Link to Article“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; and working together is success.”
— Henry Ford
Our reading this week really centered on the assessment of a professional learning community. According to Martin-Kniep, communities that last survive changes in leadership, membership, and policies (Martin-Kniep, 2008). But how do we last? How do we survive these obstacles? Should we be self-assessing or should we have administrators formally evaluate our work? I think the best answer is both. Without self assessment the group flails; without outside evaluation we lose accountability. It would be nice to think that as teachers our students should be all we need in terms of accountability, but we all know that is not the case.
That said, I think the onus must first be placed with the administration in terms of resources and guidance. Currently, my PLC is sort of on our own. We submit meeting minutes that I’m not sure anyone really reads, and we never get any sort of feedback on them or what is happening within the PLC every two weeks.
Even with no formal evaluation from the administration we could all do better to look at our group, and our individual efforts and role within the PLC. Richard Dufour in in his article “Professional Learning Communities: A Bandwagon, an Idea Worth Considering, or Our Best Hope for High Levels of Learning?” gives a list of some critical questions we can use to asses ourselves:
1. Are we clear on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions each student is to acquire as a result of this course, grade level, and unit we are about to teach?
2. Have we agreed on the criteria we will use in assessing the quality of student work, and can we apply the criteria consistently?
3. Have we developed common formative assessments to monitor each student's learning on a timely basis?
4. Do we use the formative assessments to identify students who are having difficulty in their learning so that we can provide those students with timely, systematic interventions that guarantee them additional time and support for learning until they have become
proficient?
2. Have we agreed on the criteria we will use in assessing the quality of student work, and can we apply the criteria consistently?
3. Have we developed common formative assessments to monitor each student's learning on a timely basis?
4. Do we use the formative assessments to identify students who are having difficulty in their learning so that we can provide those students with timely, systematic interventions that guarantee them additional time and support for learning until they have become
proficient?
I found a really great article by Joan Richardson this week when doing research for my essay that I think would be great to share. It is called “Transform your group into a Team.” The article really lays out some great ways that we can assess ourselves and leadership can properly look at how a PLC is functioning. They ask administrators to ask the question: “How do you move from being a group of people with a common characteristic — such as teaching the same subject or grade level — to being a team or a community with a common vision and focus?” (Richardson 2005)
The article explains that all teams are in one of 4 stages: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing based on Bruce Tuckman’s 1965 research. It also has a questionnaire to help assess which stage your group may be in as well as tools to help your PLC transition.
References
Martin-Kniep, G. (2008). Communities that learn, lead, and last: Building and sustaining educational expertise (pp. 77-110). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
DuFour, R. (2007). Professional Learning Communities: A Bandwagon, an Idea Worth Considering, or Our Best Hope for High Levels of Learning? Middle School Journal, 39 (1),4-8.
Richardson, J. (2005). Transform your group into a TEAM. Tools for School, 9(2), 1-8. Retrieved January 29, 2011, from www.nsdc.org/members/tools/tools11-05.pdf
