District Administration - March 2007 - (Page 94)

Warning : session_start : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning : session_start : Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning : Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 10 PrincipalOpinion • Eamonn O’Donovan Professional Learning Communities “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” –Henry Ford n-t he-fly conversations regardi ng students occur on a regular basis among teachers. They have many positive components: conversations are student centered, teachers are supportive of each other and they meet on their own time. However, they are limited and are subject to the interruptions of daily school events, and teacher collaborat ion is left to chance. These teachers need administrative support to improve the likelihood that their efforts will raise student achievement to a significant degree. A s Jim Collins outlines in his book Good to Great, great organizat ions identify simple but profound ideas and focus on those ideas. There is no silver bullet to reach collaborative nirvana; rather, it is achieved in small steps that turn a flywheel—in this case a collaborative commitment to learning for all student s—u ner r i ngly forward. I n recognition of this, the Capi s t r a no Unified School District in California recently retooled itself as a Professional Learning Commun it y PLC where teacher collabor a t ion focuses on what and how O Collaboration is more than collegiality. It is hard work, as tough questions must be confronted. s t udent s learn. The following steps were taken: • Teacher collaboration became a major district objective in a consensus building process with teachers, staff and parents. • Principals attended a series of inser v ice presentations to help their schools function as professional learning communities. • Time for collaboration was built into each teacher’s workweek as part of the contractual day. Student s now come to school late or leave early one day each week, to create time for teachers to work together. • The focus of staff development— bu i lt on the work of authors such as Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker and others in the Professional Learning Communities movement—ha s shifted from teaching to learning, and from anecdotal to data-based decision making. RESOURCES Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development w w w.ascd.or g Just ASK Publications and Professional Development w w w.askeduca tion.com Solution-tree w w w.solu tion-t r ee.com / P u b li c / M a i n . a s p x COLLABORATION CONVERSATIONS Teachers are in their weekly team time, which is part of their cont rac ted day. Students don’t arrive on campus for another hour. Let’s drop in on a current teacher meeting: Kathy: Okay, did you bring your results from our last team assessm e nt for the common denominators lessons? Lor i : I have mine here. Most of my classes did well, and 74 percent of students scored 80 percent or higher. Those who didn’t score so high had a problem with question number seven on improper fractions. Denise : Mine too. Our team goal is for 80 percent of our students to pass the cumulative fractions test with an 80 percent score. My guys are close, but I need to go back to work on denominators with improper fractions. Cristina: I changed question seven. Kathy: Looks good—the phrasing is clearer. Now what will we do for those students who scored under 80 percent? Lor i : I formed a small group of four in my third period class for small group instruction using math manipulatives. My quick check at the end showed that they were getting it. Two of the students went back to the main group today. Cristina: Okay, let’s all try that and reassess the students on Friday. T h is kind of conversation is becoming the norm among teacher teams throughout the district. TeachDistrict Administration 94 March 2007 DA_307_PrincOpin.indd 1 2/13/07 11:02:30 AM Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0 http://www.ascd.org http://www.askeducation.com http://www.solution-tree.com/Public/Main.aspx

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - March 2007

Contents
Editor's Letter
Update
Inside the Law
Curriculum Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Friday Night Fever
Creating an Effective Virtual School Program
Hunting for Talent
Multimedia Man
Do These Web Sites Work?
Finding Funds for Student Laptops
Curriculum Crassifieds
Gearing Up for Science Assessments
New Products
Computer Literature
Speaking Out
Principal Opinion
The Online Edge
Calendar of Events
Problem/Solution
Research Corner

District Administration - March 2007

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