Using Professional Learning Communities as Vehicles to Deliver High Quality Professional Development Eric Kursman August 5, 2012 George Mason University EDLE 597 Dr. Diana DAmico
Professional Development Learning Communities 2 BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE FOR MIXED ABILITY CLASSES At Blue Ridge Middle School, eighth grade English teachers will continue to pilot last years mixed ability classes for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year. Teachers and administrators at Blue Ridge believe that mixed ability classes provide academic rigor while maintaining sensitivity to the socio-emotional needs of adolescents. To support Blue Ridges position with respect to academic rigor, research on mixed ability classes shows that heterogeneous groups of problem solvers outperform homogeneous groups of problem solvers (Hong, 2004). These results further underscore similar findings that homogeneous grouping does not yield higher student achievement (Slavin, 1990). In addition, mixed ability classes offer constructivist opportunities for students of diverse learning styles build knowledge in social groupings (George, 2005). With regards to students socio-emotional needs, mixed ability classes heighten awareness of individual differences while still highlighting the similarities amongst diverse learners (George, 2005). Furthermore, the social foundation of mixed ability classes boosts students already-peaking sense of social cognition (Ormrod, 2007). By attending to both students socio-emotional and academic needs, mixed ability classes provide Blue Ridges eighth grade English teachers with the platform to best reach all students. In order to maximize student potential within mixed ability classes, eighth grade English teachers at Blue Ridge Middle School differentiate their instruction to meet the needs of individual learners. In its defense, differentiated instruction provides learning environments reflective of our democratic society, ensures the equity of curriculum for all students, and destigmatizes student learners (George, 2005). In addition, when considering the highly-able learner, differentiated instruction diminishes a students sense of declining self-perception, provides students with multiple methods to reach expertise, and, most importantly, the Professional Development Learning Communities 3 individualized approach of differentiated instruction eliminates teacher tendencies to overlook highly-able learners (Marsh, 1995; Tomlinson, 2005; Tomlinson, 2006). By focusing instruction on the needs of individual learners, differentiated instruction allows eighth grade English teachers to improve student achievement, especially for highly-able learners. Although mixed ability classes and differentiated instruction provided Blue Ridge teachers with successful instructional practices during the 2011-2012 school year, the concept of mixed ability grouping came under fire from the surrounding community. After a years worth of heated debate between Blue Ridge Middle School and its surrounding community, parents still felt a single question remained: how can eighth grade teachers effectively instruct mixed-ability classes? To seek further answers to that question, Blue Ridge Middle School scaled back its heterogeneous grouping practices from all core academic classes to only English classes for the 2012-2013 school year. Administrators at Blue Ridge only chose to focus on English because all eighth grade English teachers already employ Nancy Atwells Reading Writing Workshop, a curricular platform that relies on the same aspects that make up high-quality curriculum and effective differentiation. Therefore, since eighth grade English teachers were already experienced with the Reading Writing Workshop, these teachers were already experienced in effective differentiated instruction. The eighth grade English team at Blue Ridge Middle School abhors relying on past success to fuel future achievements and is dedicated to always improving their craft. Since Blue Ridge eighth grade English teachers already employ effective differentiation within the Reading Writing Workshop, these teachers can further improve their instructional delivery by learning how to effectively differentiate their classrooms beyond the Reading Writing Workshop. To accomplish this goal, Blue Ridges eighth grade English team needs meaningful and effective Professional Development Learning Communities 4 professional development in order to gain more knowledge and skills to enhance their differentiated practices. EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Research on professional development indicates that current development models differ from outdated, more traditional designs. Although educational researchers differ slightly in their definition of various elements, they still agree on the following key characteristics (Borko, 2004; Desimone, 2002; Lieberman, 2008). Effective professional development. - Takes place over longer durations than traditional workshop seminar models - Offers opportunities to actively construct knowledge (as opposed to passively receiving information) - Focuses on student learning and the learning process - Delivers explicit teachings of specific instructional practices - Is comprised of a community of learners who all collaborate within the same work environment Although researchers agree that these characteristics help to deliver effective professional development, school administrators, such as the team at Blue Ridge Middle School, struggle with the reality of limited resources to provide teachers with high quality development programs. Luckily, Blue Ridge has already established a platform in which teachers can receive effective professional development without wiping out competitive resources: Blue Ridge administrators Professional Development Learning Communities 5 can use professional learning communities (PLCs) as a vehicle to deliver high quality staff development. Professional learning communities, such as those already established at Blue Ridge Middle School, already mirror several key characteristics of effective professional development. Professional learning communities tackle building and district-level curricular goals, offer opportunities for teachers to actively construct knowledge through the creation of common assessments and teaching units, and are already designed around a community of learners within the same academic subject. In order to use the existing platform of professional learning communities as a vehicle to deliver high quality staff development, Blue Ridge administrators and school leaders need to tweak the PLC system to incorporate expert instruction (in the form of outside professional development facilitators) into PLC meetings.
