1. Technical Assistance for Title I Schools: Introducing the PLC
PLC's
9/15/2018
Technical Assistance for Title I Schools: Introducing the PLC
Session I
December 10th, 2009
Presented by
Kenny Moles, Title I School Improvement Coordinator
Moles

2. Agenda/Essential Questions
PLC's
9/15/2018
Agenda/Essential Questions
What is a professional learning community (PLC)?
How is team and school consensus built?
What are the structures within a school?
How does a school create a culture to support school improvement?
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

3. Introduction-Questions for Thought
PLC's
9/15/2018
Introduction-Questions for Thought
Why does knowledge of what needs to be done so frequently fail to result in action or behavior that is consistent with that knowledge?
Do you agree your staff has all the necessary expertise to improve current results if members become more effective in working together?
1. Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton in The Knowing-Doing Gap explored organizational management. They found a disconnect between knowledge and action. Therefore, the following question is posed by these authors, “Why does knowledge of what needs to be done so frequently fail to result in action or behavior that is consistent with that knowledge?”
Discuss for question #2
2. Peter Block claims, “We have all the skills, the tools, the training we need” to improve.
Determine the total number of years of educational experience exists with your group members.
Ron Edmonds would remind faculties that “they already knew more than they needed to know to improve the school.”
Response-hands up
Five fingers-in total agreement with the statement
One finger-some staff has the knowledge base-needs to learn to work collaboratively on a scheduled basis
Fist- overall the staff lacks the knowledge base and skills needed for a systemic effort of school improvement
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

4. Ideas for School Improvement
PLC's
9/15/2018
Ideas for School Improvement
Improving schools involves three phases:
Phase One-actively developing an awareness and knowledge about your school’s current conditions;
Phase Two-creating a climate and commitment for change; and
Phase Three-restructuring the learning environment.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

5. PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #1
Are we ready for a change towards school improvement?
Discussion of handout.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

6. Review of School Systemic Continuous Improvement Process
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #1
Activity:
Review of School Systemic Continuous Improvement Process
Handout: Systemic Continuous Improvement Process
Using the activity sheet, each participant within the school team will individually complete the worksheet “Systemic Continuous Improvement Process”.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

7. What is a professional learning community (PLC)?
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #2
What is a professional learning community (PLC)?
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

8. Essential Question #2 Activity:
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #2
Activity:
A new teacher is about to begin working in a traditional school and a PLC school. Listen to the scenarios of each school and make notes comparing the two schools on the T-chart.
Handout: T-chart
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

9. Essential Question #2 Revisiting the question:
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #2
Revisiting the question:
What is a professional learning community?
“Educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous, job-embedded learning for educators.”
DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many, 2006)
DuFour, R., DuFour R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2006). Learning by Doing. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
How could the PLC model contribute to the continuity and sustainability of improvement efforts in a school?
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

10. Six Characteristics of PLCs
9/15/2018
Essential Question #2
Six Characteristics of PLCs
Shared mission (purpose), vision (clear direction), values (collective commitments), and goals (indicators, timelines, and targets) – ALL FOCUSED ON STUDENT LEARNING
Collaborative culture with a focus on learning
Collective inquiry into best practice and current reality
Action orientation: learning by doing
Commitment to continuous improvement
Results oriented
DuFour, R., DuFour R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2006). Learning by Doing. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

11. PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #2
“The use of professional learning communities is the best, least expensive, most professionally rewarding way to improve schools Such communities hold out immense, unprecedented hope for schools and the improvement of teaching”.
Mike Schmoker
(as cited in DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker, 2008)
DuFour, R., DuFour R., and Eaker, R. (2008). Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

12. PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #2
Activity: Discuss the following PLC issues with your school team:
Brainstorm the actions necessary if the school were to implement PLC practices.
Identify the challenges to such practices.
Brainstorm actions to address the challenges.
Choose a recorder to document your school’s responses on chart paper and hang on wall for sharing with others.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

13. How is team and school consensus built?
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #3
How is team and school consensus built?
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

14. Steps to building consensus
PLC's
9/15/2018
Building Consensus
Steps to building consensus
Create a strong leadership team
Seek to understand the needs of the system before seeking to be understood
Work to build shared knowledge and collectively study the knowledge as a group before making a decision
Conduct an honest assessment of the present conditions compared to the school vision
create a strong leadership team
positive people
Representative of the school staff-grade levels, contents etc.
Get the right people on the bus-in the right seats
Seek to understand the needs of the system before seeking to be understood
Leadership team members meet with grade level teams, content area teams to access needs and concerns
Shared knowledge
Provide relevant information before asking a group to make a decision
Conduct an honest assessment of the present conditions compared to the school vision
Create a data picture of the school-handouts pages 17-18
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

15. Steps to building consensus
PLC's
9/15/2018
Building Consensus
Steps to building consensus
Develop a common understanding of the term “consensus”
Avoid inaction by delaying movement on an initiative until “all of us” agree
Utilize distributed leadership
Develop a common understanding of the term “consensus”
Majority rules
When everyone agrees with the position of the administrator
Avoid inaction by delaying movement on an initiative until “all of us” agree
If the school improvement bus must wait until every staff member is on board, it will never leave the bus garage!
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

