Blog Entry 2-Professional Growth Plans & PLC Wednesdays

We are presented with many new initiatives in education all the time. Most of them have acronyms.  How do we keep them straight you ask! To keep the ship pointed in the right direction during this "perfect storm" of education reform it is important to prioritize, keep things simple and become really strong in a few critical areas. Two of these areas are the PGP's and the PLC's.

The PGP...

One major component to the new evaluation system for teachers is the Professional Growth Plan (PGP). These plans are developed annually but can stretch over multiple years depending on the scope of the goals(s).  The two major rules for a strong PGP are: First, the goal should center on new learning for the individual teacher. Second, the goal should impact the students in a positive way. For many departments, teachers are already involved in the Common Core Task Project which is new information and beneficial to the students as we increase rigor. Streamlining the work teachers are doing in Common Core with their professional growth plans is a natural fit.  Our district has also set aside $1.7 million in professional development resources around Common Core.  Seems like a priority to me! From what I've learned recently about the Smarter Balance Assessments and Common Core implemenation, it's not going away so we better make it our focus.

The PLC...

The work involved with the PGP should be the same work happening in our weekly departmental Professional Learning Communities (PLC) held on early release Wednesdays. What better way to enhance collaboration around best practices then to have a departmental or small group PGP goal shared among colleagues? PLC's should not be business meetings. The purpose of a functional PLC is to discuss instructional practices, share student progress (MAP data, common assessments, student work) and discuss intervention strategies. New learning is welcomed during PLC time! How about a book club where chapters are divided up and taught by the members of the group? Teachers could also pilot a strategy through a series of shared lessons and common assessments. Go to a conference or take a class then apply the strategies to your daily work and share with colleagues. Focus a departmental PGP goal around the work already happening with the CCSS (Common Core State Standards) implementation. 

Laser focus...

There is no doubt our teacher work extremely hard. I'd say too hard at times because they care about the students so much! The key is to support these amazing teachers with time and resources. Make their jobs easier so they can focus solely on teaching and learning.  Common Core isn't going away and the assessments are coming. Focus our PGP's and PLC's around this work. If we can do these well, the students will benefit greatly.