1. Goodyear Middle School Akron, Ohio
The Successes and Near Misses of a First Year Professional Learning Community.

2. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…

3. We want to honestly share with you..
What worked for us
What we want to improve on
Where we totally missed the boat
And why we would keep doing this

4. A little about Goodyear…
GMS is one of 7 middle schools in Akron, Ohio serving grades 6-8.
We are in 83% poverty; 21% special ed., 61% African American, 29 % Caucasian, 7% multi-race
High transient rate of students.
We are in school improvement year 4 math and year 5 reading
6th graders come on average up 2 years behind academically
We are transitioning from a student body of 400 students to over 700 for the 09/10 school year.

5. The heart of the matter … the teachers..
Mastered degree teachers: 74%
Average number of years experience : 16 years
HQ: 100%
Number of teachers sent to national conferences: 15
Dedicated administration to the concept of PLCs
Number of administrative changes since 2005: 7
Turnover rate of staff since 2006: 50%
We have had in house professional development since 2004

6. Teacher Collaborations 4 step progression
Informal – Hallway and lunchroom conversations
Individual – Go ask a colleague / friend for help
Group sharing- small group, no formal procedures. Usually has a facilitator.
Joint Work- relying on each other’s expertise. High level of engagement and collaboration.

7. What are these PLCs you speak of??
Some common elements…
Goals are determined by the data of the students you work with
Question, assess, reflect and guide instruction
Ongoing focus on instructional practices : “We improve, they improve”
Regular meetings
Able to document and publically share information

8. Common Foe
The biggest foe of a PLC is : Teacher isolation! Years of ingrained culture that you work alone, plan alone, manage alone and alone.
struggle

9. What PLCs become…. Embedded in school culture
Learning is at the heart of the process
Realize that the teacher is the most important influence on education
Setting clear goals for learning
Data driven decisions: Do not assume you know what they know!
Accountability

10. What do you need? A way to increase student achievement?
A way to increase your own knowledge and expertise?
A way to strengthen professional relationships?
A way to see if we are making a difference?
A way to develop leadership capacity?
A way to efficiently share ideas?
A way to recognize each others’ expertise and experiences?
Cost effective way to engage in professional development?

11. A very bad PLC….

12. A functioning PLC…

13. Sailing Away….and missing the boat….
Research states that a PLC should not be administrator led.
Goals, that are attainable and personal, must be established and carried out by the individual PLC.
Rotate team leaders and roles within each PLC.
No Queen Bees!
Keep groups smaller : 3-5
Some…
Checked out
Refused to go
Disgruntled

14. A fast moving stream will shed it’s debris.
Keep moving forward!
A fast moving stream will shed it’s debris.

15. So so so close…. Began to…
Evolve into real sharing and reflection on our instruction…. Do not allow your PLCs to get side tracked. Have a voice.
Develop some common strategies.
Drop pre-conceived notions.
Move from the idea of “MY students , MY classroom” to “OUR students, OUR school”
Encourage initiative.
Laugh a lot more!

16. Our Targets Common Planning Time to meet
Established Norms: What will we accept as a group?
Kept logs/agendas
Analyzed Data based on in-house computer-aided testing , OAT data and student work
Established Smart Goals
Our Targets
Saw the value of PLCs
Instituted researched based-strategies and best practices
Recognized we aren’t going to get 100%.
Dedicated room for PLCs to meet
Utilized coaches
Mentor teachers

17. Let’s think for a minute..