Singleton PLCs: Overcoming Barriers to

Collaboration

Presented by:Wayne Herron, Dianne Greif, Dirk Bortz, Emily Sorensen

Elgin School Districtand Liz Durant, InterMountain ESD

The Vision

To create a functional Professional Learning Community

among rural Eastern Oregon high schools • Goal 1: Provide a supportive, collaborative PLC for Algebra I

teachers to ensure Common Core State Standard are taught and that students are learning the standards.

• Goal 2: Help other singleton disciplines become engaged with collaborative teaching and learning

The Need

• We need more students showing growth and meeting the Essential Skills math requirement

• We need more students prepared to graduate and more students meeting the 40-40-20 goal presented by the Governor

How We Began

• Proposal from James Sims, School Improvement Coach and Consultant for Education Northwest

• Contacted superintendents in the region who had singleton teachers

• Asked for support from InterMountain ESD (financial and staff)

• Identified a team leader and scheduled the first meeting

Staying the Course

Support from administration is crucial• Time• Resources• Goals• Evaluation

The Process

• First meeting:• Agenda• PLC 101 presentation• Future meetings: face-to-face or use technology?

• ESD financial support• Provide a solid basis to launch the work

The 4 PLC Questions

• What do we want students to learn?• How will we know if they learn it?• How do we respond when students experience difficulty in

learning?• How do we respond when students do learn?

The Work

What did we do the first year?• What is a PLC• Met once a month• Common Formative Assessments• Compared data (informally)• Discussed teaching strategies used in classrooms• Pacing guide

Benefits

• Student struggles are not isolated• Common assessments showed similar data• Teaching strategies used in multiple classrooms• Confidence with what we are teaching• Collaboration of different ideas into one

Challenges

• Distance• Communication• District Goals• Learning Common Core• Creating Assessments

Plan for Future

• Common formative assessments• More formal data analysis• Discuss instructional strategies based on analyzed data• Improve on Common Core implementation

PLCs at Stella Mayfield School

• Limited resources/funding• Collaboration with neighboring districts• Teacher teams doesn't always mean within your building• Ease of sharing gained from using tools like "Google Docs"

You don’t have to be great to start, but you

have to start to be great.”

- Zig Ziglar, Motivational Speaker