Chapter 3: On Common Ground

Reeves, D. (2005). Putting it all together: standards, assessment, and accountability in successful professional learning communities. In R. DuFour, R. Eaker, and R. DuFour (Eds.), On common ground (pp. 44-63). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Abstract: This chapter is about three things, standards, assessments and accountability. The first main theme of the chapter is about standards. Standards as they are right now are not effective as a foundation for improved school achievement. Standards need to be reworked so that they are rational, relevent and focused. These are called “power standards.” In order to be power standards, these standards need to have endurance, leverage, and need to be essential to the next level of achievement. The next main theme is that standards need to accompained by common assessments in the classroom. Assessments need to be for learning, not assessments of learning, an important distinction. These assessments need to be consistant, timeless and differentated. In order to have a successful assessment, immediate feedback is important. The third major theme of this chapter is that there needs to be accountability systems that take into account test scores, teaching practices,curriculum and leadership.Accountatiblity shouldn’t just be about data producing.

Reflection:
I personally found the stuff about common assessments to be pretty interesting. They talk a lot about consistancy in assessment, where all work in that grade and content level is graded on a specific grading scale. I think there are pros and cons of this. I guess it is good because it makes everything “fair” and grading is consistant among teachers. The problems with this? One, it may be hard when grading things such as english essays or opinon papers, to grade them all with the same consistant grading system. I guess this kind of takes away from the teachers individuality and stuff, making them all grade on the same level. Some teachers may look for different things in a paper. I guess I could see where this would be a tough task for teachers to do. Rubrics would probably be the best answer for having consistance in grading. I can see the good and the bad in this though.

On Common Ground: Chapter 2

Citation: DuFour, R. (2005) What Is a Professional Learning Community? In R.Dufour, R.Eaker & R. Dufour (Eds.) On Common Ground. (ppgs 31-43) Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree

Abstract:
The main point the author is trying to get at in this chapter is that while PLC's require a lot of hardwork and dedication from people within schools, the successes they create far outweigh the difficulties. The chapter focus's on a couple big ideas about sustaining PLC's until they are embedded into the school culture. The core misson of behind PLC's is that every student learns, not that every student is taught. Colleages must explore the questions, "what do we want students to learn", "how will we know each student as learned it" and " how will we respond if a student shows difficulty learning it". A systematic, timely, direct intervention program works best. Another big idea the idea of a culture of collaboration and collaborating for school improvement. A strategy called team learning process's can be effectively used. These teams meet frequently and focus their efforts on questions crucial to student learning. The third big idea is to focus on results. Teacher team should focus on identifying ongoing levels of student acheivenment. They should develop assessments and look at each teachers results, and look for patterns where their teaching was ineffective.

Reflection: I thought that the school examples this chapter used to support the idea were very interesting. The intervention for students who are having difficulty in a subject was interesting to me for a number of reasons. One, was because the school was very large (4,000 students) but this system was still in place for all students. It was clear that the schooll was truely committed to student success. I really liked how the involvement with each student doesn't just stop at student/teacher/parent interaction. With this program there are at least 6 or 7 people monitoring and helping these students be successful on a daily basis. The only thing I would think would be difficult about this program would be the large numbers of people and staff needed to implement it. I think its a good idea this happends during school study hall time, not after school. A lot of teachers will stay after school with students but often students can't get the transportation home.
I think the idea of learning over teaching is something that more teachers need to catch on to. Becuase of NCLB a lot of teachers just teach to the test, and students don't really learn anything. With learning teams that the book talked about, teachers can change this attitude of teaching to the test and work collaboratively on how to help students learn. While I think that PLC's clearly take a lot of hard work and motavation from the faculty, I think that they can vastly improve school wide success if the effort is put in.

On Common Ground: Chapter 1

Dufour, R., Eaker, R. & , Dufour R. (2005). Recurring Themes of Professional Learning Communities and the Assumptions They Challenge . In R. DuFour, R. Eaker, & R. DuFour (Eds.), On common ground (pp. 7-29). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Abstract:
This book is basically about professional learning communities and how effective they can be in improving the school environment. Professional learning communities are teachers collaborating focusing on common learning goals. PLC's can increase teacher confidence and are linked to great gains in school wide student achievement. Chapter 1 describes three major challenges facing schools who want to form a PLC. The first challenge is that schools need to develop an understand and knowledge of what PLC's really are. There is a difference between the collaboration of a PLC and casual collegiality. The second challenge is that it takes significant time and effort to develop a PLC at a school. The third challege is that school culture must be transformed so that the professional learning community doesn't die out or lose momentum when facing difficult challenges.
The professional learning community concept revolves around learning for all, not teaching for all. It also encourages collaborative culture, as teachers working together is the only true way for school sucess. Schools neeed to focus on schoolwide improvement through these PLC's, not just individual teacher improvement. With PLC's teachers can share and develop assessments and learning plans, and share ideas and thoughts.

Reflection:
I think that PLC's are absolutly vital to a school's success. Theachers working together, not in competition with one another will only do positive things for student learning. Not only do I think that PLC's create a good support system for new teachers in a school, I think they are helpful for all teachers, regardless of how long they have been teaching. PLC's provide support for teachers, so that they can share the burden of state assessments and No Child Left Behind, so they do not feel like they are alone in their hardships. I think students and teachers would both benefit in any school where everyone has common learning goals. I think a lot of teachers go into their classrooms and shut their door and isolate themselves from the rest of the school. This only hurts their students and their teaching in the long run. I know that when I was in practicum a type of PLC was developed within our block, and it helped all of us out a lot. I think we all appreciated the atmosphere and learning that took place in our PLC. I certianly felt very comfortable in the atmosphere knowing we were all sharing support and ideas, giving feedback, and working towards common educational goals. Our struggles and problems we ran into were very similar, and it was a huge hlep to see approches other people took, and to gain and share knowledge and idea's with them.

test..just making sure this works.