16. Consensus is achieved when all points of view have been heard and
PLC's
9/15/2018
Building Consensus
Defining consensus
Consensus is achieved when
all points of view have been heard and
the will of the group is evident even to those who most oppose it.
Dufour and Eaker recommend two standards that must be met in order to move forward if a decision is made by consensus.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

17. Activity-school staff discussions
PLC's
9/15/2018
Building Consensus
Activity-school staff discussions
Do we have an operational definition of consensus in our school?
Do we know at what point in the decision-making process we will move forward with an initiative?
Do we have a sense of what decisions require consensus?
When do we want to involve all staff in the decision-making process?
Are we developing our skills to hold crucial conversations?
The entire worksheet should be used with the staff for discussion.
Handout: Assess the Climate for Creating Consensus and Responding to Resistance in Your School
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

18. What are the structures within a school?
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #4
What are the structures within a school?
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

19. Structures Within a School
PLC's
9/15/2018
Structures Within a School
Schools are part of a system of education- resulting from legislation and policies at the federal, state and local levels. A school’s structure sets the tone for students’ learning environment.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

20. Structures Within a School
PLC's
9/15/2018
Structures Within a School
Activity-affinity chart
As a school team, brainstorm all of the structures/practices within a school.
Place answers on post it notes.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

21. Structures Within a School
Categorize the information into one of these four categories:
Curriculum Management
Instructional Practices
School Effectiveness
Family and Community Connections
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC

22. Question for Thought Activity: Plus/Delta
PLC's
9/15/2018
Question for Thought
What policies, systems and practices, have your staff put in place to make improvements?
place these on post-it notes as well
Activity: Plus/Delta
Using your post-it notes, identify the items that reflect positive impacts upon your school culture and daily systems of operation. Then identify the ones that need revising.
Handout: Plus/Delta chart
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

23. How does a school create a culture to support school improvement?
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #5
How does a school create a culture to support school improvement?
Accept the fact that all members of the school community (staff, students, parents, district administrators, etc.) are part of the problem and work to become part of the solution.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

24. How does a school create a culture to support school improvement?
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #5
How does a school create a culture to support school improvement?
Culture is commonly thought of as “the way things are done around here”.
Climate is the individuals’ “perceptions” of the work setting and derives from the context and its embedded culture (Hord & Sommers, 2008)
The school or district climate will be very good for a time if, for example, the staff receives raises. On the other hand, if budget cuts occur, as in the current recession, the climate may suffer. These conditions are all temporary, whereas culture is more permanent and lasting. Culture can and does change, but at a much slower rate than climate. Culture develops from the norms, values, behavior patterns, rituals, and traditions of the group or organization.
Culture is a powerful force that can encourage and support individuals’ efforts or thwart them before they are started.
Hord, S., Sommers, W. (2008). Leading professional learning communities: Voices from research and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press & National Association of Secondary Principals.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

25. All schools have cultures. They may . . .
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #5
All schools have cultures. They may . . .
Foster collaboration OR
Foster isolation
Promote self-efficacy OR
Promote fatalism
Be student centered OR
Be teacher centered
Regard teaching as a craft which can be developed OR
Regarding teaching as an innate art
Assign primary responsibility for learning to teachers OR
Assign primary responsibility for learning to students
View administrators and teachers as colleagues OR
View administrators and teachers as adversaries
Encourage continuous improvement OR
Defend the status quo
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

26. Cultural Shifts in a Professional Learning Community
PLC's
9/15/2018
Essential Question #5
Cultural Shifts in a Professional Learning Community
are based on a shift in . . .
Fundamental purpose
Use of assessments
Response when students don’t learn
Work of teachers
Focus
School culture
Professional development
DuFour, R., DuFour R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2006). Learning by doing. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

27. PLC's
9/15/2018
Next Steps
Share the information on SEA support for schools in corrective action and restructuring with the entire staff.
Identify a core school improvement team.
Each school improvement team member should read pages 1-56 of the book Getting Started.
Replicate the activities done for the five essential questions during this first training session with the entire staff.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

28. PLC's
9/15/2018
Next Steps-continued
Build a shared knowledge of key terms and concepts in a PLC. Pages of Revisiting Professional Learning Communities That Work or pages of Learning by Doing
Analyze the current master schedule for structures already in place to support the school as a professional learning community.
Develop an electronic portfolio to track activities and information utilized during the school improvement process.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles

29. Final Thoughts Mike Schmoker
PLC's
9/15/2018
Final Thoughts
“Developing the capacity of educators to function as members of a professional learning community is the “best known” means by which we might truly achieve historic, wide-scale improvement in teaching and learning.”
Mike Schmoker
(as cited in DuFour, Eaker & DuFour, 2005)
DuFour, R., Eaker, R. and DuFour R.(2005). On Common Ground. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
9/15/2018
Introduction to the PLC
Moles