PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES-Conversations for Student Achievement

I have often recommended that forming PLC’s, so that teachers have at least some students in common, greatly increases the power of conversations to impact student achievement. I recently had the opportunity to observe Twin Lakes Elementary School’s K-2, 3-5, Special Education, and specialist (music, physical education, library and computer) Teaching and Learning Teams.(PLCs)
My thinking on teams with students in common was reinforced when I observed:

-At a K-2 meeting, the second grade teachers were presenting the results of a math assessment they had recently completed with their students. They shared that their students scored low when questions asked them to explain their math reasoning. Hearing this, the first grade teachers quickly said, “That’s because we did not address that last year” At this point (September) the PLC placed on their April agenda the need to revisit this learning objective for late in the year planning.

-At the special education team meeting, teachers were discussing several students who should begin additional mainstreaming experiences. They discussed the need to attend K-2 and 3-5 house meetings to seek assistance in finding the best settings for mainstreaming. They decide to individually prepare the following chart for their next meeting in preparation for meeting with the other houses:



This work will place individual student needs and ways teachers can meet them on the agendas of several meetings.

-At the same special education team meeting, I observed a teacher describing a student who was struggling. A teacher who previously worked with the student offered some insights. Other teachers began to think out loud about “what might help”. Some teachers offered equipment from their classrooms that the teacher could experiment with. The team facilitator mentioned that the teacher might want someone from the team to observe the student and collect data as the student responds to the teacher’s current practice. Before the meeting ended, an observer and observation times were identified and recorded in the team minutes.

It is easy to see that students at Twin Lake Elementary will benefit from the collaboration time their teachers spend. [Twin Lakes teachers have a one hour common release time each week for these Professional Teaching and Learning Teams meetings. Their students also are scheduled for the same lunch so that teachers share this common time.]
Do you have similar experiences?

MIDDLE SCHOOL ADVISORY

I was recently asked to facilitate a middle school (grades 6, 7, 8- 720 students) leadership team as they developed plans for a newly implemented advisory program. They had decided the previous school year to design advisories so that teachers would keep a group of students for three years.

Searching for some material to spark their thinking, I found the following:

-an article in the August 29,2007 Education Week titled Pittsburgh Building ‘Nation of 9th Graders’. It detailed how incoming freshman took part in a week long summer orientation designed to target teenagers’ hearts as well as their heads. The 9th Grade Nation focuses on building a freshman class that moves through school feeling supported and confident. It is part of Pittsburgh’s plan for high school reform.

-the website for Brandon Valley Middle School in South Dakota which describes their advisor/advisee program called BEST Time-Becoming Exceptional Students and Teachers. This site describes BEST’s rational, goals and objectives, advisor responsibilities, and advisory activities.


After exploring the above and sharing their personal experiences and beliefs, as well as the initial responses from staff and students, this leadership team decided to hold advisories for the next 15 weeks (every Friday afternoon for one hour) built around the following guidelines. A task force is established to gather input during that time for a midyear assessment and possible modification.

Advisor/Advisee program purpose:

To increase...

-Students’ sense of support and caring
-Rapport
-Bonding with staff, students, parents
-Student Achievement
-Relating to students’ generation
-Trust with at least one adult
-Enjoyment at school
-Comfort at school
-Staff and student connectedness


Students should find that the program will:

-help them learn more about themselves
-help give guidance in their growth as a person
-help better understand friends and classmates
-help set personal goals, make decisions, and solve problems
-help make school a more caring and sharing place to be
-help develop better relationships between students and teachers
-help create a feeling of belonging

Advisory activities will focus on three areas:

I. Activities that create opportunities for the staff to KNOW students well
II. Activities that provide students opportunities to learn and practice critical life, community and school skills
III. Activities that create fun, belonging and team spirit


How does their initial plan match your program or your thinking?

COLLABORATION BETWEEN 8TH AND 9TH GRADES

During a recent workshop that I did for the Arkansas Department of Education, I was working with Professional Learning Teams from each school in a district. As we explored collaboration among teachers, we expanded the conversation to collaboration between schools. In the July 18th blog, I identified the concept of team vs franchise as I saw it exist in schools. Perhaps one of the most critical franchise relationships exists today between middle schools and high schools.

Consider:
According to the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), fewer than one third of the students in eighth grade can read and write with proficiency. In math, only 30 percent of students in eighth grade perform at the proficient level, and nearly a third score below the basic level.

In 2005, 15 High Schools That Works (HSTW) states had a ninth grade failure rate exceeding 10%, nine states had failure rates exceeding 15% and two states had a failure rate exceeding 20%. The median 9th grade failure rate in HSTW states was 10%. This failure decreases the probability that these students will complete high school. For full article- Giving Students a Chance to Achieve: Getting Off to a Fast and Successful Start in Grade Nine

HSTW discovered early in their work that middle schools were critical partners in increasing graduation rates and higher student performance. For full article- Making Middle Grades Work

Frequently I find that 8th and 9th grade teachers have never observed in each others schools and classrooms. Wouldn’t it be valuable for 8th grade teachers to be observing their students from the previous year in October 9th grade classrooms? That observation would provide great data on how their instruction last year prepared students for high school. Wouldn’t it be great if 9th grade teachers observed 8th graders at the beginning of the year? When they received those students next year they’d know “how far they came” in the previous year instead of just “what skills they are missing”. Wouldn’t it be great if 8th grade instruction in the second half of the year was designed by 8th and 9th grade teachers working as a team?

Mark Thompson, director of the National Educator Program and sponsor of SLC Success Conference, a yearly national conference on small learning communities suggests that…

…the most difficult transition years are 6th grade, 9th grade and freshman in college; and all for the same two reasons. 1) There is a marked change in environment and expectations for the student and 2) there is almost no collaboration between the faculty of the new institution and the previous one. To that end, it is easy for 8th and 9th grade teachers to collaborate and here are some easy strategies:

-As Steve Barkley suggested, set up times to observe each other’s classroom. One day out of the school year for each school would make a sizeable difference.

-Set up a retreat for the 9th grade teachers and the 8th grade teachers from the feeder schools. Have it facilitated and walk out with a better understanding of what is required of all in attendance, and a structure for an email-based collaboration. I recently had the privilege of facilitating a retreat like this in Owensboro, Kentucky for the freshman faculty of Owensboro Community College and the 12th grade faculty of the feeder high schools and it was a “eureka” moment for all involved.

-Have an ongoing email-based collaboration (as mentioned above) where 9th grade teachers are in the habit of dropping an email to an 8th grade teacher about a particular student or vice versa.

What strategies are you implementing to build a team focused on freshman success. Are there elementary to middle school transition strategies that could be adopted?

TEACHER COLLABORATION

I recently presented to school administrators at the Millsaps College Principal’s Academy(MS) and The College of William and Mary’s School Leadership Institute (VA). At both sessions, we examined the following belief statement.

Increased teacher collaboration produces increased student achievement.

As principals, how does that belief fit into your approach to school leadership?

As a teacher, how does it fit into your work with your faculty?

My personal experiences as a teacher and school consultant suggest that when teachers collaborate a opportunity can form for teachers to have a three year commitment to students…

· getting to know students before they are assigned to your classroom for instruction (collaboration with the previous year’s teacher in planning for the start of your year)
· collaborating with any teacher who is instructing a student whom you are instructing
· following up with students and their teachers the year after you have instructed them. You can help teachers prepare instruction for the students you know. It is also the ideal way to identify what your students really learned in the year they spent with you.

I asked the administrators in MS and VA to explore the following questions: (What would your response be?)

· Describe the current level of “teaming” among your teachers.
· What would enhanced teaming look like ? What would it accomplish?
· What role do you play in building collaboration and teamwork?

Here are some ideas for your role:

As a principal:
What activities could be added to faculty meetings to build team thinking and collaboration into teachers’ experiences?
Consider having teachers in small groups individually request ideas for a current challenge they are facing. Start the next meeting in the same groups with teachers reporting in on what they did and the results.

As a mentor:
How are you introducing the new teachers to teaming and collaboration?
When the beginning teachers identify areas they wish to improve or explore, match them with other teachers. Consider collecting from experienced staff the list of expertise areas they’d be willing to share.

As a teacher:
How can you invite collaboration?
As the school year begins, request input from teachers who are now working with your students from last year. Ask for their early observations of where students are on track or missing needed skills. If the teacher has given an assessment of skills, compare it to your assessments from the end of last year. Any surprises? If you identify some “lost” learning, ask other teachers about ways to instruct the concept differently this year.

Post your ideas for increasing teacher collaboration to increase student achievement.