PROPOSED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN In order to incorporate expert instruction into the platform of professional learning communities, Blue Ridge Middle School needs to create a pilot Professional Development Learning Community (PDLC) for its eighth grade English teachers. STAKEHOLDERS Key stakeholders within the PDLC would include the following: Who is involved? Title How are they helping? They will provide that help by Brion Bell BRMS building principal Supporting efforts of PDLC by: - scheduling bi-weekly meeting times - establishing standards for PDLC curriculum - acquiring PD program - regularly evaluate impact of PDLC Professional Development Learning Communities 6 Michelle Schmidt- Moore LCPS English Department Supervisor Supporting efforts to acquire PD program by: - providing lists of available PD programs - collaborating with department chair to create catalogue of PD program choices - helping to acquire selected PD program John OConnor LCPS Staff Development Supervisor) Supporting efforts to acquire PD program by: - providing lists of available PD programs - helping to acquire selected PD program Allyson White BRMS English Department Chair Furthering progress of PDLC by: - establishing standards for PDLC curriculum - providing catalogue of PD program options - participating in selected PD program - co-creating PDLC curriculum - leading PDLC meetings - regularly evaluating impact of PDLC Eric Kursman BRMS 8 th
Grade English Teacher Furthering progress of PDLC by: - establishing standards for PDLC curriculum - selecting PD program - participating in selected PD program - co-creating PDLC curriculum Ginny Walker BRMS 8 th
Grade English Teacher Furthering progress of PDLC by: - establishing standards for PDLC curriculum - selecting PD program - participating in selected PD program - co-creating PDLC curriculum Professional Development Experts Professional Development program facilitators Supporting efforts of PDLC by: - teaching professional and instructional practices to PDLC members - video conferencing to develop and strengthen new professional and instructional practices throughout the school year Marnie Hawk BRMS Technology Specialist Supporting PDLC meetings by: - setting up and ensuring stability of technology for PD programs
Professional Development Learning Communities 7 TASKS To create and sustain the PDLC, stakeholders will need to complete a number of tasks: Tasks to be completed Goal of task Who By when Resources Needed Expected Results How this differs from current practices at BRMS Schedule biweekly meeting times for PDLC PDLC members have unencumbered 90 minutes twice a week to meet. Brion Bell 6/4/2013 Master schedule Biweekly PDLC meetings built into PDLC members schedules Currently, PLCs only meet once per week; this design would allow for PDLCs to meet at least twice a week. Determine goals of PDLC Establish and align a set of standards and expectations for the PDLC with the curricular and building goals of the district and the school to serve as groundwork for PDLC curriculum. Brion Bell, Eric Kursman, Allyson White, and Ginny Walker 8/25/2013 60+ minutes for unencumbered meeting prior to students first day PDLC goals established and aligned with curricular and building goals of the school and district Goals are normally established by building and district administration; department chairs may have a say in final goals, but teachers do not have input to design goals of PD. Create catalogue of five professional developmen t programs Department Chair develops a catalogue of PD options that provide opportunities to address PDLC goals. Allyson White, Michelle Schmidt- Moore, John OConnor 9/10/2013 List of available professional development programs within school/district budget Catalogue of PD options created Although teachers can choose from district-assembled catalogue of PD that corresponds to districts goals, teachers do not currently have ability to select PD based on building needs and teacher-defined goals. Nominate one PD program From catalogue of five options, eighth grade English teachers select one PD program that they feel best addresses goals of PDLC. Allyson White, Eric Kursman, Ginny Walker 9/17/2013 2 planning periods to meet and choose PD program PD program chosen by teachers Teachers currently do not have the opportunity to choose from variety of department-based PD programs. Acquire PD program Teacher-selected PD program is acquired. Brion Bell, Michelle Schmidt- Moore, John OConner 9/30/2013 Funding to acquire PD program PD program selected Although building principals currently have ability to acquire PD workshop for entire faculty, they currently do not have ability to acquire PD program for single department (these acquisitions are currently made by department supervisors). Deliver PD program to PDLC PD program facilitators meet with PDLC members for two work days to teach instructional practices and professional practices to accomplish goals of PDLC. PD facilitators, Allyson White, Eric Kursman, Ginny Walker, Marnie Hawk
