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UCLA SMP EdNews, November 2006
by
Barbara Linsley, UCLA SMP Faculty, and Camellia Naguib, UCLA M.P.P. ‘05
That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has
become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Since January 2005, the El Segundo Unified School District (ESUSD), a small district that comprises just four traditional-schedule schools, has been engaged in a comprehensive effort to become a true Professional Learning Community (PLC). According to Superintendent Bruce Auld, and Assistant Superintendent Geoff Yantz – who are spearheading the effort – the district is working to transform itself into a unified group of educators who speak a “common language” and use student data to inform their practice. Auld compared this project to a “positive virus” that will help create purposeful dialogue, even in informal settings, and build a cohesive culture focused on performance and inquiry.
Building a Professional Learning Community
 A key component of ESUSD’s PLC effort is UCLA SMP’s Critical Friends Group (CFG) New Coaches Institute, which works to help teachers learn how to look deeply at student work, authentically and effectively collaborate with and learn from colleagues, and reflect on their own teaching practices. Designed by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform in 1994, the CFG concept provides a set of protocols (processes) that create a structured and safe space for teachers to candidly discuss issues of student achievement and classroom practices; these tools can be adapted to many different environments and needs. ESUSD has committed, with the generous support of the Boeing Foundation, to sending all 160 of its teachers to an onsite, five-day UCLA SMP CFG New Coaches Institute to teach them the processes and concepts behind PLCs and CFGs. Administrators also attend. In fact, Auld and Yantz were among the first group of participants and now use their own training to guide the district’s effort.
To drive its PLC effort, ESUSD has signed a unique bargaining agreement that provides for banked time each Monday afternoon. This time is used for faculty meetings in different configurations, varying by week of the month, which allow teachers to work closely with colleagues in other departments and grades as well as their own. These are supplemented by regular, district-wide in-service days, where teachers have the opportunity to get to know the staff at other schools (regardless of level) and focus on vertical articulation of standards. A regular component of this process is the use of CFG protocols which gives teachers, many of whom have not yet participated in a UCLA SMP CFG New Coaches Institute, an opportunity to try them out. Eventually, as more teachers understand the tools, they can be used in a variety of formal and informal settings, as needed.
Implementation Successes
The project is ending only its second year of a multi-year process and has already seen some great successes. Teachers who have been trained by UCLA SMP expressed excitement about the opportunity to use CFG tools and concepts to collaborate with their colleagues to adapt these tools and concepts for students in the classroom.
Janice Hickey, who as a teacher coordinated the introduction of CFG processes at El Segundo High School and now serves as a District Professional Development Coordinator, says that CFG gave her a whole new perspective on how teachers can work together. She helped to implement the processes in high school faculty meetings, and has already seen some of the walls of privacy among teachers start to break down. Meeting in Focus on Learning / WASC Task Groups for the CFG protocols also encouraged an exchange of ideas across departments.
Bonnie Maye, a middle school teacher, has used the ATLAS Protocol in class to help students understand the standards. This has led to a richer understanding of grading and has made students more critical of their own work. Richmond Street Elementary School faculty have used protocols to review student work, determine next instructional steps, and discuss the effectiveness of their Bullying Prevention Program.
In collaboration with UCLA SMP, the El Segundo CFG Team created and facilitated a protocol for teachers from grades 4 – 12 that allowed them to reflect on their use of the Cornell Note-Taking Strategy, enabling teachers to take implementation to a deeper level in a variety of content areas.
 At the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, the El Segundo CFG Team designed workshops and facilitated CFG protocols for all teachers and administrators, which addressed identified district-wide needs. In September, school teams participated in team-building activities and examined student achievement data. In October, the entire school district participated in a Professional Learning Community day, participating in a variety of CFG protocols – including the Final Word Text-Based Protocol, Consultancy Protocol, and Future Protocol – to examine research, clarify goals, and share strategies that support students with special needs.
The El Segundo CFG team structured the day so that participants could choose their areas of interest. All workshop groups had representatives from elementary, middle, and high school sites. Teachers and administrators committed to taking specific action steps that will directly impact students in the classroom, and will be sharing the strategies, results and evidence in student work at a follow-up session in November.
The process of becoming a true PLC is a long-term one, but ESUSD has thoughtfully planned a program to support the effort, marshaling proven strategies such as CFG and investing time and resources into creating a sustainable program. With the help of UCLA SMP – who provides the CFG training and coaching on implementation – and the commitment of district leadership, the ESUSD is on the road to becoming a true Professional Learning Community.
Below are links to additional websites, articles, and processes that can provide resources related to Critical Friends Groups and Professional Learning Communities:
National School Reform Faculty – A Network of Educators Pursuing Significant Change in their Schools and Practice
Bambino, Deborah. “Critical Friends,” Educational Leadership, Vol. 59, No. 6, March 2002, pp. 25-27.
Cornell Notes, The Learning Toolbox: Learning Strategies for Students with Learning Difficulties.
DuFour, Richard, “What Is a ‘Professional Learning Community’?” Educational Leadership, Vol. 61, No. 8, May 2004, pp. 6-11.
DuFour, Richard and Robert Eaker. Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement. Bloomington, Indiana: National Educational Service, 1998.
Newmann, Fred M. “School-Wide Professional Community,” Issues in Restructuring Schools. Issue Report No. 6. Madison, WI: Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, Spring 1994.
Cushman, Kathleen. “Looking Collaboratively at Student Work: An Essential Toolkit,” Horace, Vol. 13, No. 2. Providence, RI: Coalition of Essential Schools, 1996.
When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning.
Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made.
Don’t look for
the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time.
That’s the only way it happens – and when it happens, it lasts.
-- John R. Wooden, Men’s Basketball Coach, Emeritus, UCLA
For this month's topic:
In “What Is a ‘Professional Learning Community?’” Richard DuFour states:
“Educators who are building a professional learning community recognize
that they must work together to achieve their collective purpose of learning for all.
Therefore, they create structures to promote a collaborative culture.”
What structures have you or your school site / district put in place to support
building or sustaining a professional learning community?
We invite you to share your stories. Please email us your responses to this month's Combined Brainpower. We look forward
to sharing your thoughts in future issues of EdNews.
 See what universities from across the country (including UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies) are doing to digitally organize the overwhelming volume of instant information that students and educators search for on the world wide web. This Internet Public Library (IPL) draws you into a virtual library where you can explore and visualize information in a unique, structured way. “Grok” your favorite subject on the IPL for a digital map of subject categories and supporting websites.
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Publication
Date: November 15, 2006 |
