You Are The
Essential
Piece
Professional Learning
Community
From Vision to Reality
Our Work Together
2
Crucial Conversations Strategies
1. Clarify what you want and what you do not want to result from the conversation.
2. Attempt to find mutual purpose.
3. Create a safe environment for honest dialogue.
4. Use facts because “gathering facts is the homework required for crucial
conversations.
5. Share your thought process that has lead you to engage in the conversations.
6. Encourage recipients to share their facts and thought process.
Critical Conversations
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•
•
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Groups of 3
Share critical conversations
Identify key learnings
Share
Space to Learn - Culture
• Culture - Space to Learn
Successful Schools
• Formed a professional learning community
• Focused on student work through assessment
• Changed their instructional practice
accordingly to get better results
• Did all of this on a continuing basis.
Fullan, M. (2000), The three Stories of Educational Reform
Successful Schools Study
Outperforming Demographics: Factors
Influencing Nine Rural and Urban Schools’
Culture of Student Achievement
• Candace Raskin, Courtney Stewart, Jean Haar
Minnesota State University, Mankato
University of Montana
•
Raskin C., Stewart, C. & Haar, J. Outperforming Demographics: Factors Influencing
Nine Rural and Urban Schools’ Culture of Student Achievement. Accepted for
publication in NCPEA Yearbook (2012) Social Justice, Competition and Quality: 21st
Century Leadership Challenges
Successful Schools Study
• The purpose of this study was to analyze within a framework of the 90/90/90
literature, how both rural and urban schools are overcoming factors that may
negatively influence student achievement and refine current understanding of
how school culture around student achievement is influenced.
• A mixed methods explanatory design that included the ranking of correlated
factors influencing student end of level exams was used to identify and study
nine schools that outperformed their demographics.
• Principals and teachers identified critical practices in their schools that
contributed to a culture of high student achievement.
• The study revealed three common factors within these schools - principal
influence, teacher influence, and a culture of high student achievement
established through shared beliefs and school atmosphere.
Principal Influence on Shared Beliefs
and School Atmosphere
Focus on Teaching and Learning…
“Remember why you are here. What were you
hired for? You are here to teach…so teach. Don't
worry about the policy, don't worry about what
your administrators are doing, do what you're hired
to do. That’s teaching. And I'll make it so you can
do that. So you tell me what you need. So I'm kind
of servile to them in a way. You know, there isn't a
real big step between my faculty and me.”
Principal Influence on Shared Beliefs
and School Atmosphere
Focus on Teaching and Learning…
A rural middle school principal spoke to the importance
of teachers utilizing every minute of instructional time,
“I want my teachers working, and I think that's, um, a real
key thing here. We’re on 51-minute periods, and our
teachers teach 51 minutes, and I think that's a real key
thing to us. I’ve seen school districts where the last 10 or
15 minutes is study hall or free time like, so talk to your
friends. •And we really don't do that. My teachers are
teaching and I think that's good.”
Principal Influence on Shared Beliefs
and School Atmosphere
Systems for teacher support.
An elementary teacher noted, “You know, we don’t get
everything we want, because there’s not enough money, but if
there is a real need, he goes to bat for us.”
Empowered teachers.
Teachers spoke of how principals created a culture of risk
taking which allowed them to implement innovative
instructional strategies without fear of retribution.
Principals also discussed the importance of trust in
defaulting to the teachers on key instructional decisions for
students.
Principal Influence on Shared Beliefs
and School Atmosphere
Systems for teacher support.
An elementary teacher noted, “You know, we don’t get
everything we want, because there’s not enough money, but if
there is a real need, he goes to bat for us.”
Empowered teachers.
Teachers spoke of how principals created a culture of risk
taking which allowed them to implement innovative
instructional strategies without fear of retribution.
Principals also discussed the importance of trust in
defaulting to the teachers on key instructional decisions for
students.
Principals that Establish Conditions
for Organizational Change
High levels of trust.
A rural high school teacher described how trust was important in
uniting her school, “He treats us like professionals, and I really
appreciate that…I just feel like … we’re trusted to do what we do, and
so consequently, I think that’s another reason we’re all on board and
going in the same direction.”
High expectations.
