NCA CASI e-News
April 2005
NCA CASI & Professional Learning Communities
Volume 3 Number 5
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NCA CASI e-News |
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About e-News:
Professional Learning Communities
and the NCA School Improvement Process Schools across the NCA network are using professional learning communities as a tool to improve classroom instruction. This article examines the strong relationship between the NCA school improvement process and professional learning communities. Together, the two provide a powerful combination to ensure that no child is left behind. Click here to read the full article. Transform Classrooms with Learning Communities School improvement is a constant process. Schools have become adept at writing School Improvement Plans (SIPs) that they believe are certain to raise student achievement. And, usually there are improvements- but not to the level expected or desired. There are always students who fall through the cracks and don't meet the standards. Teachers and administrators shake their heads and wonder what happened. The answers to this frustration may lie in the responses to the following questions:
Resources Related to Professional Learning Communities Working as a team. To work effectively within the context of a school improvement steering committee, professional learning community, or department/grade level team, strong collaboration and team work skills are needed. The National Staff Development Council's online library provides resources on building learning communities and teamwork skills. Resolving conflicts, building consensus, and establishing norms are a few of the many topics addressed in the library which can be accessed at www.nsdc.org/library/communities.cfm. Sharing from the NCA Network - Putting NCA &
Professional Learning Communities Into Practice: William Grace Elementary
School, Farmington, MI "We have a long way to go," noted Principal Mark Morawski with regard to using professional learning communities as a tool to facilitate improvement, "but we are making progress. It's a constant journey." The journey began with making time for professional development and collaboration. The school has structured nine early release days where students are released two hours early. This translates to approximately one early release day a month which is devoted to staff development and/or PLC time. In addition, they have readjusted teacher time and traditional staff development time to create an hour a week for PLC teams to meet (with one meeting a month serving as a full staff meeting). The school uses the PLC time to collaborate on meeting their reading, math, and writing goals. Principal Morawski shared, "The discussions are much deeper and richer than planning lessons together." For example, in writing, the school is implementing 6+1 Trait® Writing to improve students' writing abilities. The professional learning communities framework provides the forum for teachers to talk about what activities are best for teaching the different traits. Teachers also use the time to grade each others' student work to ensure greater consistency in the use of rubrics. In reading, recent conversations have focused on sharing effective strategies for guided reading. Teachers share how they set up and facilitate activities in the classroom to meet the needs of readers of all levels. Principal Morawski sees the potential in expanding the professional learning communities across grade levels to ease transitions for students as they progress through their schooling. His focus initially, however, is in helping each grade level gain comfort in their respective benchmarks and in developing expertise in their curriculum. He is also seeking methods to involve support staff in a greater and more meaningful way in the school's improvement efforts. Principal Morawski concluded by reiterating, "We're on a great path, but still have a long way to go." If you would like to share ways that your school is using professional learning communities or other tools to reach your school improvement goals, please e-mail us at enews@ncacasi.org. Commission Corner NCA School Improvement Rubrics and Visiting Team Report Are Now Available in Easy-to-Use Microsoft® Word® and Adobe Acrobat® Templates. We have developed simple, easy-to-download, and easy-to-use templates for NCA's school improvement rubrics and visiting team report. The templates provide a quick and easy way for schools to access these resources, which are also available through NCA CASI's software suite (available free to accredited schools). The school improvement rubrics are a resource provided to accredited schools and are available for schools who choose to use them (they are not required of schools). The rubrics are powerful tools that help schools assess the quality of their goals, interventions, assessments, staff development, mission, profile, and documentation efforts. The visiting team report provides a tool for the visiting team to use when reviewing a school. The Microsoft® Word® version offers an alternative to navigating the software. To access these resources, visit www.ncacasi.org/pa/ttc_forms. If you have difficulty accessing these forms, call NCA CASI technical support at 800-525-9517 extension 6902. New Resource: Elementary Reading Assessment Guide. This comprehensive guide provides an overview of assessment; criteria and checklists to help you identify, select, and use quality assessments; a sample improvement plan for a reading goal; sample formative assessments; a useful matrix that lists close to 90 commercially available reading assessments; an annotated directory of the assessments listed in the matrix; and a directory of assessment publishers. The guide is a useful resource for any elementary school working to improve reading performance. The guide costs $30 plus shipping and can be purchased by downloading an order form from NCA CASI's on-line catalog at http://www.ncacasi.org/catalog/item?sku=4021. From this link, you can view the table of contents and preview pages from various sections of the book. New and Revised Accreditation Criteria Effective 2005-06. As a reminder, the new and revised accreditation criteria adopted at the 2004 Annual Meeting will become effective in the 2005-06 school year. The changes pertain to early childhood, elementary, middle level, secondary, and unit schools. You can view the criteria at www.ncacasi.org/standard. Click on the PDF file that is marked "effective July 2005." Sister School Opportunities with Schools in China. CITA candidate and accredited schools in China are seeking sister school relationship with U.S. accredited K-12 schools. Students in these schools are becoming bilingual in English and Chinese. The schools are looking for a wide range of English language learning experiences from e-mail pen pals to exchange programs for teachers and students. Please help us advance the quality of education worldwide and let us know your interest in helping these schools. Contact Sylvia Huntington at NCA/CITA office shuntington@citaschools.org. Register On-Site for NCA CASI's 110th Annual Meeting Upcoming Professional Development Systems Leadership Summer Academy School Improvement Specialist Program The University of Nebraska-Lincoln/NCA CASI School Improvement Specialist Program is designed for school improvement officials who are developing a comprehensive school improvement plan. Participants develop their plan as they work through the program with insight and feedback from faculty and other participants. When the program is complete, participants have a model to implement, 12 graduate credits, and the School Improvement Specialist credential from NCA CASI. Join your colleagues in the next cohort, starting August 29, 2005. Visit http://extended.unl.edu/ncaimprove for more information about the program and how to enroll. NSSE Resources How to Reach Us We are committed to providing you with the information you need to continually improve student learning. Please share with us your suggestions, advice, and ideas on how to make e-News and our other products and services best meet your needs. Send us feedback at enews@ncacasi.org. Thank you for reading this issue of NCA CASI e-News. To see a copy of this newsletter on-line or to view past issues of e-News, go to http://www.ncacasi.org/enews/index. Please report problems to enews@ncacasi.org. North Central Association |
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© 2005 North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and
School Improvement. All Rights Reserved
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