Technical Assistance for Schools on
Corrective Action and Restructuring
Session 2: December 15 & 16, 2008
Welcome!
Presented by Erin Sullivan & Gail Varney
Title I School lmprovement Coordinators
“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
What are the
Essential
Characteristics
of a PLC?
Shared Mission,
Vision, Collective
Commitments,
and Goals
Collaborative Teams
Focused
on
Learning
Collective Inquiry
into the Current
Reality of the
School and Best
School Practices
An Action
Orientation
A Commitment to
Continuous Improvement
A Focus
on Results
Think/Pair/Share Your
Definition of a PLC.
What
Cultural Shifts
Take Place in a
PLC?
“Probably the most important – and
the most difficult – job of the schoolbased 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
From a Focus on
Teaching...
to a Focus on
Learning
From Working in
Isolation...
to Working
Collaboratively
From External
Professional
Development...
to Job-Embedded
Learning
From Focusing
on Activities...
to Focusing on
Results
From Fixed
Time...
to Flexible Time
From Average
Learning...
to Individual
Learning
From Punitive...
to Positive
From “Teacher
Tell/Student Listen...”
to “Teacher
Coach/Student
Practice”
From Recognizing
the Elite...
to Creating
Opportunity for
Many Learners
Why
Professional Learning
Communities to Support
School Improvement?
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?
The framework of a PLC is inextricably
linked to the effective integration of
standards, assessment, and
accountability.
(Reeves, 2005)
Will school improvement be supported
by teachers actively involved in
ongoing, professional learning and
application of proven strategies?
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)
A Professional Learning
Community is a
FRAMEWORK in Which
a School Can Focus on
School Improvement