Polson schools foster ‘professional learning community’
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As a district, we have set a goal of growing student achievement 10 percent beyond where we were last year. This goal is only reachable if we work together as an entire district team.
Thus, I am taking administrators to professional learning communities training, conducted by renowned practitioners Richard and Rebecca Dufour, to create greater teaming in each school and across all schools in Polson. Principals, as instructional leaders, are critical to helping all teachers work better together within our schools and across schools. To some in the community, it may seem like a waste of funds. In my view, it is a very important step to becoming high achieving schools and ultimately, a high achieving school district that benefits all students.
There are three big ideas of a professional learning community that we hope to put into place as a result of this training:
1. A relentless focus on learning in which the core mission of teaching is linked to ensuring that all students learn. When teachers meet together, they focus on four questions: A) What do we want each student to learn? B) How will we know when each student has learned? C) How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty? and D) How will we respond when a student already knows it? With these questions in mind, the work of teachers involves appropriate planning for instruction, assessing students to make sure they are learning, intervening with students quickly when they fall behind and challenging students who are advancing.
2. Building a collaborative culture in which teachers work and plan together, take collective responsibility by monitoring the learning in grade levels and departments and commit to improving their classroom practices by learning from each other. As a matter of fact, the most successful businesses are now embracing this model. In the July-August 2011 edition of the “Harvard Business Review,” Paul Adler of the University Southern California Marshall School of Business in his article, “Building a Collaborative Enterprise,” calls this kind of organization “leading-edge” among corporations where employees focus their talents around a shared purpose that fosters innovation and efficiency, thus making the organization more successful.
3. Focusing on results that verify learning where teachers regularly look at student data to determine student mastery of the subject area. Continuously looking at student evidence or data assists teachers with whether or not students are mastering the course content as well as to give teachers constant feedback on what students might be falling behind as well as what students are in need of a challenge. Also, teachers, teaching the same course, who are developing common assessments, can compare student achievement with like classes and share instructional strategies that are working in the classroom. Every teacher has had the experience of thinking that they have taught a fantastic lesson, only to find out that students didn’t get the concepts of the lesson. Student data that is collected and analyzed by teachers is the great equalizer in the giving critical feedback to what may need to be re-taught or to give the green light to go ahead.
The overall benefit of developing a professional learning community is that teachers will experience high levels of personal satisfaction in their teaching as students excel to higher and higher levels. And in the teamwork that is developed, not only does outstanding student achievement develop, but the school becomes known for excellence in the community and state. In Polson School District 23, we are on a journey to be an excellent school district for the sake of our students and our community.
