CREATING A PROFESSIONALLEARNING CULTURE THAT CAN

OUTLASTMANDATES

Robert Mackey, Kristin Rumovicz, & Diane Meredith – Unadilla Valley Central School District

Outcomes

Introductions

Outcomes:

See there are choices we have locally to reform public education

Experience one school district’s journey to make this happen

The Stages of Change

Education Reform: Compliance or Commitment?

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Culture of Compliance

Title I through NCLB and Race to the Top

IDEA

State Testing

Regents Action Plan, Compact for Learning, NYS Learning Standards, Common Core State Standards, APPR…

RtI/AIS

And, so it goes….

Federal Mandates

Implement State & Federal Mandates

Culture of Commitment…

Commitment to COLLABORATION

Focus onLEARNING

Focus onRESULTS

Focus on ACTION

"An ongoing process in which educators

work collaboratively in recurring cycles of

collective inquiry and action research to

achieve better results for the students they

serve. PLCs operate under the assumption

that the key to improved learning for

students is continuous, job-embedded

learning for educators."DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many 2010

At UVCS we like to say it is a collaborative

culture focused on learning, results, and

actions to guarantee learning at high

levels for all students.

2007 Setting the Course…the UV Journey

Entering their

12th year since

the merger

Identified as a

Contract for

Excellence

School

Nearly a

25%

dropout

rate

All students

not sitting

for the five

required

NYS Regents

Exams

We

needed to

focus on

our end

result!

“In communities, we become connected for reason of commitment rather than compliance. People are bonded to each other as a result of their mutual bindings to shared values, traditions, ideas, and ideals.”

Thomas Sergiovanni (1994)

Mission Critical

“Significant school transformation will require more than changes in structure….Substantive and lasting change will require a transformation of culture – the beliefs, assumptions, expectations, and habits that constitute the norm for the people throughout the organization.”

Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, & Rebecca DuFour

The work of the entire staff is focused on acting out the beliefs and delivering on the mission to achieve the vision!

WHAT IF…

What if we built professional cultures that focused on what they can control in public schools:

What is essential for ALL students to LEARN?

How will we KNOW if students are LEARNING?

How will we RESPOND when students aren’t LEARNING?

How will we RESPOND when studentsare LEARNING?

The Research Community Agrees:

“The right kind of continuous, structured teacher collaboration improves the quality of teaching and pays big, often immediate, dividends in student learning and professional morale in virtually any setting.”

Mike Schmoker

“If students are to show real and sustained learning, schools must also foster what sociologists label ‘social capital’ – the value embedded in collaboration among teachers, and between teachers and school administrators. Social capital is the glue that holds a school together. It complements teacher skill, it enhances teachers’ individual classroom efforts, and it enables collective commitment to bring about school-wide change.”

Carrie R. Leana & Frits K. Pil, Washington Post 10/19/2014

“When teachers talk to and substantively engage their peers regarding the complex task of instructing students – what works and what doesn’t – student achievement rises significantly.”

Carrie R. Leana & Frits K. Pil, Washington Post 10/19/2014

“Creating the conditions to help others succeed is one of the highest duties of a leader. If school and district leaders are to create the conditions that help more students succeed at learning at higher levels, they must build the capacity of educators to function as members of high-performing collaborative teams. As Fullan (2010) writes, "Time and again we see the power of collective capacity. When the group is mobilized with focus and specificity, it can accomplish amazing results" (p. 9).”

Robert Marzano & Richard DuFour

“If students are to show real and sustained learning, schools must also foster what sociologists label ‘social capital’ – the value embedded in collaboration among teachers, and between teachers and school administrators. Social capital is the glue that holds a school together. It complements teacher skill, it enhances teachers’ individual classroom efforts, and it enables collective commitment to bring about school-wide change.”

Carrie R. Leana & Frits K. Pil, Washington Post 10/19/2014

“The right kind of continuous, structured teacher collaboration improves the quality of teaching and pays big, often immediate, dividends in student learning and professional morale in virtually any setting.”

Mike Schmoker

“When teachers talk to and substantively engage their peers regarding the complex task of instructing students – what works and what doesn’t – student achievement rises significantly.”

Carrie R. Leana & Frits K. Pil, Washington Post 10/19/2014

“Creating the conditions to help others succeed is one of the highest duties of a leader. If school and district leaders are to create the conditions that help more students succeed at learning at higher levels, they must build the capacity of educators to function as members of high-performing collaborative teams. As Fullan(2010) writes, "Time and again we see the power of collective capacity. When the group is mobilized with focus and specificity, it can accomplish amazing results" (p. 9).”

Robert Marzano & Richard DuFour

Used with permission. From Professional Learning

Communities at Work™ Institute. Copyright 2011 by

Solution Tree, 555 North Morton Street, Bloomington,

IN 47404, 800.733.6786, solution-tree.com. All rights

reserved.

This slide includes a list of

Organizations and Educational

Researchers that endorse PLC

concepts developed by Solution-

Tree please visit

www.althingsplc.info for this

information.

What is essential for all students to learn?

2008-09 Teacher Teams completed the first round of identifying and agreeing on what is essential for all students to learn.

Spring 2009 Draft PK-12 Essential Outcomes distributed to all faculty.

Spring 2010 Teacher Teams begin unpacking the CCSS for ELA/Literacy and Mathematics and revising their Essential Outcomes.

