Written by Loriann Salmon, Director of Inclusive Education
I had the opportunity to attend the
Leadership Now Conference and listen to names such as Dufour, Williams,
Warrick, Reeves, and Cruz. A common theme resonated throughout – that of the
power of PLCs. While the concept is certainly not new, I was challenged by the
speakers to critically examine the essential conditions of our current PLCs
both through a cultural and structural lens.
Warrick noted five factors of high
reliability schools, with the first three being foundational. A safe
Prior to building capacity conditions of
safety must be met first and foremost.
Reeves noted part of developing a safe and collaborative culture means
that members of the PLC must feel safe to admit failures. Taking risks within PLCs supports
creativity: The process of
experimentation, evaluation and follow through that leads to a significant
discovery, insight or contribution. A
zero error environment is a zero learning environment. Teachers, like students, need to make
mistakes, takes risks and learn from them.
This supports both creativity and resiliency. Encourage risk free zones where it’s ok to
try new ideas, give feedback and try again.
Have confidence in the value of failure including public displays of “I
used to think…and now I think” (Elmore, 2011).
Leaders have the responsibility to model this and develop that culture.
Williams also argued for another
foundational piece before effective PLCs could take hold; all of our behaviors
must be tied to a moral imperative. Our
values and beliefs must be identified and clarified. Only then will can our behaviors be tied to
those values. Our work needs to
continually embody these values and purposes in everything we do. Williams gave the example if we believe all
kids can learn what are we doing about it?
What behaviors are we engaging in that are in line with that
belief? Not only is tying our behaviors
to purpose essential for those purpose driven people, but is essential in
keeping us motivated and driven when the work gets more difficult. The why of the work and the work itself need
to be interwoven; the culture of the school will always influence what is
thought, said and done.
The work then involves building the structures
and supports that allow people to function in ways that are consistent with
theses beliefs. This should involve,
according to Warrick, building the capacity of collaborating. In
doing so, Warrick’s leading indicators support us in making the success
criteria of PLCs visible. As I was
reflecting on these essential conditions of PLCs the connection to our
Foothills School Division vision became apparent.
Developing Understanding of Curricula &
Designing for Understanding: Dufour
noted the work within PLCs must ensure a guaranteed and viable curriculum, also
considered to be one of the three foundational factors of high reliability
schools according to Warrick. There must
be clarity with regards to what students must learn. The school curriculum must
be focused enough – essential outcomes and essential vocabulary are determined
first and foremost in answering, “What do we want students to learn?” In
determining what is essential we must consider endurance (is it needed beyond
the single test date), leverage (is it needed across disciplines) and is the
knowledge or skill required for the next level.
Every PLC should begin with these questions. A leading indicator in developing a guaranteed
and viable curriculum is that all students must have the opportunity to learn
the critical content. Have we identified
this critical content throughout the continuum in supporting all students?
Embedding Assessment of and for Learning: The second essential question of PLCs focuses
on, “How will we know if they know it?” All students have access to it with
clear and measurable goals directly tied to those outcomes and data is
continually monitored in assessing progress towards those goals. We must ensure again that this is considered
across the continuum in supporting all students. Are we carefully monitoring student
achievement across the continuum, analyzing the data carefully and providing
next steps based on that data? It is
essential that we not only examine the data carefully but are responsive to it.
TPAC: According to Dufour, now we move into
pedagogical practice and strategies.
This, according to Warrick, is considered the third foundational factor
of highly reliable schools - effective teaching in every classroom. He suggests clearly laying out what effective
teaching looks like and clearly defining this to the teachers. This instructional model must be clearly
visible and understood to all teachers. In
Dufour’s words, “Clarity precedes competence.” Warrick noted the school leader communicates a
clear vision as to how instruction should be addressed in the school. We won’t move schools by focusing on
everything. These are things we expect
instructionally. Make it clear - don’t
leave it to chance. Warrick suggests
using a chart below to make those essential instructional practices visible and
known to all. Our lagging indicator will
be our walkthrough data that shows teachers clearly understand and are
practicing what has been identified as essential in the school’s instructional
framework.
Response to Intervention: Finally, our PLCs must answer “What do we do
for those who get it and those who don’t?” Interventions must be systematic – not
dependent on whose class the student is in. Making these interventions visible
to all on a continuum of supports will help provide systematic interventions
throughout the school. Every teacher in
every class needs to know of and be able to implement these interventions. Every school must have in place a continuum
of supports that will ensure interventions are research based, timely,
targeted, systematic, directive, administered by a trained professional.
I was challenged to critically reflect on our
PLCs: are we meeting the essential
components of PLCs for all students or are we creating the illusion of
effective collaboration? The longer we do
PLCs with endurance and fidelity around the PLC questions the better our work
will get. The more we intentionally
focus on these questions throughout the continuum the more likely will we ensure
success for ALL students.
