Hillsborough Points of
Learning
Debbie Burns – Woodfern Elementary School
Kelly Owens – Auten Road Intermediate School
Karen Mammino – Auten Road Intermediate School
Debbie Gross – Hillsborough Middle School
Lucille Titus – Hillsborough High School
Kim Feltre – Science Supervisor
Thinking About the Past: Learning
• Establishing PLCs K-12; expanded
numbers of teachers/students who
benefitted from them
• BIT – looking at big ideas through vertical
and horizontal articulations
• Learning Progressions
Thinking About the Past:
Successes
• Connecting to each other through BIT and
vertical articulations
• Completed Train the Trainers and
developed BILD workshop (formerly miniBIM)
• Summer Science Institute
• Continuing Education Units
Thinking About the Past:
Works In Progress
• Common science assessments for all K-12
units
• Dabble in data analysis – technological
capability not in place to drill down to
individual students at this time
Thinking About the Past: Obstacles
• Limited backing of building administration
• Lack of time available to work in PLCs
• Struggle with buy-in and resistors to
change
• Administrative lack of awareness of PLCs
• Need to build teacher awareness of
connecting big ideas
Imprint
• PLCs promoting change; teachers understand
their impact on student learning because of their
collaborative work
• Mindful of the experiences teachers are
providing for students
• Importance of collecting and analyzing data to
identify the best practices that maximize student
learning
• Taking time to make connections; making it real
for students; reflecting on connections and
ensuring we make students aware of them –
changing the way we teach
Impact
• District initiative to implement PLCs for all content
areas
• HEA contract reflects time for PLCs
• 25 administrators attending DuFours’ Professional
Learning Communities at Work Institute in August
• School administrators scheduling time for PLCs
• PLCs – see curriculum and standards through other
people’s eyes – benefit from others’ perspectives
• Deeper understanding of content
• No longer an island
Envisioning the Future
• BILD workshop (formerly mini-BIM) to expose more
teachers to BIT and making connections
• More vertical articulation
• Develop curriculum that reflects learning progressions
• Common assessments that reflect BIT
• Build in time for teachers to talk about how they build
and administer assessments for valid results
• Change communication with parents (online grading)
and focus on assessment data
• Analyze and use data to modify and improve
instructional strategies and learning experiences as a
means to meet students’ needs
• Summer Science/PLC Institute
Making a Difference!
• Adding to our toolbox so that we are
“...every teacher is a change agent,
helping students learn and grow over the
course of the school year.”
Evans, 1996, p. 24
Reference
•
Evans, R. (1996). The human side of change. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass.