FCAT LEARNING GAINS

The Learning Gains by Teacher by Standard tool is a valuable tool in today's climate of accountability, and "raising the bar" to show increases in student achievement. This document will help school planners, whether Principal, Assistant Principal or other Leadership Team members, target specific areas to monitor and provide adequate assistance and reinforcement.

The FCAT Learning Gains Teacher Report creates a visual for individual teachers to see student achievement levels in each Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) subgroup. It will also enable teachers to reflect on instructional practices from the current/past year and set a path toward increasing student achievement in various AYP subgroups.

The Personal Learning Gains Plan provides an instrument for teachers to use when conducting data chats with individual students. This document will enable students to see area(s) of strength and area(s) needing improvement. A plan for future improvement will be created and be made available for review at later dates to check for progress.

The Learning Gains documents described above are available for download in the column to the right.

What strategies are you implementing to raise student achievement in these targeted areas? Post a comment below describing a strategy so others may benefit.

VISION, MISSION and CULTURE

The Awesome Threesome: Vision, Mission and Culture, combine to support each other and guide the school to success. All leaders have a personal vision for their school. The high-performing leaders have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to develop, articulate, and implement a shared vision, that is supported by the larger organization and the school community.

The Vision may be thought of as the destination.

The Mission is the roadmap to the desired destination.

The Culture is the collective traditions, expectations, norms, and shared experiences, which form the vehicle used to get to the desired destination.

Reflect on the Vision, Mission & Culture presentation given by Ms. Maria Tracy. Post your comments.

Professional Learning Communities & YOU

This month Intern Principals Cindy Pluim and John Vetter present a timely update on Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and the evolving cultural shift in the purpose and activities of the PLC.

Professional Learning Communities are driven by a sense of purpose and clear goals. A key component of all school-based PLCs is student achievement. According to Shirley Hord, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, Professional Learning Communities’ research suggests that teachers learn best from and with each other in ongoing, job-embedded activities.

In education circles, the term learning communities has become commonplace. It is being used to mean any number of things, such as extending classroom practice into the community, bringing community personnel into the school to enhance the curriculum and learning tasks for students, or engaging students, teachers, and administrators simultaneously in learning-to suggest just a few.

The leading researchers on professional learning communities (PLC) are probably not strangers to anyone in education. Richard and Rebecca Dufour, Robert Eaker and Dr. Robert Marzano have done extensive work in the field. Unfortunately, the term PLC has been overused so much that the terminology needs to be revisited.

The term professional learning community describes a collegial group of administrators and school staff who are united in their commitment to student learning. They share a vision, work and learn collaboratively, visit and review other classrooms, and participate in decision-making (Hord, 1997b). The benefits to the staff and students include a reduced isolation of teachers, better-informed and committed teachers, and academic gains for students. Hord (1997b) notes, "As an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen as a powerful staff-development approach and a potent strategy for school change and improvement."

The attributes of a Professional Learning Community are: (1) Supportive and shared leadership, (2) Collective creativity, (3) Shared values and vision, (4) Supportive conditions, and (5) Shared personal practice according to Rosenholtz (1989).

One school has won the Blue Ribbon School award four times. This means they have sustained forward educational progress for twenty years in a row. The school is Stevenson Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire Nebraska. The power of the professional learning community is evident. This school is one of many examples of a true PLC at work.

The PLC is not a group but instead a new way working together. It is a complete culture change for MANY schools and businesses.

Review the attachments labeled Cultural Shifts in a PLC and reflect on this… Is my school ready to focus on student learning and willing to work as a team to do it? Are we willing to challenge the norm and recognize that the system we are currently using is outdated and needs to be fixed? Are we willing to start tomorrow and not wait for the right time?

What specific steps would you take as a Principal to ensure your school staff will share the Professional Learning Community mentality and model it throughout the school year? Post your comment(s) below.