A Sense of Balance: District Aligns Personalized Learning with School and System Goals (original) (raw)
Related papers
2018
Every school seeks to heighten student achievement. Committed and skilled teachers are instrumental in reaching this goal. Focused professional learning opportunities help support the ongoing growth of all staff. Unfortunately, a number of factors, including finances, teacher turnover, and an absence of trust, work against efforts to implement sound professional learning strategies with fidelity at Lady Academy. This change plan sought to develop a sustainable plan to address that issue. Surveys with fourth-grade teachers revealed several key steps that must be taken. First, professional learning should be individualized for teachers but developed collaboratively. In addition, Lady Academy should work to retain quality teachers, increase their efficacy, and provide ample professional learning time. By doing so, Lady Academy can realistically see its educators implement sound instructional strategies effectively and continuously.
Professional Learning Communities: Are Schools Ready to Collaborate to Educate?
2010
Every school in Texas bas a comm.on goal: students must pass the state-mandated test called the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). With pressure from the state and federal government to raise achievement scores, schools are frantically searcbiog for a program that will guarantee student success. Unfortunately, no program will be found because it is people, not programs, who make a difference in education. The authors selected a rural, elementary school, located in a small East Texas community that serves approximately 350 students: 21 % African American, 21 % Hispanic, and 58% White (Texas Education Agency, Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report, 2007-2008). Since 2002, this elementary school bas earned the rating of Recognized seven times. Recognized recognition is accomplished when 80% of the students master the standardized tests. Each year, teachers and students work diligently to raise the campus to the next level, Exemplary. Exemplary recognition is accomplished when 90% of the students master the standardized tests. Like many schools in Texas, new programs are initiated with hopes of helping all students succeed, yet these programs are discarded quickly as something new promises better results. In the past five years, the teachers at this school have witnessed several program changes. After spending two years developing the Craine curriculum documenE, that curriculum was promptly set aside to make room for C•Scope, another curriculum document designed to help educators teach students at a higher level, thereby giving students the tools to be successful on TAKS.
The Role of Principals in Professional Learning Communities
Leadership and Policy in Schools
The purpose of this article is to identify how principals shape the adoption and implementation of professional learning communities. The study employed a sequential mixed-methods approach in which interviews, observations, and document analysis informed survey design. Teachers were surveyed in four elementary schools about the practices and supports they received in grade-level professional learning communities. Qualitative and survey data reveal that principals influence both what teachers undertake in professional learning communities and how well they carry out these activities. The study was limited to a small sample of only four schools in two districts and relied primarily on principal and teacher self-reports. More work is needed to explore the role of principals in a broader sample as well as the relationship between district and building leadership. Findings are discussed in terms of what actions principals can undertake to sustain meaningful professional communities. This article provides guidance on how principals can influence and support teacher collaboration. Research and practice suggest that professional learning communities (PLCs) can serve as mechanisms to change the culture of the school and support instructional improvement (DuFour, 2003; Hord, 1997; Kruse, Seashore Louis, & Bryk, 1994). PLCs were originally conceived as structured time for classroom teachers to work collaboratively to develop their practice and share their wisdom. As McLaughlin and Talbert (2007) explain, "Learning communities provide opportunities for reflection and problem solving that allow teachers to construct knowledge based on what they know about students' learning and evidence of their progress" (p. 5). Given PLCs' focus on instruction, classroom teachers often make up the majority of PLC membership. Although school-wide PLCs are not uncommon, many grade-level meetings have been recast as PLCs to enhance instructional planning and professional development of classroom teachers. PLCs provide valuable time for teachers to jointly review student achievement data, develop lesson plans, share successful instructional strategies,
Commentary: A Professional Learning Odyssey
LEARNing Landscapes, 2015
Through the use of personal anecdotes drawn from a long career as a professional educator, the author contends that professional development for professional educators is not just an isolated "quick fix" program now and then, or a series of performance-focused activities, but rather, professional learning opportunities exist in multiple, diverse, and occasionally in unusual and unexpected situations and contexts throughout one’s career. He suggests that what all teachers and school leaders require for professional learning to flourish is both time and space, a clear sense of purpose based on student learning, learning opportunities that are appropriate to roles and career stage, and the support and trust from leadership both inside and outside of schools and districts. It is professional learning, not tests, targets, or performance training, that increases students’ learning.
Learning to be a Professional Learning Community
Making schools learning places for teachers as well as students is a timeless and appealing vision. The growing number of professional learning communities is a hopeful sign for change. This article explores adaptable learning models that create successful programs.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2014
As a result of Race to the Top, states across the country vied for school improvement grants in order to advance educational reforms including effective professional development and teacher collaboration within their school districts. Requirements of the grant included the development of teacher evaluation systems and a professional development model to support teacher growth and efficacy. Grant recipients unanimously chose to incorporate some type of professional learning community (PLC) and selected models that emphasized increasing and sustaining teacher collaboration in all disciplines. PLCs offer an opportunity for music educators to receive pedagogy specifically tailored to their discipline. Music teachers and arts supervisors should consider incorporating online PLCs into their programs not only to address professional development, but also to address teacher isolation and attrition and student achievement and, ultimately, to enact fundamental changes in their districts.