Webster City Community schools Professional Learning Communities

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Webster City Community schoolsProfessional
Learning Communities

• A Framework to Focus on
• Student Learning

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Who Are We??Our Demographics

• Comprehensive PreK 12 District including
• 4 year old preschool
• Enrollment 1,745 students
• Low Socio Economics 51 (Free-46, Reduced-5)
• English Language Learners 4
• Special Education 12
• Race/Ethnicity
• Hispanic 10
• Asian 4
• White 82
• Bi-Racial 4

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What Structure Supports Systematic Change and
Collective Capacity?

• Professional Learning Communities
• Educators must stop working in isolation and
  hoarding their ideas, materials, and strategies
  and begin to work together to meet the needs of
  all students (DuFour, 2004)

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if we want to change what we are, we must begin
to change what we do (Allen Wheeler)

• Why did we start?
• How did we start?
• How do we support PLCs?
• Professional Development
• Financial Support

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Benefits and Challenges of PLCs

• All in Mentality
• Silos
• Leadership /-
• Professionalism/Culture of Learning
• Focus on Results
• Scheduling
• Resistance to Change
• From Isolation to Collaboration

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What are the Big Ideas of a Professional
Learning Community?

1. Ensuring that Students Learn
2. A Culture of Collaboration
3. A Focus on Results

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Ensuring that Students Learn

• What will drive the work of the PLCs?
• What do we want the student to learn?
• Common Core Standards
• Learning Targets (Cassandra Erkens)
• How will we know when each student has learned
  it?
• Formative/Summative Assessments
• Exit Slips
• Teacher/Student Conferencing
• Data Analysis is timely and quickly identifies
  students who need additional time and support
• What do we do when the students already know it?
• Stretch Learning
• How will we respond when a student experiences
  difficulty in learning?
• Intervention Block is based on intervention
  rather than remediation at elementary and middle
  school levels
• Pyramid of Intervention systematic plan that
  requires students to devote extra time before,
  during, and after school to receive extra help to
  master the necessary concepts

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A Culture of Collaboration

• Teacher collaboration represents best practices
  but in many schools teachers work in
  isolation.why?
• Are we removing barriers to success? YES
• Freshman Team
• Co-Teaching
• Common Assessments

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A Culture of Collaboration

• Formed Hamilton-Wright County Curriculum
  Collaboration 5 districts
• Developed New Grading Policy
• Grade Alike Buildings
• Early Childhood Center

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A Focus on Results

• PLCs focus measure effectiveness by results
  (Formative Assessment for and of Learning and
  Summative Assessment Cassandra Erkens)
• Goal attainment through measured progress
• Increase number of proficient 8th grade students
  in science by 9.1
• Reduce failure rate by 8
• Graduation Rate 93
• Above state average on ACT for third consecutive
  year

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A Focus on Results

• WCCSD Graduates were recognized for being in the
  top 10 taking the largest share of difficult
  classes as college freshmen and scored the
  highest grades for those classes.

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A Focus on Results

• The rise or fall of any PLC depends not on the
  merit of the concept but the commitment and
  persistence of the educators.
• if we want to change what we are, we must begin
  to change what we do (Allen Wheeler)

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Questions and Answers

• Time for Discussion