ASSESSING VERTICAL TEAMS OR PLC SUCCESS

I received a phone call from a principal this week requesting ideas for how to establish an assessment of the value of vertical team PLCs in her school. It is important to have a plan so that down the road as questions are posed regarding time or staff investment, a school leader has a response.

I suggested that I would envision a timeline of change that would encourage continued practice or consideration for modifications.

Change 1—a change in teacher to teacher conversations and changes in teacher relationships.

Change 2- an observable change in individual teacher practices during instruction

Change 3—an observable change in what students are doing in the learning process

Change 4—measurable increases in student achievement (academic, behavioral, attitudinal)


Change 1
A principal might observe Change 1 occurring as she reads through the minutes or agendas from the teams’ meetings. Conversations should become more collegial. Teachers being vulnerable in sharing lagging student progress. Consider the following continuum for identifying progress.

Initially, teachers attend the meeting as individuals. There may even be complaints that MY time would be better spent having time in MY room. On the way to franchise, teachers begin to find value and satisfaction and collegiality in “helping each other” for the good of students. At this point teachers are sharing. As teacher reach franchise, they begin creating things/opportunities together. These items or strategies are taken back to the teachers classroom where they are implemented independently. As PLCs move toward teams, there is a shared responsibility for student learning. Sharing of student work is necessary and classroom observations emerge.

Change 2
The learning that teachers are doing in a PLC becomes visible as teachers experiment and make changes in their practice. Considering the continuum above as teachers share ideas and create learning strategies teachers’ use would become observable. Principals may note this in minutes where teachers share the results of classroom experiments. It may be evident in lesson plans or walkthrough observations. Surveys regarding teacher change might be valuable here.


Change 3
The change of teacher practice is now observable in a change in student learning activity.

Examples:
Teacher redesigns learning centers and more students do more skills practice while at centers.
Teacher adds differentiated components to a unit design and more students are emotionally engaged in learning process.
Teacher ask higher level questions and more students are practicing critical thinking.
Teacher is using original documents in history and an increase in student questioning and analysis is observable.

This student change is most likely observable in walkthroughs and classroom observations. Data walls or continuum charts are visible means for teachers to see the changes their students are making toward becoming independent learners.
Student surveys might be helpful here.

Change 4
This is the one that started us down the road. Evidence that student achievement is present. Test results, student work samples and projects, student demonstrations and testimonials all provide data. Parent reports regarding student interest and choices outside of school are also an indicator.

I was recently working with the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) material. That work and reading reinforced the need to see that student achievement generated through teacher learning and change in practice, is a process, not an event.

FISHBONE ANALYSIS FOR PLC'S

I continued my work this week with the Arkansas State Department of Education, providing training for instructional coaches, staff developers, specialist and administrators. Our sessions dealt with leaders’ understanding the change process and practical tools for leading learning community conversations that support continuous improvement.

One of the strategies we practiced was fishbone analysis (also called: Cause-and-Effect Diagram, Ishikawa Diagram) for identifying possible causes of current conditions (effect) and for identifying possible strategies (causes) for achieving a desired outcome (effect)

Here is the example we did as a practice. (illustration below)

Problem: Too few students are enrolling in higher level science classes.

The problem became the head of the fishbone. Then, we brainstormed a list of possible causes and combined them into four major categories:

#1 Perceptions Students held about Science Classes
#2 Lack of Encouragement for Science outside the School
#3 Lack of Encouragement for Science from Teachers
#4 Fear of Failure

Each of these categories was then take by a group who examined possible causes
#1Perceptions of Science

-too much text book teaching

-not for girls
-not cool to be interested
-boring
-to much work (effort) than payoff
-job or sports more important

#2 No Encouragement Outside
-parents not understanding important role of science
-business community not promoting

#3 No Encouragement Inside
-AP teachers selecting students more than recruiting
-Elementary/Middle teachers uninformed of role of science in students’ futures
-Elementary teachers lacking science knowledge/instructional strategies
-Reading and Math getting all the elementary teachers’ attention

#4 Fear of Failure
-weak preparation prior to high school
-fear of math elements in science
-GPA more important .. won’t risk a low grade in higher level science

Click here to see bigger diagram.

Then we took each of the four major causes and turned them into the desired “effect” we want:

#1 Creating Positive Student Perceptions of Science Classes
#2 Having Parents and Community promoting Science Study
#3 Having Teachers promoting Science Opportunities
#4 Students Feeling Confident about Taking Science Classes

The same groups that analyzed the causes connected to each major cause now brainstormed how to generate (cause) the desired effects. The desired effect now becomes the “head of the fish.” Here are some of the ideas that discussion produced:

Recruit community business leaders to mentor teachers and students.

Professional development for learning/teaching science for elementary teachers…. perhaps presented by secondary science teachers.

Family field trips to businesses where science skills/knowledge are important.

Tutoring from the start for students in higher level classes.

Building students success in middle school math and science classes.

Exploration of salaries for jobs with science connections.

Presentation to teachers on future jobs requiring science skills/knowledge.

Communications among teacher to assist students in advanced courses in planning their time for assignments.

EMPATHY TO THE COMPLAINING

This week I had a couple of phone calls and requests for “How do I respond when...” that lead me to put in this reminder for coaches, principals, and facilitators to use empathy statements.

Often when teachers are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or worried, their responses sound challenging and the coach or leader feels personally attacked. Feeling attacked generally creates one of two responses:

#1 An attempt to solve the issue that is causing the teacher the negative feeling
or
#2 A defensive response from the listener

Example:

Teacher: “The district has given us a new curriculum which causes a great increase in planning time on our part and now we have to have to attend these cross grade level meetings taking more of our time.”