2010-11 Professional Development focused on CCSS and unpacking/aligning continues.

2011-12 Teacher Teams begin to align lessons & assessments to CCSS.

Evidence Binder for APPR keeps the review process happening annually.

Work on Standards Based Report Cards in Grades PK-5 is focused on the Essential Outcomes.

How will we know if students are learning?

Professional development focused on collaboration and assessment for learning.

Reading First brought coaching to our district. We used it to help all faculty improve student learning.

We used backwards design to create our own assessments mapped to power standards that are intended to be formative.

Assessment for Learning

How will we respond when students aren't learning?

Summer 2009 Professional Development focused on RTI.

Moved from failure lists

Work to embed AIS/RTI time into the regular day for our students and teachers

Pyramids of intervention

Data Meetings through the Teacher Teams

Additional RTI training summer 2014

How will we respond when students are learning?

Teacher Teams challenge all students to take academic risks.

Provide opportunities for students to go deeper if they are not in need of intervention while those in need of intervention are working on their plans.

Teachers role modeling action research are great examples for all students, particularly assigned enrichment activities.

Leveraging Mandates to Strengthen our Culture of Commitment

Our goal was to research all of the new mandates and first identify the elements of each that matched the practices of a PLC culture.

We then added descriptions of how each element fit a current practice in our school.

Each new mandate was assimilated to our culture; the next few slides will help you to understand our culture.

Building the Culture to Control the Mandates

Leadership Team focus

BOE, Administrators, Union Leadership, School Improvement Team

Building the Culture to Control the Mandates

Leadership Team focus

BOE, Administrators, Union Leadership, School Improvement Team

“Relationships between central office and school leaders is typically unidirectional – moving expertise from central office to schools – thereby inhibiting the mutual exchange of expertise and, especially, the local expertise residing within the schools themselves, which is arguably essential to school and district wide improvement.”

Kara S. Finnigan & Alan J. Daly, Washington Post 7/7/2014

Teacher Team Focus

Teacher Teams focusing on the four questions unpack the CCSS to identify essential outcomes, develop SMART Goals, review student achievement data, develop Tier 1 & 2 interventions for students, review results and continue to take action to ensure learning.

Teacher Team Focus

Teacher Teams focusing on the four questions unpack the CCSS to identify essential outcomes, develop SMART Goals, review student achievement data, develop Tier 1 & 2 interventions for students, review results and continue to take action to ensure learning.

“To create the conditions for high-performing collaborative teams, leaders must develop the clarity of purpose and priorities, structures, and support essential to successful teams. They must be willing to be "tight" about the work that must be done by teams, and they must accept the obligation of providing teams with what they need to succeed in what it is being asked to do.”

Robert Marzano & Richard DuFour

Collaboration at Work

Improving student achievement is a collaborative process where all stakeholders work from the classroom to the school board room to achieve our District Mission, Vision, and Pledge. This alignment ensures everyone is working to guarantee ALL students learn at high levels and graduate at college & career readiness levels. The superintendent shall oversee this process and make it his/her goal to foster an environment that ensures this type of collaboration will be effective in meeting district goals.

Stages of Change…It’s not easy!

Our staff in

2007 building

the mission,

vision, & pledge

Our staff

2008-2011

with regards

to PLC

Our staff

2010-2012

economic

impact

Our staff

2011– present

with regards

to PLC

Results to Date

Met C4E requirements in the first year

Improved passing rates on Regents Exams

High student success rates and mastery rates on math and science Regents Exams

Over 90 credit hours of concurrent enrollment classes available to 9-12 grade students, allowing an Early College Option

49% of the Class of 2013 graduated earning 443 college credits

49% of the Class of 2014 graduated earning 556 college credits

Future Path Program to ensure CCR goals for all 6-12 students

ALL staff committed to working collaboratively,

The District Mission, Vision, Belief Statements, & Structures = the Footers

A Collaborative Focus on Learning, Results, & Action = the Foundation

The Key Cultural Shifts of a PLC:# 6 – Loose-Tight Leadership# 5 – Action Research and Results Orientation# 4 – Enrichment of Learning# 3 – Interventions or RtI to guarantee Learning# 2 – Using a Balanced Assessment Approach# 1 – Identifying & Reviewing Regularly the Essential

outcomes

= the Home

UV took the road less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

And focusing on the four questions of a PLC might just change the world!

References & Resources

Dewey, Richard. “The Journey to Extraordinary: Professional Learning Communities at Work.” Superintendents Conference Day, Unadilla Valley Central School, New Berlin. 24 June 2007. Keynote Address.

DuFour, R. (2007). “In Praise of Top-Down Leadership.” The School Administrator, November 2007: 38-42. Print.

DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & DuFour, R. (2005). On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree (formerly National Education Service).

DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2010). Learning By Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work. 2nd edition. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. Print.

Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. (2000). The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Print.

Popham, W. J. (2008). Transformative Assessment. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Print.

Stiggins, R. J. (2008). “Assessment Manifesto: A Call for the Development of Balanced Assessment Systems.” A position paper published by the ETS Assessment Training Institute, Portland, Oregon. Print.

District Contact Information:

Unadilla Valley Central School District

4238 State Rte 8

New Berlin, NY 13411

P:(607)847-7500

F:(607)847-6924

Web Page: www.uvstorm.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unadilla-Valley-Central-School-District/340853612739318?ref=bookmarks

Email: rmackey@uvstorm.org