District
PLC/Curriculum Team
2009-2010
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To provide a liaison between the PLC teams
and the Admin SIPPLC team
Revise and align K-12 curriculum to
established standards and local essential
learnings
Receive training and support on PLC concepts
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Essential Learnings & K-12 Curriculum
SMART Goals
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Strong district-wide effort to implement
Professional Learning Communities as a
vehicle for improving schools and increasing
communication between teachers at each
grade level and content area.
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Develop and utilize a comprehensive K-12
curriculum and assessment system that
provides consistent data to monitor progress
at the student, building, and district level
◦ Establishing common language
◦ Continued development of essential learnings
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Examine curricular content and articulation
between grade levels and schools to ensure
that instructional practices are systematically
implemented
◦ Articulate curriculum and clarify connections among
the essential learnings K-12
◦ They cannot be developed in isolation at the
building level only or content area
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Provide a schematic of the Beatrice PLC for
teachers. Provide a systemic communication
system to keep teachers informed of new and
developing initiatives emerging from the PLC
process.
◦ Establish district terminology to be used in PLC
conversations about curriculum, assessment, data,
and school improvement
◦ Provide oversight and support to building PLCs to
ensure collaboration and continuous improvement
◦ Common focus that can drive curriculum,
assessment and school improvement
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Written Curriculum Aligned to Standards,
Assessments, and Instructional Materials
Instructional Practices that Challenge and
Support All Students
Assessments that Improve Student Learning
Leadership for Learning
Planning for Learning
Professional Development that Addresses
Student Learning
District Supports Student Learning
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 The
critical skills, knowledge,
and dispositions each student
must acquire as a result of
each course, grade level, and
unit of instruction.
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Collaborative study of essential learning promotes
clarity.
Collaborative study of essential learning promotes
consistent priorities.
Collaborative study of essential learning is crucial to the
common pacing required for formative assessments.
Collaborative study of essential learning can help
establish a curriculum that is viable.
Collaborative study of essential learning creates
ownership of the curriculum among those who are called
upon to teach it.
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Given the limited time you have with
students…you can’t do it all…you must
choose the essential.
What knowledge and skills must I impart to
my students this year so that they will enter
next year’s class with confidence and a
readiness for success?
◦ This helps establish prior skills/knowledge
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“In addition to providing time for instruction
and effective collaboration, leaders must also
conserve the time of classroom teachers by
helping them focus on those academic
content standards that are most important.”
Doug Reeves,2006 p.105
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All standards must be taught…
Which ones are crucial for student success?
Which other ones can be given less emphasis –
taught and assessed as they relate to the concepts
and skills within other essential learnings?
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One way to think about essential learnings-a prioritized subset of state standards.
PLC - Essential Learnings - 18th
Gen. 08
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Separating essential from the peripheral
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Endurance – are students expected to retain
the skills/knowledge long after the text/task
is completed?
Leverage – is this skill/knowledge applicable
to many academic disciplines?
Readiness/Prerequisite – is this skill /
knowledge preparing the student for success
in the next grade/course?
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Determining what is most essential…
Worth being familiar with
Important to
know and do
“Enduring”
understanding
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What are the prerequisite knowledge and skills
students need to have in order to demonstrate
successful learning? (Prior skills needed)
What are the knowledge and reasoning skills
students need to have in order to demonstrate
successful learning of the essential learning?
(Content & Skills/Example of Rigor)
Are students able to articulate the desired
learner objective? (Assessment & Example of
Rigor)
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Local, state, and national standards
Recommended standards from professional
organizations
Current district curriculum guides
“wish lists” of essential learnings from
teachers at the next grade
Data from district, state, and national
assessments
Textbooks
Standards and recommendations on 21st
century learning
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“Common pacing is a prerequisite
for common formative
assessments, which are some of
the most powerful tools for
improvement available to a
school.”
DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many. 2006
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Determine essential learnings for your students, by the end of
unit/course/grade.
◦ Current local standards; state/national standards; and other
resources
◦ Habits and attitude
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Explore broad units of study.
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Develop a ‘working’ curriculum map.
◦ Prerequisite knowledge and skills needed to achieve goals
◦ Specific skills/content
◦ Assessments that measure progress/mastery
◦ Monthly goals/quarterly goals
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Curriculum Alignment
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Review current essential learnings in your PLC team
Review local/state/national standards for your areas that apply to
your grade level/course—Let Summer know by September 9th if you
need help obtaining these
Edit/Revise essential learnings for each course
Choose at least one course for which your PLC will begin to build the
curriculum guide during 09-10 (see example)
By September 30th, send Summer copy of each of the
reviewed/revised essential learnings for every course—send via
email in a Word document listing only the essential learnings.
Summer will pull these together in a matrix and return for use in
your October PLC. During your October PLC, please review the K-12
alignment matrix and create questions that can be reviewed in small
groups of K-12 staff at the October 22nd PLC/Curriculum Committee
meeting.
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Common Assessments
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Review current common assessments in relationship to student
performance and essential learnings/proficiency and edit/revise as
needed
Make sure teachers have the up-to-date assessments
(Elementary—send copies to Student Programs)
(MS/HS—for district assessments, send copies to Student Programs)
Determine assessments that need to be developed to measure
essential learning proficiency
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Data Analysis & SMART Goals
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During PLC work, determine what assessment
data team currently has, what data can be
obtained from Student Programs or other
sources, and what data do we not currently
collect but should (and suggestions on how
we best do this).
During October PLC, work with data collected
to create/modify SMART goals set by team
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