Professional

Learning
Communities

Heritage Middle
How Data Drives Instruction
School

Changes in Our PLC

Structure

PAST
After school
interventions

Interventions are
optional for students

Inconsistency
between teachers
Results were not
always effectively
used

CURRENT
Idea behind PLC is that
interventions happen
within the school day
Mandatory for students
who need intervention
Consistency between
teachers
Use results daily to
modify instruction

Mathematics Three Year

Trend
Year

6th

7th

8th

2007

50.3%

45.8%

62.0%

2008

52.7%

57.6%

52.9%

2009

57.2%

57.6%

70.6%

7.3% increase from 2007 to 2008

13% increase from 2008 to 2009
Increases in the last five years have been between 4% and
7%
Percentages have not been close to 70% (the highest was

What Does Our PLC Look

Like?

Data analysis-current data based directly on

specific standards and student achievement
Common planning based off the data-includes
specific lessons, re-grouping, and re-teaching
Communication and reflection-analyze new
data and reflect on effectiveness of
interventions
Very little PLC time is spent discussing things
that are not directly related to student
learning

Data Drives Intervention

Teachers look for questions students

struggled with and analyze possible
reasons for difficulty.
Teachers use data to design
intervention for specific indicators.
Data is used to find instruction that
increased student achievement for
specific indicators.

Teacher Results

Teachers receive results comparing

classes by indicators.

How Data Changes

Instruction

Data from common district assessments is

used to monitor mastery of indicators.
Students use data to self-evaluate their
progress with the standards.
Data is used to identify standards that need
to be re-taught.
Data is used to determine intervention
groups.
Data is used to revise instruction in various
PLCs to increase student achievement.

Standards Based
Education
TEACH

ASSESS
Academic
Content
Standards

REVISE

Types of Intervention

What are we doing when students arent

achieving at high levels?
Re-teach material
Small group instruction
Re-group/re-teach with all three teachers
Re-group/re-teach within our classrooms
Re-take assessments
Lunch support
After school support
*Most of our support is within the school day
and is mandatory for students who are not
achieving

Common Planning
All planning is data driven!

Engaging Lessons Are Shared

Problem of the Week
Common Assessments
District Assessments

Engaging Shared
Lessons
Teachers create one lesson on a concept
they feel confident teaching
All three teachers pick a different concept
Each teacher teaches their lesson to all
three math classes over a three day period
Planning time is saved and more engaging
lessons are created
Teachers feel confident in their content
and can reflect and make changes to their
lesson

Problem of the Week

All teachers create and use the same
problems

O.A.T. level and format

Writing in math is emphasized and
practiced daily
DRASTIC improvements on short-extended
response items
*A big change we made this year was
creating our own problem of the week to
include higher level thinking and reasoning

Common Assessments
Created weekly/bi-weekly
Created by the whole team
(including the intervention
specialist)
Questions model the O.A.A. format
Questions from all levels of Blooms
Taxonomy are used
All students take the assessment on
the SAME day

How Common Assessments

Improve Instruction

The common assessment items are

standard-based. Questions are written in
O.A.A. format and include varying levels of
thinking.
The instruction is guided by the common
assessments items that are selected before
instruction begins.
There is consistency between what is being
assessed and the assessment method.
District assessments are also created using
common assessment items.

District Assessments

Teachers collaborate to build common

assessments at the beginning of the nine
weeks.
Learning activities are designed around
concepts on the district assessments.
Common assessments (quizzes) are also
built into the quarter and are designed
around the common district assessments.
Common district assessments are
administered at the end of each quarter.
Results are quickly sent to teachers.
Intervention begins based off results.

Communication and
Reflection

Teachers collaborate throughout the whole

process
Common lesson plans, activities,
homework, practice, notes, assessments,
etc.
Framework and structures of classes are
very similar, but there is still room for
individual teaching styles and strategies
Teachers communicate on a daily basis for
reflection and improvement
Intervention specialist attends all meetings
and collaborates

Challenges and Solutions

Challenges
Insufficient staff for
regrouping
Rotating schedule
Grouping

Solutions

Utilize all available staff

Set standard time for regroup lessons (45 min.)

Variety of grouping
methods to choose from
After a few re-groupings,
students names were
learned and behavior
problems significantly
dropped

Dont know students

Challenges and
Solutions-cont.
Challenges

Honors and resource

classes

Solutions

Lack of computers for

enrichment group
Lack of common planning
time

Lack of rooms for reteaching/re-grouping

Different models-sometimes
they were included-other
times they were not
Library computers/staff
Refocused meeting time to
concentrate on data and
planning-added our own
PLC time
Plan ahead and utilize all
available space