Whole Faculty Group Study

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Whole Faculty Group Study

• An Overview of WFGS
• Feb 5-12, 2006
• Dr. Eric Jakubowski

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• Mediocrity is so easily achievable, theres no
  need for planning at all!

Roger Kaufman, 1998
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Topics

• Paradigms of Change
• Importance of Collaboration
• Professional Learning Communities (PLC) Overview
  of WFSG
• What it is and is not
• Steps in WFSG
• Nuts and Bolts
• Does it work?
• What it takes 2 make it work?

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Traditional Teaching Paradigm
Teacher
Student
Student
Student
Student
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Collaborative Paradigm
Teacher
Student
Student
Student
Student
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Network Paradigm
Parents
Other Schools
Teacher
Student
Student
Student
Student
Internet
Other WWW Sources
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Which is the Best Paradigm

• It depends
• school culture
• what is being taught in the paradigm
• outcomes of what education is about

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Paradigm Thoughts . . .
Assumptions
Beliefs
Values
Judgments
Consistency
Stability
Tradition
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Traditional Change Paradigm
Values
Tradition
Belief
Judgment

• Means Change In

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Rethinking Change Paradigm
Tradition
Assumptions
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SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT IS NEVER QUICK AND EASY

• Even the grandest design eventually degenerates
  into hard work.
• Richard DuFour

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Resistance

• Change is difficult because
• takes us out of tradition, stability
• challenges our beliefs and assumptions
• may show our vulnerabilities
• learning curve
• However, change is inevitable
• We can choose to be the master of change or its
  constant victim

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• Meaningful change requires collaborative
  processes that are different from most we have
  attempted in the past.

Carlene Murphy
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Need for a Collaborative Culture

• Improving schools require collaborative cultures.
  . . Without collaborative skills and
  relationships, it is not possible to learn and to
  continue to learn as much as you need to know to
  improve.
• Michael Fullan

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What Educational Researchers Say

• Throughout our ten-year study, whenever we
  found an effective school or an effective
  department within a school, without exception,
  that school or department has been a part of a
  collaborative professional learning community.
  
• Milbrey McLaughlin,
• Stanford University

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Personal Learning Community

• A Professional Learning Community has
• shared mission, vision, and values
• collective inquiry
• collaborative teams
• action orientation and experimentation
• continuous improvement
• results orientations

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The WFSG System is .

• A structure for implementing a School Improvement
  Plan
• A vehicle for doing what teachers already have to
  do, i.e., design lessons for implementing new
  reading program
• A place to work on the work with colleagues
  instead of working alone

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What is WFSG?

• Organizing teachers into small groups or study
  groups is not a new idea
• Organizing the ENTIRE school faculty into study
  groups based on student need to bring about
  school wide improvement is a new idea in many
  districts

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Attributes of WFSG

• Research Based
• Addresses student needs
• Student needs are based on data
• Respects, validates and uses teachers as
  professionals who have the capacity to do the
  work
• Structured to provide accountability for
  implementation
• Aligns with and supports SIP and the PLC model
• Aligns with NSDC standards

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What WGFS is Not

• A quick fix solution
• A technique or one-time workshop
• Committee work
• Another thing that we have to do
• Busy work
• Just another educational flash in the pan

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PLC WFSG
Shared mission, vision, values, goals Students are first
High levels of trust Leadership is shared
Believe they have input and assume responsibility for decisions Responsibility is equal
Highly structured meetings Everyone participates
Ongoing assessment and sharing of results The work is public
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Were off to see the Wizard?

• If we do what we have always done, we will get
  what we have always gotten.
• The Wizard of Oz

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Points to Ponder

• Think about your PD plan or model.
• Are we learning what students need us to learn?
  How do we know?
• Are students learning and achieving as a result
  of what we are learning and doing in our current
  professional development model? How do we know?

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The Logic of WFSG

• If schools are to improve, they must develop a
  collaborative culture
• If schools are to develop a collaborative
  culture, they must overcome a tradition of
  teacher isolation
• If schools are to overcome their tradition of
  teacher isolation, teachers must learn to work in
  effective, high performing teams
• WFSG helps teachers learn to work in effective,
  high performing teams

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A Proven Practice

• The WFSG process began in 1986 as a strategy for
  providing pressure and support to teachers for
  implementing several models of teaching in
  Augusta, GA.
• It has evolved into a nationally recognized,
  proven in practice professional development
  system.

