District Wide Professional Learning Communities
The purpose of the district wide Professional Learning Communities process is to judge their effectiveness on the basis of results. Working together to improve student achievement is to become the routine work of everyone in the school. Every teacher team (PLC) are to participate in an ongoing process of identifying the current level of student achievement, establishing a goal to improve the current level, working together to achieve that goal, and providing periodic evidence of progress.
District PLC Essential Questions
- What do we want students to learn? (Essential Indicators)
- How do we know they are learning it? (Mastery Checks)
- What are we going to do if they don’t get it? (MTSS)
PLC Team Leaders Meetings and Goals
Part of the responsibility of the team leader is to ensure that an agenda is prepared, minutes are kept and posted. Subject administrators will work with team leaders to establish specific goals and expectations for each PLC. Because of the differences in the teams, it will be important to start the year by establishing clear meeting norms and expectations. Only after the ground rules are set can attainable goals be discussed and established. We have four very specific goals for this school year.
- Develop SMART Goals based upon previous year’s student performance and tie these goals to a yearly action plans.
- Continue to develop and implement formative instructional assessment practices (Comprehension Checks).
- Fully implement note taking strategies that include Cornel Notes, and graphic organizers.
- Develop content vocabulary for each grade level subject area.
Topics to consider for the coming year include:
- Incorporating technology into the classroom, technology as a tool for learning
- Grading practices that measure student mastery of content knowledge and skill development
- Five Kinds of Teacher Thinking and Objective Setting
District PLC Meeting Dates and Agendas
- August 16, 2011 (8:00 – 10:00 A.M.)
- October 21, 2011 (8:00 – 10:00 A.M.)
- January 4, 2012 (8:00 – 10:00 A.M.)
- March 9, 2012 (8:00 – 10:00 A.M.)
PLC Resources
Step One: Collecting and Analyzing State Summative Data
During the month of August, at the first PLC meeting of the school year, teachers are presented the previous year's summative assessments to improve student learning. From this data PLC teams are able to get relevant summative test information out of district data management and analysis systems (student information systems, data warehouses) to determine baseline analytical information. Access to the raw data from the student information systems, data warehouse is crucial, because teachers are in need of more detailed data, or want data presented in different ways, than state paper reports typically provide. Once classroom teachers have access to the baseline information, they work as subject teams to select key indicators of success for their classrooms. Most importantly, building-level instructional coaches are active in helping teachers identify key indicators of classroom success, assist in appropriately analyze individual subject matter data, and then turn identifiable data into strategic pedagogical interventions.
State Historical Scores
Sub Group Historical Scores
Step Two: Content Analysis
This type information is valuable as baseline data to measure the effects of the school improvement plan as it is tracked from one year to the next. For example, the shift in the percentage of students scoring limited and unsatisfactory would be reduced. A second type of data analysis tool is one that reports overall student performances in specific content areas. This analyses specific content areas by units of learning. The content analysis chart in Reading and Math displays student proficiency percentages within specific reading or math content areas tested. The content analysis chart is helpful in identifying specific content areas that are, over time, showing weakness in student performances within specific content areas of the curriculum. The benchmark for proficiency should be set at 80% for each content area.
- Red Indicators Below 60% = Constitutes the Construction of SMART Goals
- Blue Indicators Below 80% = Check for Understanding
- Black Indicators At 80% or Above = Celebrate Proficiency
READING
MATH
Step Three: Setting Measurable SMART Goals
Every year Dodge City Middle School will develop measurable goals for individual indicators for each of the core content areas (math, science, reading, and social studies) in both grades seven and eight. This process of developing core content based SMART goals will occur after key summative indicators of classroom success have been identified, by teachers using the baseline data to identify mastery levels and learning needs of classes, demographic subgroups, and individual students. This process enables our core instructional teachers to have a good sense of where their students are at the beginning of the year and have measurable goals for where they want their students to be at the end of the year.
SMART goals will be used use to set measurable year-end instructional goals, which serve as meaningful targets to guide pedagogical strategies. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Oriented, and Time-Bound. An example SMART goal might look something like the following: The percentage of seventh grade students scoring at Level 3 or higher on the state mathematics test will increase from 64% in Spring 2010 to 82% in Spring 2011.
Focus areas for improvement
- Number sense
- Computation
- Measurement
In establishing SMART goals at the beginning of the school year will help our school to recognize that formalized goal-setting can lead to improved student learning outcomes. All SMART goals created by PLC teams will have the following six components (with example language from the SMART goal above):
- A measurable baseline (64%);
- A measurable target (91%);
- A specific time frame (Fall 2011 to Spring 2012);
- Specificity about what is being assessed (percentage of seventh grade students scoring at Level 3 or higher);
- Specificity about the method of assessment (the state mathematics test); and
- Focus areas that guide future action needed to reach the learning target (number sense, computation, and measurement).
Inclusion of these six components will ensure that SMART goals meet the criteria represented by the acronym. SMART goals can then be used with common assessments, teacher-made rubrics, and end of the quarter mini assessments as well as with end of year Kansas state assessments. PLC content specific goal-setting will address instructional areas that are both important and strategic. Remembering the Pareto Principle that 20% of activity causes 80% of results is critical at this stage of the data driven decision process. Evidence from successful data-driven schools shows that strategic focus and success in a couple of key areas commonly carries over and alleviates other instructional and behavioral concerns as well.
See Sample Form for Grade Level PLC Goal Development Work Page (This page will be developed for each grade level PLC to set instructional goals for the upcomming school year.) Logon and editing writes must first be established before this form can be completed.) Grade level PLC Data Analysis Collaborative Work Pages are posted below. Goal workshet pages should be completed by the first of September of each school year as theses goals will help drive instruction and interventions.
- Math Grade Seven
- Math Grade Eight
- Reading Grade Seven
- Reading Grade Eight
- Language Arts Grade Seven
- Language Arts Grade Eight
- Science Grade Seven
- Science Grade Eight
- Social Studies Seven
- Social Studies Eight
- Physical Education and Health Seven
- Physical Education and Health Eight
- Technology Grade Seven
- Technology Grade Eight
Step Four: Developing an Action Plan
At Dodge City Middle School, we believe that collaboratively we can have powerful impacts on student learning. We recognize that we can make a difference and are strategically and intelligently redesigning instructional and organizational practices to support student learning, so that we can close achievement gaps and succeed in this new era of accountability. We also recognize that data analysis is meaningless if it does not result in meaningful instructional change. To be effective in the teaming process we must be are able to use summative and formative assessment data together to implement strategic, targeted, focused instructional interventions to improve student learning. In step four of assessing and designing goal obtainment the grade level professional learning community will establish a plan of action that will formulate consistent instructional practice to ensure 80% proficiency in math and reading standards. This action plan will include a
- SMART Goal statement, that is Specific + strategic, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, time bound
- the identified weak indicator standards or objectives,
- a statement of measurement indicating where students are now and whether they are improving
- Correlated Targets that establishes the attainable performance level we would like to see
Action plans for math and reading are posted below. PLC Grade level teams should review last years action plan by keeping some strategies and adding some new strategies that may provide a more effective approach in reaching grade level subject SMART Goals.
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