Element of PLC

The Professional Learning Community Continuum Rubric

Question / Element of PLC / Pre-Initiation Stage / Initiation Stage / Developing Stage / Sustaining Stage /
If I was visiting your school for the very first time, how would I know what is important? What evidence would I see of what important as I walked around your school? / Mission
Is it evident that learning for all is our core purpose? / No effort has been made to engage faculty in identifying what they want students to learn, or how they will respond if students do not learn. School personnel view the mission of the school as teaching rather than learning. / An attempt has been made by the central office to identify learning outcomes for all grade levels or courses, but this attempt has not impacted the practice of most teachers. Responding to students who are not learning is left to the discretion of individual teachers. / Teachers are clear regarding the learning outcomes their students are to achieve. They have developed strategies to assess student mastery of these outcomes, they monitor the results, and they attempt to respond to students who are not learning. / Learning outcomes are clearly articulated to all stakeholders in the school, and each student's attainment of the outcomes is carefully monitored. The school has developed systems to provide more time and support for students experiencing initial difficulty in achieving the outcomes. The practices, programs, and policies of the school are continually assessed on the basis of their impact on learning. Staff members work together to enhance their effectiveness in helping students achieve learning outcomes.
What will it look like to teach at this school next year, in five years? What will they name the movie they make about your school ten years from now? / Shared Vision
Do we know what we are trying to create? / No effort has been made to engage faculty in describing 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 have worked together to describe the school they are trying to create. They have endorsed this general description and feel a sense of ownership in it. School improvement planning and staff development initiatives are tied to the shared vision. / 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 a=described in the vision statement and their current reality.
What behaviors are really important in this school? What happens when people act in ways that conflict with those behaviors? / Shared Values:
How must we behave to advance our vision? / 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 the core values. / 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.
What is this school trying to accomplish? Have teams developed SMART goals? Are they based on improved student learning? / Goals:
What are our priorities? / 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 pursues 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.
Describe how teachers engage in the work of teaching and learning? Has this changed from last year? / Collaborative Culture: Teachers Working Together / Teachers work in isolation. There is little awareness of what or how colleagues are teaching. / Teachers recognize a common curriculum that they are responsible for teaching, but there is little exchange of ideas regarding instructional materials, teaching strategies, or methods of assessment. / Teachers function in work groups that meet periodically to complete certain tasks such as reviewing intended outcomes and coordinating calendars. / Teachers function as a team. They work collaboratively to identify collective goals, develop strategies to achieve those goals, gather relevant data, and learn from one another. Unlike a work group, they are characterized by common goals and interdependent efforts to achieve those goals.
What are the relationships like between the faculty and administration? Give me specific examples to illustrate the relationship? / Collaborative Culture: Administrator/Teacher Relations / Questions of power are a continuing source of controversy and friction. Relationships between teachers and administrators are often adversarial. / Efforts have been made to reduce friction by clarifying "management rights" and "teacher rights." Both parties are protective of intrusion onto their turf. / Administrators solicit and value teacher input as improvement initiatives are developed and considered, but administrators are regarded as having primary responsibility for school improvement. / The staff is fully involved in the decision-making processes of the school. Administrators pose questions, delegate authority, create collaborative decision-making processes, and provide staff with the information, training, and parameters they need to make good decisions. School improvement is viewed as a collective responsibility.
Do teachers know what is important for all students to learn? Is this information published anywhere? / Implementation of the corollary questions:
Identification of the essential outcomes / No effort has been made by the faculty to identify the essential outcomes for a teacher’s class, course, or grade level. Teachers teach their favorite lessons or units of the curriculum they are most comfortable teaching. / An effort to identify essential outcomes for each teacher’s class, course, or grade level has been initiated by the central office but this initiative has not impacted the daily practice of most teachers. A few teachers adhere to the agreed upon curriculum but most teachers still teach their favorite lessons or units they are most comfortable teaching. / Teachers are aware of the agreed upon curriculum and know there are essential outcomes their students are expected to learn. Most teachers attempt to reflect the agreed upon curriculum in their lessons but there is little discussion of what the essential outcomes represent on a daily basis. Teachers have not fully integrated the idea that students should learn the agreed upon curriculum into their daily teaching practice. / Essential outcomes and the agreed upon curriculum are clearly articulated, published, and are fully integrated in the teachers daily lesson plans. Faculty members use the essential outcomes to plan instruction and regularly work together to ensure that the outcomes are paced properly, developmentally appropriate ways, sufficiently rigorous to help all students learn to high levels. Teachers work together to ensure that what is taught and what students learn reflects the outcomes agreed to by the faculty.