10/30/2013 -11/1/2013 Three substitute teachers to cover three PDLC members; light refreshments; coffee; unencumbered meeting space; computers with stable internet access; lunches for PD facilitators
PDLC members gain valuable instructional and professional practices that can be easily applied to PDLC goals Currently, teachers do not have intimate, small-group access to PD facilitators over the span of full workdays. Professional Development Learning Communities 8 Create PDLC curriculum PDLC members meet for one work day to create PDLC curriculum by synthesizing predetermined goals of PDLC and knowledge gained in previous days PD program. Allyson White, Eric Kursman, Ginny Walker 11/2/2013 Three substitute teachers to cover three PDLC members; unencumbered meeting space; computers with stable internet access PDLC curriculum created Teachers currently do not have resources required to design a PLC-based curriculum nor the time to develop a sequence that determines when and how expectations from the PDLC curriculum will be met. Meet as PDLC to accomplish established goals Meet objectives in PDLC curriculum by: Engaging in professionally critical dialogue about students and student learning Studying educational research to combine/synthesize with craft knowledge Thoroughly and collaboratively analyzing student data Setting student learning goals based on disaggregation of student data Studying the role students developmental thinking plays in the learning process Assessing student work for comprehension and misconceptions Creating lesson studies and common assessments Publishing collaborative work
Allyson White, Eric Kursman, Ginny Walker Biweekly, 11/5/2013- 6/7/2014 Unencumbered, biweekly meeting time; computers with stable internet access; unencumbered meeting space; opportunities to publish PDLC-created work; opportunities to distribute PDLC-created work to educational commnunity PDLC members partake in biweekly meetings to accomplish goals set forth in PDLC curriculum Currently, PLCs only meet once per week; this design would allow for PDLCs to meet at least twice a week to accomplish goals set forth in PDLC curriculum. Formative check-ins PD facilitators PDLC members video conference with PD program facilitators for half day to explore: - PDLC progress throughout the year so far - New methodologies to achieve additional goals of PDLC
PD facilitators, Allyson White, Eric Kursman, Ginny Walker, Marnie Hawk Quarterly, 12/5/2013- 6/7/2014 Video conferencing software; webcam; unencumbered meeting space; computers with stable internet access PDLC check-ins with PD facilitators completed Currently, teachers do not have the resources or the opportunities to continually meet with PD program facilitators throughout the course of the year to strengthen and develop instructional and professional practices. Assess impact of PDLC Stakeholders meet to evaluate impact of PDLC on: - SOL scores - BMA scores - Various summative common assessments - Various formative in-class assessments - Published student writing - Published teacher-created collaborative work - Student feedback - Teacher feedback
Brion Bell, Allyson White, Eric Kursman, Ginny Walker, Marnie Hawk 6/11/2014 120 minutes of unencumbered meeting time; unencumbered meeting space; computers with internet access Impact of PDLC evaluated Currently, PLCs do not have the opportunity to meet with building administration to address and evaluate the impact of their efforts on student achievement, student learning, and various building and district goals. Professional Development Learning Communities 9
RESOURCES In order to complete the above tasks, the stakeholders will need the following resources: What resource is needed? These resources are needed for Initial administrative support at the building and district level Developing and maintaining the PDLC Established set of standards and expectations Designing the curriculum of the PDLC Unencumbered meeting times for PDLC members biweekly opportunities to talk with one another and study student and teacher learning School and district finding Teacher-selected professional development program School funding Substitute teachers to cover classes of PDLC members for initial three-day meeting and quarterly meetings Skype-enabled computers and webcams Video conferencing during quarterly meetings with PD facilitators
