1. Welcome! Session 2: December 15 & 16, 2008
Technical Assistance for Schools on Corrective Action and Restructuring
Session 2: December 15 & 16, 2008
Presented by Erin Sullivan & Gail Varney
Title I School lmprovement Coordinators
Connect NCLB sanctions with PLC model and Title I’s Technical Assistance
Welcome!

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
RPLCAW, page 66

3. What are the Essential Characteristics of a PLC?
RPLCAW, pgs , Also see LPLC, pages 8-9.
Stress that these are essential. Failure to address one will ultimately prevent the success of the whole. Don’t fall into the trap of viewing these as an implementation checklist. Can’t check off a to-do list. Not singular actions but ongoing goings that must be continuallly reconsidered and embedded.

4. #1 Shared Mission, Vision, Collective Commitments, and Goals
Leading Professional Learning Communities, pg. 8-9

5. #2 Collaborative Teams Focused on Learning
RPLCAW, pg. 326

6. #3 Collective Inquiry into the Current Reality of the School and Best School Practices
RPLCAW, page Also see LPLC, pgs

7. #4 An Action Orientation
RPLCAW, pg. 327

8. #5 A Commitment to Continuous Improvement
RPLCAW, pg. 327

9. #6 A Focus on Results
RPLCAW, pg. 327

10. Think/Pair/Share Your Definition of a PLC.
Activity:
Think/Pair/Share Your Definition of a PLC.

11. What Cultural Shifts Take Place in a PLC?
WIT pgs School improvements have typically focused on the structure of the school, but structural changes have little lasting impact unless changes are deeply rooted in the school’s culture. Success or failure of the effort to build a PLC will depend on the ability of the people to make profound cultural shifts.

12. “Probably the most important – and the most difficult – job of the school-based reformer is to change the prevailing culture of a school ultimately, a school’s culture has far more influence on life and learning in the schoolhouse than the state department of education, the superintendent, the school board, or even the principal can ever have.” Roland Barth
Whatever It Takes, pg. 171

13. From a Focus on
Teaching...
to a Focus on
Learning

14. From Working in Isolation... to Working Collaboratively

15. From External Professional Development... to Job-Embedded Learning
TIS

16. From Focusing on Activities...
to Focusing on Results

17. From Fixed Time...
to Flexible Time

18. to Individual Learning
From Average Learning...
to Individual Learning

19. From Punitive...
to Positive

20. From “Teacher Tell/Student Listen
From “Teacher Tell/Student Listen...” to “Teacher Coach/Student Practice”

21. From Recognizing the Elite... to Creating Opportunity for Many Learners

22. Why Professional Learning Communities to Support School Improvement?

23. Do you see a benefit in a school wide focus on what you expect students to learn? Would effective assessment – knowing when students have learned and when they haven’t and intervening to help individual students - improve achievement? Do you think collaboration would increase accountability?

24. The framework of a PLC is inextricably
linked to the effective integration of
standards, assessment, and
accountability.
(Reeves, 2005)
RPLCAW pg. 70.

25. Will school improvement be supported by teachers actively involved in ongoing, professional learning and application of proven strategies?

26. Well-implemented PLCs are a powerful means of seamlessly
blending teaching and professional
learning in ways that produce
complex, intelligent behavior in all
teachers.
(Sparks, 2005)
RPLCAW pg. 71

27. A Professional Learning Community is a FRAMEWORK in Which a School Can Focus on School Improvement