How do teachers know what students have learned? Are there systems in place to monitor and manage student learning? / Implementation of the corollary questions:
Creation of Common Assessments / No effort has been made by the faculty to create a system of common, formative assessments for a teacher’s class, course, or grade level. / The faculty participates in annual or semi-annual data retreats organized by the central office to analyze the results of externally produced summative assessments which are used to manage and monitor learning, adjust instruction, and as the basis for determining ongoing staff development. The results are also used to target areas for curriculum or programmatic improvement. / An attempt has been to create common, formative assessments to monitor student learning but the primary source of data remains the highly summative state and national assessments. Formative assessments are used but are not closely linked to the essential outcomes and the idea of using frequent formative assessment to guide instruction has not impacted the practice of most teachers. / Each student's attainment of the essential outcomes is carefully monitored. Teachers have developed strategies to assess student mastery of the essential outcomes. Summative data is reviewed and used to calibrate results of locally developed common assessments. Teachers use data from the locally developed common assessments n formative ways and the results are used to manage and monitor learning, adjust instruction, and as a basis for determining additional time and support for students who are not succeeding.
What happens in this school when students are not learning? / Implementation of the corollary questions
Development of Systematic Interventions / No effort has been made by to create interventions for students who need more time and support to succeed in the teacher’s class, course, or grade level. The response to students who are not learning is left to the discretion of individual teachers. / Students are assigned to at-risk programs for extended periods of time based on the results of periodic summative assessments. Interventions are systematic but are not tied to ongoing classroom instruction and the school lacks an understanding what an effective system of intervention consists of or why more time and support is important to help all students learn to high levels. / Individual teacher teams organize themselves to respond to students who are not learning the essential outcomes being taught but the interventions are not coordinated on a school wide basis or linked to the results of frequent common assessments. Most of the opportunities for more time and support are invitational and available to students outside the confines of the normal schools day. / The faculty has developed clear definitions of what constitutes an effective intervention, has collaborated to create a school-wide and systematic plan for interventions that are available during the school day, based on the results of common assessments, and designed to provide more time and support for students experiencing initial difficulty in achieving the agreed upon outcomes. The plan has been communicated to all stakeholders and staff members work together to enhance their effectiveness in helping students achieve learning outcomes.
Are teachers encouraged to take risks and be creative? How are teachers supported or encouraged to test new ideas or teaching strategies? / Action Research / While individual teachers may try experiments in their own classrooms, no structures to support, assess, or share their findings are in place. Many staff members have no knowledge of or involvement in action research. / Some staff members participate in pilot action projects. The sharing of findings is largely informal. / Staff members have been trained in action research methods and conduct action research to improve their professional practice. Findings generated by this research are beginning to influence classroom practices. / Topics for action research arise from the shared vision and goals of the school. Staff members regard action research as an important component of their professional responsibilities. There are frequent discussions regarding the implications of findings as teachers attempt to learn from the research of their colleagues.
How would you react to the statement the following statement, “we are doing the best we can and as we learn more, we will do even better”? / Continuous Improvement / 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 tracking improvement indicators.
Do you know if your school is getting better? What measures of success does your school talk about? / 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 with in 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.
Since one year ago, has this school changed? If so, specifically how is it different for the teachers? For the students? / 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 practices 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.

Created by Dr. Richard DuFour Page 1 of 1