A elementary teacher captured this phenomenon of student
accountability, “She had high standards for us as a staff. She also has
incredibly high standards for the students, as well, and she will get
personally involved with a student if she sees that they’re not meeting
her, you know, her expectations, which I think is really neat, because a
lot of principals have a hands-off role with students, and so, you know,
all the kids know that, too.”
Principals that Establish Conditions
for Organizational Change
Continuous improvement.
• One teacher commented how her principal encouraged her to
return to graduate school to continue her education and build
her professional goals.
• Another teacher talked about how her principal expects
continuous use of data to reevaluate the master schedule to
better accommodate student progress.
• Teachers also spoke of how principals expect teachers to not
allow any student to fall behind; student progress was
continuously monitored.
Self - Assessment
Teacher Assessment
Discuss In Small Groups
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•
•
•
Did you find any trends?
Where there common needs?
What did you learn?
What next?
Improvement in student achievement on all assessment measures.
POWERFUL PRACTICES PRODUCE
RESULTS
Powerful Practice
State Standards
Test Specs
National Standards
Priority
Standards
Data Team
Process
Unwrapped
Standards
Common
Formative
Assessments
Authentic
Performance
Tasks
Scoring
Guides
Reeves, D. (2011), The Power of Assessments
for Learning, Minnetonka, MN
Powerful Practice
Priority
Standards
Data Team
Process
Unwrapped
Standards
Common
Formative
Assessments
Authentic
Performance
Tasks
Scoring
Guides
Reeves, D. (2011), The Power of Assessments
for Learning, Minnetonka, MN
Big ideas
Essential Learnings
Powerful Practice
Priority
Standards
Data Team
Process
Unwrapped
Standards
Common
Formative
Assessments
Authentic
Performance
Tasks
Scoring
Guides
Reeves, D. (2011), The Power of Assessments
for Learning, Minnetonka, MN
Curriculum map
Pacing guides
Vertical and
Horizontal alignment
Powerful Practice
Priority
Standards
Data Team
Process
Unwrapped
Standards
Common
Formative
Assessments
Authentic
Performance
Tasks
Scoring
Guides
Reeves, D. (2011), The Power of Assessments
for Learning, Minnetonka, MN
Common understanding of
mastery
Mastery targets by grade and
course
Powerful Practice
Priority
Standards
Common assessments
by grade and course
Scheduled assessment
points
Data Team
Process
Unwrapped
Standards
Common
Formative
Assessments
Authentic
Performance
Tasks
Scoring
Guides
Reeves, D. (2011), The Power of Assessments
for Learning, Minnetonka, MN
Powerful Practice
Scheduled data team
meetings
Systematic response to
address student needs
Identified strategies
for intervention
Electronic repository
Priority
Standards
Data Team
Process
Unwrapped
Standards
Common
Formative
Assessments
Authentic
Performance
Tasks
Scoring
Guides
Reeves, D. (2011), The Power of Assessments
for Learning, Minnetonka, MN
Powerful Practice
Priority
Standards
Data Team
Process
Unwrapped
Standards
Common
Formative
Assessments
Authentic
Performance
Tasks
Scoring
Guides
Reeves, D. (2011), The Power of Assessments for
Learning, Minnetonka, MN
Powerful Practice
• How do these components fit together
– If the state standards and the state tests were the
“bookends” and these powerful practices were
the books in between…
– How would you arrange the books to show the
connections?
Reeves, D. (2011), The Power of Assessments
for Learning, Minnetonka, MN
Successful Schools
• Self assess your school based on these
powerful practice strategies .
• Share in small groups by level.
• Brainstorm next steps.
Powerful Practice
• Sharing your findings.
Clicker activity
Put each area on the wheel into a clicker
response and collect data for the district.
Powerful Practice
• Groups (not leveled)
• From a district perspective what are 3-5 top
priorities to move the schools in your district
forward and sustain PLCs.
Powerful Practice
• Share priorities as a large group.
• Sentence strips.
Action Steps
• What are possible action steps in your
building to help your teams continue to grow
as plcs.
Pulling it together
• What should our focus be to provide support
to you as leaders.
• What can we do to provide support to your
teacher leaders.
Closing
–2 Minute write
• Where do you feel you have made the
most significant growth this year?
–Share with the large group