Coach #1 “ I’ll see if I can shorten the meeting.” (solve problem)

Coach #2 “ The curriculum office is requiring that every school to hold these meetings. It’s not my decision” (defensive)

Here is some information on creating Empathy Statements, taken from Performance Learning System’s coaching training:

Empathy Statement
The Empathy Statement is one we might choose when dealing with a situation arising from a person's feelings or emotions. When using the Empathy Statement, we recognize that a person's feelings are acceptable, no matter what they are. The Empathy Statement is stated using positive, respectful voice intonation and body language.

When using an Empathy Statement in a coaching situation, we acknowledge the coachee's feelings. Compared with a Confirmatory Paraphrase, which also may be used to acknowledge feelings, an Empathy Statement has an added quality of conveying personal empathy.

Confirmatory Paraphrase: "You're angry."
Empathy Statement: "You have a right to be angry and upset by this situation. I have seen you handle this type of thing successfully in the past."

Confirmatory Paraphrase: "You're frustrated."
Empathy Statement:"You must be really frustrated with this student's response. We can work together to come up with a way to work with her successfully."

Confirmatory Paraphrase: "You are overwhelmed."
Empathy Statement: "Trying to meet the needs of all your students is overwhelming at times. Perhaps Mario and Amy could work with a peer tutor."

The purpose of the Confirmatory Paraphrase is to clarify the other person's agenda. The Empathy Statement, on the other hand, conveys that you understand and goes one step further.

The Empathy Statement involves two steps:

First, empathize with the person's feelings.
Second, point out the person's past or future success and/or lead the person in an alternative direction.

In the examples of Empathy Statements above, the first one is an example of empathizing and then pointing to past success. The second empathizes and then points to future success. The third empathizes and then leads in an alternative direction.

Beginnings for Empathy Statements

Step 1:
"You seem to be . . . "
"It sounds like you feel. . . "
"You are. . . "
"I sense that you are. . . "
"You must be very. . . "
"You have a right to be . . . "

Step 2:
"I've seen you. . . in the past."
"We can work together to . . . "
"Perhaps. . . would work."
"What if you. . . "
"In the future. . . "
"From now on..."
"Working together, we can. . ." .
"Let's go over some ways you might. . . "

© 2005, 2006, 2007 Performance Learning Systems, Inc. ®All rights reserved.

Let’s look at the earlier teacher comment with an empathy statement response.

Teacher: “The district has given us a new curriculum which causes a great increase in planning time on our part and now we have to have to attend these cross grade level meetings taking more of our time.”

Coach: “A new curriculum does put planning and time demands on an already stressed teacher’ schedule. I am hopeful that our cross grade level planning leads to greater student success which will reward us all. “ (future success)

or

Coach: “ It is a harried time for many teachers. What have you seen in the new curriculum that will be most helpful to your students?” (alternative direction)

I find that when the coach/facilitator/leader allows the teacher to own the feeling and the problem, it is much easier to listen and empathize. When you take ownership of the problem and feeling, empathy is replaced by problem solving or defense.

FAILING TO ...SUCCEED

Part of my presentation last week to the teachers of Aruba involved the formula on effort that is in Tapping Student Effort…Increasing Student Achievement.

The formula reads: "Effort times ability focused on a manageable task equals success." We discussed in Aruba the value of teachers consciously teaching students ”how to effort” (Some of you may call that “how to study”). I stress this because I find that many students do not know how to study. We ask them,” Did you study?” and they say ,”Yes!” and we say, “How long?” and they say, ”Awhile”

One strategy I offer was to have students score their major projects with an effort score, 1-10, and then defend their rating. Examples might be:

Score 6: I worked hard on the report, but I waited too long to begin. I did leave time to do more extensive research.

Score 3: I was able to solve each of the problems on my first attempt.

Score 9: While I was unable to solve half of the problems, I worked on them for over 4 hours over the weekend. I tried several strategies. I reviewed the last chapter in the text to see if I could identify what I was missing in my approach.

I believe such scoring would create critical teacher/student dialogue that would promote continued effort. I remember my daughter working hard on a project and getting a low grade. Her future effort was limited. I don’t question that the grade was accurate. If she had explained the effort she put in, I am certain the teacher would have instigated a conversation….. If you worked that hard and didn’t get better results, let’s talk. Something is wrong. You are using the wrong strategy or missing key understanding, etc. Let me encourage you and let’s start again.

If the student with the score of 3 in the above example did get all the problems correct, the teacher needs to change the kind of assignment. He needs an assignment that requires effort.

Back at my hotel in Aruba, I found a newspaper article in Aruba Today (September 27, 2008) written by Thomas O’Malley, titled, The Secret of Success: Fail a Little:

O’Malley suggested,” We all need to fail a little. In fact, the secret of success, might just be that. The lessons of failure are an important part of the curriculum of success. We learn from them…..they push us to do better……they teach us humility.”

Patience and persistence are part of defining effort and are critical to success.

“As a teacher, I expect my students to revise their work, to build on the 'failure' of the first draft to achieve clarity and insight in the final draft. That’s a good model for most things in life.", wrote O’Malley.

So failure along the way can be considered as a sign of effort. Students could report their failures as a way of justifying their effort score.

This concept aligns with John Maxwell’s writing comparing Failing Forward with Failing Backwards:

Footnote: Failing Forward:Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success, John Maxwell(2000) Maxwell Motivation, Inc, Georgia (pg8)

Creating opportunities for students to debrief cause and effect of their decisions around effort can create new learning that can last a life time. Arts and athletic coaches often invest the time in these conversations. What opportunities can you find to do the same?