Quality in Education

How do the improvement process of Plan-Do-Study-Act and the Professional Learning Community connect?  We will explore this question in the next series of blog entries.
First, a very brief description of each.

-PDSA-what is it?
PDSA is a model for continuous improvement of quality used to carry out change.  It is a 4-step cycle or wheel that can be repeated multiple times for continuous improvement.  This process is based on the work of statisticians Walter A. Shewhart and W. Edwards Deming.   The cycle is also known as PDCA: Plan, Do, Check, Act.

• Plan – describe, assess, and analyze the current system
• Do – action step based on root cause –try out the change
• Study- examine the results of the action
• Act – take action on the change/standardize or go back through the cycle with a revised plan

-PLC – what is it?
“…A professional Learning Community is a collaboration of teachers, administrators, parents, and students, who work together to seek out best practices, test them in the classroom, continuously improve processes, and focus on results”  Rick DuFour, 2002

There are 4 corollary questions that provide the framework for discussion:

1. What should students know or be able to do?
2. How will we know if students are learning?
3. How do we respond to students who don’t learn or struggle?
4. How do we respond to students who have already learned have learned more?
   

Based on these simplistic definitions - are there similarities and/or differences in the concepts? Are there connections?  Your thoughts?
Becky 


 

Posted by Becky Martin at 5:04 PM | Comments (2) | Send to a Friend

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      What did you do during the summer break?  Relaxed, took a vacation, spent time with family, and in a favorite activity.  Maybe took a class or participated in a workshop.   At some point, the mind of the educator begins to think about the new school year.  Lists begin to appear of things to do, new ideas and materials needed.  Maybe even a visit to the classroom to look around. 
     Pre-school in service rolls around as do the first round of meetings.  Conversations about the new school year begin.  We are asked to introduce ourselves and say something about what we do.  “I’m Mark, I teach 7^th grade science.”   “Hi, I am Amy, I teach 8^th grade language arts.” 
     I’ve always found these introductions somewhat disturbing.  I realize you might think that a bit odd.  However, what is it that educators do?   What is the most important – critical goal of educators?  I keep waiting for just one person to say, “I teach kids.”  “I help students learn and master the subject of algebra.”   “I teach kids – my work is to help students learn about science.”  “I teach kids and help them achieve the goals for second grade.”
     What do educators do?  We use our expertise with students in a multitude of ways and topics to make certain that they learn.  Our goal is to assure that students learn to the best of their ability.   With students, we promote learning, we encourage success, and develop excellence.
     What do you teach?

Posted by Becky Martin at 12:19 PM | Comments (7) | Send to a Friend

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 . . . they also bring staffing concerns, interviews, school improvement plan reviews, transition activities, and those last ditch efforts to fit in a few field trips, rescheduled athletic events, concerts and drama productions. With all of these things, it’s easy to loose sight of the continuous improvement efforts that you’ve made this year – and even easier to put off making plans for next year.

 

Whether it’s signing up for professional development classes, creating the data folder pages your students will use next year, or tweaking your Excel spreadsheets to make your data collection more efficient, a little time spent planning now will save time in the long run. Being prepared for the start of the school year by having systems in place will make for much lighter work when it comes to the unavoidable “first day of school” tasks at the start of a new year.

 

As we begin the process of putting one year behind us and looking ahead to the next, I would like to say how much I’ve enjoyed the comments, suggestions, and questions sent as a result of writing this blog. It is encouraging and motivating to share the feedback with others and to hear their responses to the national and international Continuous Improvement efforts highlighted through this forum.

 

Paul

Posted by Paul Hayes at 12:02 PM | Comments (4) | Send to a Friend

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Spring break is over, two months of school left, time for the final push to end the year.  Time for reflection and planning for the last weeks of the school year. (for those on a traditional calendar) Questions abound…what curriculum do we have left to cover, what was learned, how to keep students focused until the end.  Then, the assessment questions and comments: how many days are taken by assessment and I don’t have time to stop teaching to do the assessment.

The assessment questions are the ones that make me want to shout - assessment, done correctly, doesn’t result in lost time rather the result is increased achievement!  These are the questions that bother me the most because it shows a lack of clear understanding of the process of teaching and learning in today’s educational system.  We need to do a better job of clarifying and emphasizing the need for assessment.

What is assessment?  I begin by framing the answer within the context of the essential questions as explained by the DuFour’s process of professional learning communities.  These questions, even in this simple form, speak universally to educators and keep the discussion focused on assessment.

• What do we want students to know or be able to do?
• How do we know they have learned it?  What evidence we gather?
• What do we do when students struggle?
• How can we use our SMART goals and evidence of student learning to inform and improve our practice?

What is assessment?  The definition must include the purpose of and terms used to describe assessment.