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WFSG Are Working In .

• High schools with as many as 3000 students
• Middle schools with different teaming patterns
• Elementary schools of all sizes
• Schools in large, urban cities
• Schools in suburban and rural communities
• Schools representing all demographics
• Charter schools, boarding schools
• Schools implementing different national
  comprehensive school reform designs

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Why Use it?

1. Has the greatest chance of changing the tradition
   and culture
2. Focuses site and individual PD on school
   improvement related to student performance
3. Provides a vehicle for proactively managing
   change, now and in the future!

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Why Use It?

• Change becomes manageable as collaborative teams
  become units of change
• Can be accomplished with a limited budget
• Avoids allowing resisters to stop necessary
  change
• This process is NOT perfect, but it provides a
  proven method for real results!

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Nuts Bolts of WFSG

• Student needs are used as topics for study
  groups
• Needs are generated by data (state, school)
• Study groups are organized with 3-5 people per
  group
• Needs are placed on sheets and narrowed down
  into clusters
• group members select a study group topic

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Nuts and Bolts

• Each groups develops norms and a meeting schedule
• Each group develops an action plan
• Each group meets 2X per month, logs meetings,
  determines if action plan is working-makes
  adjustments
• Results are shared
• Progress is measured by student work and student
  data

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To Be Successful

• TIME
• Recommendation A minimum of 1 hour every other
  week
• EXPLICIT PURPOSE
• Essential question and each groups action plan
• An understanding of HOW TO COLLABORATE
• Group norms, guidelines for meeting, and use of
  protocols
• ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY for working collaboratively
• Agreement to begin and develop own action plans
• FEEDBACK
• Groups must have timely feedback on their action
  plans

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I dont have time . . .

• Must honor faculty meeting time weekly or monthly
• Reorganize current PD contract time
• Use collaborative planning time-- trade out
  contract time?

Others?
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What Will Guide the Work?

• Critical questions
• What do students need for us to do?
• What are students learning and achieving as a
  result of what we are learning and doing in study
  groups?

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WFSGRoles Responsibilities

• District Level Support
• Focus Team
• Principal
• Study Group Leader
• Individual Study Group Member
• Instructional Council

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Roles and Responsibilities

• District Level Support
• Collects and distributes relevant info to
  principals
• Helps identify and makes available resources
• Provides expertise to the study groups, as needed
• Supports need for time for study groups to meet
• Communicates with district level staff what
  groups are studying

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Roles and Responsibilities

• Principal
• - Establishes the expectation.
• - Is an active participant in the training and
  planning sessions.
• - Receives action plans and responds to them.
  
• - Receives the study group logs and responds to
  them.

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Roles and Responsibilities

• Focus Team
• Composed of the principal and a representative
  group of teachers
• Attends training on how to begin WFSG
• Leads the whole faculty through the WFSG
  orientation
• Leads the whole faculty through the
  Decision-Making-Cycle, resulting in the
  establishment of what study groups will do.
• Is represented on the Instructional Council.

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Roles and Responsibilities

• The Study Group Leader
• Rotates every meeting so that leadership is a
  shared responsibility among all study group
  members
• Confirms logistics of meetings with study group
  members
• Starts ends meeting on time
• Reminds members that stray from the focus of the
  meeting to refocus
• Sees that the study group log is completed and
  that the members and the principal receive a copy

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Roles and Responsibilities

• Individual Study Group Members
• Respect norms established by the study group.
• Take turns serving as leader, recognizing that
  leadership is a shared responsibility.
• Participate in the development of the study group
  action plan and commits to its actions.
• Take responsibility for his or her own learning
  and for seeking resources for the study group.
• Take responsibility for regularly bringing
  student work to the study group meeting.
• Bring back to the study group what he or she has
  done in the classroom as a result of the study
  group work.

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Instructional Council

• The IC provides the network for communication and
  includes
• 1 representative from each SG
• The principal
• 2-3 Focus Team members
• Meets 4-8 times per year
• Information from the IC disseminated?
• Minutes
• Newsletters
• Reps report/share at their next SG meetings.

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Bottom Line

• gt75 of your teacher dont buy in, go fishing!
• Must have principal endorsement, support, and do
  whatever it takes to make it work
• Time commitments MUST BE HONORED
• Content of SG work must be embedded into teacher
  practices (GIGO principle)