EVALUATION In order to ensure the pilot PDLC has its desired impact on student achievement and teacher instruction, we will evaluate the following assessments: Formative Assessment Data collected When collected How analyzed Teacher feedback surveys Confidence in using strategies with students, frequency of using strategies with within PDLC 11/15/2013 2/15/2014 5/15/2014 Disaggregate confidence ratings, frequency of implementation, self- Professional Development Learning Communities 10 meetings, self-efficacy ratings efficacy Student feedback surveys Confidence in English skills learned, perceptions of improvement in English class, self-efficacy ratings 11/15/2013 2/15/2014 5/15/2014 Disaggregate confidence ratings, perceptions of improvement, self-efficacy LCPS Benchmark Assessments Overall reading and writing scores 11/15/2013 4/25/2014 Compare initial BMA to final BMA scores of all eighth grade English students In-class assessments Patterns of student comprehension and common misconceptions 12/12/2013 3/15/2014 In PLCs, share assessment data, seek trends of all students Summative Assessment Data collected When collected How analyzed 8 th grade Reading SOL and Writing SOL Overall scores; overall reading comprehension; overall writing skill 6/1/2014 PDLC breaks down data of all students Published student work Frequency of student writers attempting and achieving publication 6/1/2014 Tabulate number of eighth grade English students who attempted and achieved publication Published teacher- created collaborative work Number of lesson studies, common assessments, and various other curriculum materials created by PDLC members 6/1/2014 Tabulate number of lesson studies, common assessments, and various other curriculum materials
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS By developing, maintaining, and evaluating this pilot PDLC, Blue Ridge Middle School will advance teacher learning and improve student achievement without exhausting valuable and competitive resources at the school and district level. After the successful one-year pilot PDLC, Professional Development Learning Communities 11 Blue Ridge administrators and school leaders will have the opportunity to adapt the same PDLC model either vertically throughout the English Language Arts department (of whose members all employ Nancy Atwells differentiated Reading Writing Workshop) or horizontally across the entire eighth grade (returning to the 2011-2012 heterogeneous grouping practices of all core academic classes). Throughout the 2011-2012 school year, eighth grade English teachers at Blue Ridge Middle School demonstrated that they were able to effectively differentiate instruction within mixed ability classes to spur academic and social growth of their eighth grade students. With the addition of the PDLC, these teachers have the opportunity to capitalize on high quality professional development and best teaching practices to raise expectations for academic rigor and more effectively tune into adolescents socio-emotional needs for years to come.
Professional Development Learning Communities 12 Works Cited Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational Researcher, 33(8), 3-15. Desimone, L.M., Porter, A.C., Garet, M.S., Yoon, K.S., & Berman, B.F. (2002) Effects of professional development on teachers instruction: Results from a three-year longitudinal study. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(2), 81-112. George, P. (2005). A rationale for differentiating instruction in the regular classroom. Theory into Practice,44(3), 185-193. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3496997 Hong, L. (2004). Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,101(46), 16385-16389. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3373827 Lieberman, A., & Pointer Mace, D. H. (2008). Teacher Learning: The Key to Educational Reform. Journal of Teacher Education. 59 (3), 226-234. Marsh, H., Chessor, D., Craven, R., & Roche, L. (1995). The effects of gifted and talented programs on aca- demic self-concept: The big fish strikes again. Amer- ican Educational Research Journal, 32, 285-320. Ormrod, J. E. (2007). Educational psychology, developing learners. (6 ed.). Prentice Hall. Slavin, R. (1990). Achievement effects of ability grouping in secondary schools: A best-evidence synthesis.Review of Educational Research, 60(3), 471-499. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1170761 Professional Development Learning Communities 13 Tomlinson, C. A. (2006). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. Prentice Hall. Tomlinson, C. (2005). Quality curriculum and instruction for highly able students. Theory into Practice, 44(2), 160-166. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3497034