, we observed that there is more teacher voice compared to student voice. In other words, if we could shift this pattern of practice, we believe it would improve student learning. Share High Leverage Pattern

What do we need to consider and what can we control? What have you been working on and what is planned? Existing Systems and Structures? – Instructional Leadership and School Site Council – Two CPTs – Monthly PDs – Sign Up Genius Lesson Modeling – Use of data? – Professional learning? Briefly consider: How are they used? Organizational Context

Try to identify the root explanations for a problem Identify various perspectives on a problem Determine how various causes relate to each other Determine which causes are within our locus of control for improvement (5 Whys is one root cause analysis protocol) Root Cause Analysis

All students doing same activity Easier way to handle a big group Teachers have more control over student learning Teachers want to make sure they accomplish certain learning goals Teachers believe this is the expectation in school Parents reinforce this belief Not enough time to plan lessons- easier to plan for one group activity There are a lot of other responsibilities- documentation Not sharing the work, every teacher do everything, not work in teams Not used to working in teams Don’t know how to share work across teams - Teachers worry that they might not be able to answer if go too wide Might lack confidence in selves as teachers To stay true to the teams plan Have good results so why change 5 Whys Protocol Example from a school visit at school with a problem of practice related to the challenges of differentiating learning for students.

(In most classes) we hear more teacher voice than student voiceWhy

Developmental View of Improvement

Developmental view of improvement Needs Improvement ProficientAdvanced

Developmental view of improvement Needs Improvement ProficientAdvanced

Thinking Developmentally Take a moment to think of something you have been learning recently. Describe your learning trajectory. What have been the steps on the continuum? Where are you heading next? What helped you to progress/ develop?

Developmental View : In what ways are questions promoting higher order thinking? Teachers are asking higher order questions periodically and student responses highly scaffolded Status vs. Developmental View of Improvement Status View: Are there questions that promote higher order thinking? Status View: Are there questions that promote higher order thinking? Teachers primarily ask recall and understanding level questions Teachers are asking higher order questions and students are selecting learning supports as needed to respond Teachers and students are developing and asking higher order questions. Students are independently developing ways to respond

Developmental View : In what ways are teachers reducing their voice to increase student voice? Status vs. Developmental View of Improvement Status View: Are teachers reducing their voice to increase student voice? Status View: Are teachers reducing their voice to increase student voice?

How can we best support learning? Individuals, teams and organizations have implicit learning theories Rounds exposes the theories to inquiry and learning Rounds helps us develop explicit, shared learning theories Adult Learning Theory

Making Learning Theories Explicit Adults learn best when…

Identify High Leverage PatternOrganizational ContextRoot Cause AnalysisDevelopmental View of ImprovementAdult Learning Theory Deepening The NLOW

Pulling it all together: Time to make Next level of Work Suggestions Make a learning plan that is working toward shifting this pattern of practice. WHY do you believe this pattern exists? (root cause analysis) WHAT adult learning would you focus on next at the school level? (developmental view) HOW would you support that learning? (Organizational context, Adults learn best when…) – (next week, next month, next year)

To what degree will our NLOW suggestions be helpful to the host school and to the network? Focuses on shifting or building on a pattern of practice Responds to the problem of practice Identifies who the learners are Identifies specifically what learning needs to happen Names an explicit ways to support that learning Builds from the structures and resources that exist

 Prior: Connecting to host’s improvement work  Logistics  Engagement of staff and school community  Problem of practice development  Visit  Problem of Practice  Observation of Practice  Observation Debrief ( Describe, Analyze, Predict)  Next Level of Work  Post: Continuing the learning  Sharing data  Following up (at host school and network) The cycle of the school visit

At the end of the visit… We leave all of the data, analysis, predictions and suggestions with the school We will also leave our notes from classroom visits Facilitators have a quick meeting with the members of the host participants Host participants and their colleagues now own and carry forward the work…how to share, what to share and how to build on the learning

Host School’s Learning Network’s Learning Balancing the Learning Instructional Rounds Network

Post visit follow-up with host and network For the network Implications (sometimes) for the district improvement efforts and overall coherence Implications for the network’s learning – About improving practice at Rounds – About common areas of improving teaching, learning, and leadership For the host school Sharing data from the visit What resonated for you; what surprised you; what do you want to know more about? Connections: To other improvement cycles or learning processes To school (and district) improvement plans To school (or district) theory of action?

Reflecting on the day… PLUSDELTA INSIGHTS