Singleton PLCs:
Overcoming Barriers to Collaboration
Presented by:
Wayne Herron, Dianne Greif, Dirk Bortz, Emily Sorensen
Elgin School District
and Liz Durant, InterMountain ESD
The Vision
To create a functional Professional Learning Community
among rural Eastern Oregon high schools
• Goal 1: Provide a supportive, collaborative PLC for Algebra I teachers to ensure
Common Core State Standard are taught and that students are learning the standards.
• Goal 2: Help other singleton disciplines become engaged with collaborative teaching
and learning
The Need
• We need more students showing growth and meeting the Essential Skills
math requirement
• We need more students prepared to graduate and more students meeting the
40-40-20 goal presented by the Governor
How We Began
• Proposal from James Sims, School Improvement Coach and Consultant for
Education Northwest
• Contacted superintendents in the region who had singleton teachers
• Asked for support from InterMountain ESD (financial and staff)
• Identified a team leader and scheduled the first meeting
Staying the Course
Support from administration is crucial
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Time
Resources
Goals
Evaluation
The Process
• First meeting:
• Agenda
• PLC 101 presentation
• Future meetings: face-to-face or use technology?
• ESD financial support
• Provide a solid basis to launch the work
The 4 PLC Questions
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What do we want students to learn?
How will we know if they learn it?
How do we respond when students experience difficulty in learning?
How do we respond when students do learn?
The Work
What did we do the first year?
• What is a PLC
• Met once a month
• Common Formative Assessments
• Compared data (informally)
• Discussed teaching strategies used in classrooms
• Pacing guide
Benefits
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Student struggles are not isolated
Common assessments showed similar data
Teaching strategies used in multiple classrooms
Confidence with what we are teaching
Collaboration of different ideas into one
Challenges
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Distance
Communication
District Goals
Learning Common Core
Creating Assessments
Plan for Future
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Common formative assessments
More formal data analysis
Discuss instructional strategies based on analyzed data
Improve on Common Core implementation
PLCs at Stella Mayfield School
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Limited resources/funding
Collaboration with neighboring districts
Teacher teams doesn't always mean within your building
Ease of sharing gained from using tools like "Google Docs"
You don’t have to be great to
start, but you have to start to
be great.”
- Zig Ziglar, Motivational Speaker