First, must be an understanding of the variety of use of assessment as defined by Rick Stiggins.  Different groups make decisions based on their area of influence.  The type of assessment may vary depending upon the use.

• Policy Level = superintendents, school board, legislator
• example:  state tests
• Instructional Support = curriculum specialists, principals, counselors
• end of course assessments
• Classroom = students, teachers, parents
• throughout the course of study using a variety of methods

Next, it is necessary to clarify assessment terms although they fall into two basic categories.  Formative assessment also referred to as in-process or short-cycle and summative assessment.  When used in appropriately, both types of assessment are important, support learning, and provide evidence of student proficiency.

Formative assessment activities (non-graded) that occur periodically during the learning process in the classroom are called formative, in-process, and short-cycle.  Why the different terms? Those measures used within the context of a PDSA cycle are traditionally called in-process measures.  Short-cycle assessments are often, but not always, are associated with state standards and benchmarks. The more global term is formative assessment. 

Formative assessment is a non-graded activity used to determine the answer to the questions; How do we know students have learned and what evidence do we have.  The information is as important to students as it is to the educator.  In the classroom, the result of the assessment is used to create an action plan and guide instruction. Formative assessment as defined by Rick Stiggins:  Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence to directly improve the learning of students assessed. For the student, formative assessment provides direction and motivation to successfully complete the learning targets.

Summative assessment occurs after the learning has occurred. The end of unit assessment, once yearly state testing, and end of the year proficiency assessments are examples of summative assessment.  This assessment is the type educators refer to when talking about stopping their teaching for assessment.  Stiggins explanation of summative assessment results:  provides evidence achievement to certify student competence or program effectiveness. The use of summative evidence is to inform what comes next for individuals or groups of students.

In summary, for those classrooms where formative assessment is used, students and teachers together will reflect and plan for completion of classroom learning targets.  In addition to setting aside time for summative assessments for which the results will be used for a more global look at the educational process. 

As always, your comments are welcome.
Becky

On a personal note:  I appreciate your patience with the lapse in blog entries while I recovered from knee replacement surgery.

For further information I encourage a visit to the web site:  All Things PLC http://www.allthingsplc.info/about/aboutPLC.php

and Assessment Training Institute http://www.assessmentinst.com/resources.php as well as the following list of resources.

All Things PLC – resources  http://www.allthingsplc.info/tools/bibliography.php

 DuFour, R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree (formerly National Educational Service).

DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Karhanek, G. (2004). Whatever it takes: How a professional learning community responds when kids don’t learn.

Stiggins, R. (2001). Student involved classroom assessment (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Stiggins, R. (2002). Assessment crisis: The absence of assessment for learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(10), 758–765.

Stiggins, R. (2004). New assessment beliefs for a new school mission. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(1), 22–27.

Stiggins, R. (2005). Assessment FOR learning: Building a culture of confident learners. In R. DuFour, R. Eaker, & R. DuFour (Eds.), On common ground: The power of professional learning communities. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree (formerly National Educational Service).

 

 

Posted by Becky Martin at 11:33 AM | Comments (2) | Send to a Friend

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Thanks to Leon at ASQ for providing the topic for this entry. Leon commented on the last entry (“In the Absence of Direction, People will Set Their Own”) and asked the questions “How did the kids respond?” and “How did the adults respond?” These are excellent questions that I thought warranted some discussion.

To answer Leon’s question regarding the lunch situation in the last entry – we realized that we needed to implement a back-up system for the lunch periods to address the “outside the comfort zone” affect that schedule changes create for this particular group of students. What didn’t seem to be an issue for groups in the past has all of the sudden become a “probletunity” for making adjustments to our way of thinking.

Clearly, paying attention to how students respond to our processes is critical to the success of improvement efforts. That valuable feedback provides us with evidence that our efforts are – or are not – having the desired impact. Continually asking ourselves how our students are responding to our efforts puts the focus where it needs to be – on the stake holders.

Perhaps of more importance is the question “How do we respond when our current systems do not produce the desired outcomes?” It’s easy to find a system that works for us and continue to use it because we have seen results in the past. However, frequent feedback from our students (and other stake holders) may dictate that we adjust our systems on a regular basis to meet their needs – not ours – at the time. In my experience, the idea of making paradigm shifts is, to say the least, uncomfortable for people. I’ve also learned over time that being taken outside our comfort zone from time to time is what makes us grow and reach for something better.

How comfortable are you with your current systems and how do you respond when your systems aren’t producing the desired results?

