1.
Overall PLC Development
The school has not yet begun to address a particular principle
of a PLC. An
effort has been made to address the principle, but the effort
has not yet begun to impact a “critical mass.” A
critical mass has endorsed the principle. Members are beginning
to modify their thinking and practice as they attempt to
implement the principle. Structural changes are being made to
align with the principle.
The principle is deeply embedded in the school’s culture. It
represents a driving force in the daily work of the school. It
is so internalized that it can survive changes in key personnel.
2.
What do we expect
students to learn: Shared Vision No
effort has been made to engage faculty in describing preferred
conditions for their school.
An effort has been made to address with the faculty present
conditions for their school and to begin thinking about
preferred conditions for their school.
A
vision statement has been developed for the school, but most
staff are unaware of, or are unaffected by it.
Staff members routinely articulate the major principles of the
shared vision and use those principles to guide their day-to-day
efforts and decisions. They honestly assess the current reality
in their school and continually seek effective strategies for
reducing the discrepancies between the conditions described in
the vision statement and their current reality.
3.
What do we expect students to learn: Shared Values Staff members have
not yet articulated the attitudes, behaviors, or commitments
they are prepared to demonstrate in order to advance the mission
of learning for all and the vision of what the school might
become. If they discuss school improvement, they focus on what
other groups must do. Staff members have
articulated statements of beliefs or philosophy for their
school; however, these value statements have not yet impacted
their day-to-day work or the operation of the school. Staff members have
made a conscious effort to articulate and promote the attitudes,
behaviors, and commitments that will advance their vision of the
school. Examples of the core values at work are shared in
stories and celebrations. People are confronted when they behave
in ways that are inconsistent with core beliefs. The values of the
school are embedded in the school culture. These shared values
are evident to new staff and to those outside of the school.
They influence policies, procedures, and daily practices of the
school as well as day-to-day decisions of individual staff
members.
4.
What do we expect
students to learn: Goals No
effort has been made to engage the staff in setting and defining
school improvement goals related to student learning. If goals
exist, they have been developed by the administration.
Staff members have participated in a process to establish goals,
but the goals are typically stated as projects to be
accomplished, or are written so broadly that they are impossible
to measure. The goals do not yet influence instructional
decisions in a meaningful way.
Staff members have worked together to establish long-and
short-term improvement goals for their school. The goals are
clearly communicated. Assessment tools and strategies have been
developed and implemented to measure progress toward the goals.
All staff pursue measurable performance goals as part of their
routine responsibilities. Goals are clearly linked to the
school’s shared vision. Goal attainment is celebrated and staff
members demonstrate willingness to identify and pursue
challenging stretch goals.
5.
What do we expect students to learn: Aligned Curriculum and
Pacing Guides No
effort has been made to engage faculty in receiving district
curriculum documents which outline what we want students to
learn. An
attempt has been made, typically by the central office, to
identify aligned curriculum and pacing guides for all grade
levels or courses, but this attempt has not impacted the
practice of most teachers.
Teachers are clear regarding the aligned curriculum and pacing
guides and the outcomes their students are to achieve. Some have
developed strategies to assess student mastery of these
outcomes.
Aligned curriculum and pacing guides are clearly articulated to
all stakeholders in the school, and each student’s attainment of
the outcomes is carefully monitored. Teachers are working with
these documents in collaborative teams. Success is evident
through increased student achievement.
6.
How will we know
students have learned: Monitoring student achievement Each teacher works
in isolation creating their own assessments and using their own
classroom data and paying little attention to results. Each student’s
learning is monitored inconsistently with formative assessments
by building staff. Central office staff has created district
common assessments, but classroom teachers feel little
commitment to these assessments. Each student’s
learning is monitored with district-wide, and building-wide,
formative assessments on a timely basis. Teachers are working
together to analyze results from these assessments. PLC teams
are beginning to analyze their courses to determine strengths
and weaknesses. Each student’s
learning is monitored with district-wide, and building-wide,
formative assessments on a timely basis and results in increased
student achievement. The school has a plan in place to take
action on the data.
7.
How will we know students have learned: Focus on results
The results the school seeks for each student have not been
identified.
Results have been identified, but are stated in such broad and
esoteric terms that they are impossible to measure. Improvement
initiatives focus on inputs – projects or tasks to be completed
– rather than on student achievements.
Desired results have been identified in terms of student
outcomes and student achievement indicators have been
identified. Data are being collected and monitored within the
school or district. Results of the analysis are shared with
teachers.
Teams of teachers are hungry for information on results. They
gather relevant data and use these data to identify improvement
goals and to monitor progress toward goals.
8.
How will we
respond when students do not learn: Individual Student Support The school has no
plan in place to support students experiencing difficulty. The school plan for
providing support for students experiencing difficulty is
inconsistent and not necessarily based on student data and is
left to the discretion of individual teachers. The school has a
plan for providing a student with additional time and support
during the school day if he/she is experiencing difficulty.
There is no system in place to continually check data and use
results to monitor the movement of these students in and out of
this additional time and support nor to adjust the instruction
these students receive. The individual
support received by students is timely, systemic, directive and
results in increased student achievement. The overall school
plan is continuously monitored and adjusted based on
differentiated student learning needs as discussed through data
analysis.
9.
How will we respond when students do not learn: Differentiation
of Instruction
There is no systemic plan to respond to students who are not
learning or use of student data to differentiate instruction. An
effort is made to analyze student data but does not directly
result in differentiated instruction. The school has discussed
creating opportunities to support additional instructional time,
but the schedule does not yet provide support to students who
need it or student participation is optional.
Based on analysis of student data, teachers collaborate to
identify and begin to implement some strategies to differentiate
instruction. The school is experiencing difficulties in serving
all the students who need help during the limited time.
The implementation of differentiated instruction, based on
student data, had a direct result on higher achievement for all
students. Evidence of this achievement, for all students, is
easily produced.
10.
How will we
respond when students do learn: Rigorous Curriculum There is no
school-wide effort to provide rigorous curriculum. Based on student
data, some attempt is made to provide rigorous curriculum to
selected students. Based on student
data, teachers collaborate to provide opportunities for a
rigorous curriculum to a diverse student population. The implementation
of rigorous curriculum, based on student data, is built on a
foundation of providing students a chance to demonstrate their
reasoning and apply their knowledge as measured by performance.
11.
Continuous Improvement: PLC connection to campus improvement
plans
Little attention is devoted to creating systems that enable
either the school or individual teachers to track improvement.
The school would have a difficult time answering the question,
“Are we becoming more effective in achieving our shared vision?” A
few people in the school are tracking general indicators of
achievement, such as mean scores on state and national tests.
Positive trends are celebrated. Negative trends are dismissed or
suppressed.
Individual teachers and teaching teams gather information that
enables them to identify and monitor individual and team goals.
Everyone in the school participates in an ongoing cycle of
systematic gathering and analysis of data to identify
discrepancies between actual and desired results, goal setting
to reduce the discrepancies, developing strategies to achieve
the goals, and tracing improvement indicators.
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