District Administration - September 2012 - (Page 66)

Models for Education Reform Rick & Becky DufouR Learning Communities at Work.” “As with a lawyer or a doctor, it conjures someone required to do extensive training, with expectations to remain current, to be continuously learning, and to put the needs of the client above themselves,” he says. Three Big Ideas The DuFours’ PLC at Work model centers around three big ideas that are core to transforming education practices. Big idea #1: Ensure that all students learn. Traditionally, students are taught and expected to learn, but with PLC at Work, the focus shifts from teaching to learning. Rather than leaving the treatment of struggling students up to individual teachers, who may deal with them in vastly different ways, the school implements a uniform policy for intervening with students. Interventions, which may take the forms of peer mentoring, a teacher- or coach-guided study period, or an afterschool tutoring program, are timely, with opportunities built into the regular school day. This is done so that traditional remediation practices, such as time- and resource-intensive remedial courses, or delayed actions, such as summer school or retention, need not be employed. Big idea #2: Establish a culture of collaboration among staff. It goes against the grain in traditional education settings for teachers to open their classroom doors to share materials, ideas, strategies and results with each other, but this activity is at the core of PLC at Work. Big idea #3: Focus on results. In traditional classrooms, averages are often used to analyze student performance, and students not mastering skills are often left behind as a teacher proceeds to the next concept. With the PLC at Work model, data analysis focuses on the progress of each individual student, looking at specific percentage improvements and sharing strategies around how to maximize strengths and overcome weaknesses. Schools implementing PLC at Work District Administration Teachers from the Schaumburg Community Consolidated School District 54 in the Chicago suburbs are providing small group instruction, intervention and enrichment opportunities to improve student achievement. 1980s and early 1990s, the term began to be more specifically identified with practices such as establishing shared norms and beliefs, and solving problems collaboratively. Today, the term is widely used to describe a broad range of different programs and practices, including in-person and online communities where educators connect to share tips and best practices. The PLC at Work model, say the DuFours, distinguishes itself from other PLCs primarily through the deep degree of efficacy in implementation it requires of individual teachers, who meet formally each week and follow a specific process to ensure success for each student. For each unit of instruction, teachers agree on the 66 September 2012 essential skills each student will learn, how much time they will devote to each, and what the assessment process will be for gathering evidence of student learning. Once they have evidence, they identify students who were not successful, discuss what may have caused the difficulties, and share strategies from teachers who successfully taught the unit. If the entire team finds that all their students were unsuccessful, they seek resources for learning how to teach the concepts better. The team also discusses strategies for enriching and extending learning for students who have demonstrated high proficiency. Rick stresses the importance of the word “professional” in “Professional

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2012

District Administration - September/October 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Product Focus
Resistance to High-Stakes Testing Spreads
Postgraduation for Special Needs Students
Rick & Becky DuFour
CIo News
Getting the Best ROI in Technology
Shaping a Digital Decade
Professional Opinion
Professional Opinion
Online Edge
Going Mobile
New Products
New Directions

District Administration - September 2012