PLC Plan

V. Nicole AmasonUniversity of Houston-Victoria

School Setting• Located in Calhoun County, population 20,500• 4A High School• Recognized campus in 2009-2010

English Department PLC

•Department Head•Four Senior English Teachers•Four Junior English Teachers

•Four Sophomore English Teachers•Four Freshman English Teachers

•Special Ed Language Arts Teacher•Assistant Principal

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) shift the focus of school reform from restructuring to reculturing

A PLC is an ongoing process used to establish a schoolwide culture that develops teacher leadership explicitly focused on building and sustaining school improvement efforts.

Generally, PLCs are composed of teachers, although administrators and support staff routinely participate

Through participation in PLCs, teachers enhance their leadership capacity while they work as members of ongoing, high-performing, collaborative teams that focus on improving student learning

What is a PLC?

http://www.centerforcsri.org/plc/program.html

Where are we?

Indicators of a Professional Learning Community Team Assessment Copyright©2007 by

Timothy Berkey   Directions: Record the number listed on the rubric that best indicates

the degree to which your team is matching the PLC indicator.   0  1. Demonstrates a shared vision defined by goals and expected

results.     1                  2                 3                 4                 5   Never          Almost Never      Sometimes      Almost Always      Always   Comments: ________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________   2. Achieves repeated short-term gains over extended periods of

time and reports these to students and parents.     1                  2                 3                 4                 5   Never          Almost Never      Sometimes      Almost Always      Always   Comments: ________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________   0     3. Uses trial and error to discover more effective ways to

differentiate instruction and improve learning.     1                  2                 3                 4                 5   Never          Almost Never      Sometimes      Almost Always      Always   Comments: ________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________   0     4. Engages members in ongoing diagnosis and treatment of

student learning problems.     1                  2                 3                 4                 5   Never          Almost Never      Sometimes      Almost Always      Always   Comments: ________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Team Assessment

What Are Our Priorities?

Timothy Berkey

In groups or 2 or three, think of a time when you were a member of a high performing team. List the attributes.

Think of a time when you were on a low performing team. List the causes.

Defining a High Performance Team

A real team whose members are deeply committed to one another’s growth and success.

Willing to place our priority on teaching and learning

Have a strong commitment to our mission Understand the need for change

Vision of our PLC – High Performance Team

Teachers as Instructional Leaders

Copyright 2007 Timothy Berkey

Refined Vision

Copyright 2007 Timothy Berkey

We will meet as a department weekly on Tuesdays during second period

Meeting Times:

All meetings will be held during second period

Monday – Freshman Teachers Wednesday - Junior Teachers Thursday – Sophomore Teachers Friday – Senior Teachers

Meeting Times:

How will the meetings function?

•The meetings will be held weekly•They will last no more than 45 minutes•The group will set the agenda for the next meeting at the end of the first•The focus will be on student improvement•Student behavior can be discussed at a different time •Data will drive the decisions

Agenda for Meetings:

•We will use our Refined Vision to align our curriculum, instruction and assessment.•The Team will disaggregate data to find the students’ weakness•The Team will design a plan to attack the areas of student need•The Team will report back successes and failures•The Team will work together to find solutions•The Team will always focus on student improvement

Curriculum

•Each grade level will administer the ACT test•The data will be disaggregated•Curriculum will be developed to focus on areas of weakness at the beginning of the year•We will divide the objectives among the 6 six week terms, spiraling our lowest objectives to ensure mastery

Curriculum

•We will administer standardized six weeks tests to monitor student progress•The data will be disaggregated and analyzed to monitor student learning and drive instruction•We will use the data to adjust instruction as necessary•These formative evaluations will ensure that we are on the right path of student improvement

Differentiation

•We need to add value to every student in the class•We must bring the slow learner up to grade level•We must add growth to the middle learner•We must advance the learning of our top students

Differentiation

•We will improve differentiation of instruction

•We will work as a team to develop differentiated lessons

•We will monitor student progress to further guide our need for differentiation

Staff Development

•Our Teams will attend staff development in order to develop skills necessary for student achievement and differentiation.

•The staff development the teams attend will follow the National Staff Development Council’s Standards

Staff Development Context Standards:

•Organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district. (Learning Communities) •Requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement. (Leadership) •Requires resources to support adult learning and collaboration. (Resources)

http://www.nsdc.org/standards/index.cfm

Staff Development Process Standards:

•Staff development that improves the learning of all students: Uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement.

•Uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact.

•Prepares educators to apply research to decision making.

•Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal.

•Applies knowledge about human learning and change.

•Provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate. http://www.nsdc.org/standards/index.cfm

Staff Development Content Standards•Prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement.

•Deepens educators' content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately.

•Provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately.

http://www.nsdc.org/standards/index.cfm

ResultsOur Goals:

•Increase the level of commended performance on our TAKS test•Increase the number of students who attain the college readiness standard on the TAKS test•Increase the ACT scores of every student

Our results vs. Building and District Goals

•District Goals: Student Improvement•Building Goals: Student Improvement•Building and District Goal: An Exemplary Performance Rating

Our results WILL transform the goals into

a reality!