Paul

Posted by Paul Hayes at 9:12 AM | Comments (8) | Send to a Friend

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The recent weather in Iowa is worthy of the record books. Late starts, early dismissals, and all out closings have been occurring weekly – making it difficult to maintain consistency and focus (just one of my excuses for not making an entry lately). We as adults often find it difficult to deal with situations that are outside our normal routine. Students, too, are beginning to feel the stress of change and unpredictability. What better opportunity to write about the power of setting direction and maintaining focus?
As the result of one of our late starts this week, the lunch shifts needed to be adjusted. Typically, our 250 8^th graders eat lunch in two shifts. On this day, they all ate together. I volunteered to supervise the lunch shift to help maintain some order in the face of an uncommon situation. By this time in middle school, 8^th graders have eaten hundreds of lunches in our cafeteria and are well aware of the expectations and procedures. It was assumed that they would rise to the occasion and conduct themselves in a “business as usual” manner, so no direction was given about how to proceed. While I wouldn’t describe the 30 minutes that followed as chaotic, some students were confused and others took advantage of the latitude the new circumstances provided.
As leaders of Continuous Improvement, it’s easy for us to assume that the direction we set at the start of an endeavor will be consistently followed. After all, we are working with professionals who have been doing this for a long time and who are focused on improving the state of education. However, just as 8^th graders are thrown by the introduction of a new scenario, in the absence of direction, we as adults are going to create our own route. Some will head straight down the road while others will veer off on a side road or pull over to the side. As leaders, we must routinely remind people of the destination in an attempt to reduce confusion and maintain focus on the goals for reaching it, particularly in the face of change and unpredictability.
I intend to share the lunch story above with the staff in our building at our next in service meeting as a prelude to revisiting where we are on the Continuous Improvement highway. What’s your plan for keeping CI in the sights of your staff?

 

Paul

Posted by Paul Hayes at 7:44 AM | Comments (4) | Send to a Friend

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Happy New Year! I hope everyone has returned from a restful break with a renewed focus and plan for moving forward.

As I contemplated my own focus and direction over the past few days, I found myself thinking of new ways to approach Continuous Improvement with the teachers in my building that would engage them all in the process and renew their focus on student learning. In the process, I came to the realization that I was approaching the endeavor in much the same manner that we are trying to shift teachers away from – finding the “silver bullet” that is going to work for everyone in every situation.

Just as there are many students in our classrooms who do well in school simply because they are driven to do so, it dawned on me that there are already many educators who are committed to continuous improvement because they see the benefits for the students. Many have taken huge steps toward developing classroom processes to show evidence that their students are learning. This perspective helped me to realize that there is only a small group who still needs some assistance in getting the ball rolling – much like that small handful of students in our classrooms who need that extra attention in order to make even a little bit of progress. By making this connection, I have a better understanding of the dilemma a classroom teacher faces with differentiating instruction. I hope to be able to share in future entries a plan that focuses primarily on those in need of extra assistance while utilizing and supporting the efforts of those who are making progress.

            Recognizing that one size does not fit all is a notion we continue to address – both in the classroom AND in staff development. How do you provide assistance to one group while still supporting and utilizing the efforts of the self-directed group?

 

Paul

Posted by Paul Hayes at 8:59 AM | Comments (2) | Send to a Friend

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Like Becky, I am attempting to process everything I learned from attending the NQEC Conference and have been contemplating how it all applies to where we are as a district and as a building. One of the common themes for me at the conference was the importance of developing relationships and creating a culture of Continuous Improvement so that we are ALL working in the same direction and with the same focus.

At Taft Middle School, we are in the process of introducing the concept of Professional Learning Communities and making the cultural shifts necessary for their implementation. One of my responsibilities is to facilitate what we call Kid Day meetings – bi-weekly meetings with our academic teams to identify students in need and to brainstorm solutions for them. Traditionally, these have concluded with a menu of interventions for the counselors and support staff to implement.

Lately, I’ve been introducing questions at the meetings like:

·        What are the barriers to learning on our team?

·        What can we do as a team to remove those barriers?

·        What are we prepared to change about our current systems so ALL students have a chance at success?

These questions are beginning to change the way we talk about improving student achievement. Rather than the “one-student-at-a-time” approach, we are beginning to have discussions about what changes need to occur with the current systems on our academic teams and in our building. We have resurrected the age-old questions about the value of grading every piece of homework and assessing work completion. We are also revisiting the “one-size-fits-all” policies of the past and how they may not be meeting the needs of all of our students.

            I’m interested in hearing from those of you who have made a similar transition or who are in the process of creating that cultural shift necessary for PLC’s to be effective. What changes have occurred in your building or district? Was the shift a “top down” directive or something your staff came to on its own? How do you ensure that teachers are validated for their hard work while being asked to make a shift in their thinking?

 

Paul & Becky

Posted by Paul Hayes at 1:26 PM | Comments (2) | Send to a Friend

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