San Antonio, Texas • July 10–12 - Amazon Web...

Agenda San Antonio, Texas • July 10–12

Tuesday, July 10

6:30–8:00 a.m.Registration

Continental breakfast

Lila Cockrell Theatre Foyer

River Level Foyer

8:00–9:45 a.m.Keynote—Rebecca DuFourThe Power of Professional Learning Communities at Work: Bringing the Big Ideas to Life

Lila Cockrell Theatre

9:45–10:00 a.m. Break

10:00–11:30 a.m. Breakouts Titles & locations: pp. 3–5 Session descriptions: pp. 9–19

11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Lunch (on your own)

1:00–2:30 p.m. Breakouts Titles & locations: pp. 3–5 Session descriptions: pp. 9–19

2:30–2:45 p.m. Break

2:45–3:45 p.m.Panel discussionA Q&A time with presenters. Receive practical answers to your most pressing questions.


Wednesday, July 11

7:00–8:00 a.m.Registration

Continental breakfast

Lila Cockrell Theatre Foyer

River Level Foyer

8:00–9:30 a.m. Keynote—Richard DuFourImplementing the PLC Process: Will You Soar or Settle? Lila Cockrell Theatre

9:30–9:45 a.m. Break


11:15 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Lunch (on your own)

12:45–2:15 p.m. Breakouts Titles & locations: pp. 3–5 Session descriptions: pp. 9–19

2:15–2:30 p.m. Break

2:30–3:45 p.m.Team timeA collaboration time for your team. Presenters are available for help in team discussions.


Thursday, July 127:00–8:00 a.m. Continental breakfast River Level Foyer


9:30–9:45 a.m. Break

9:45–11:45 a.m. Keynote—Robert EakerWhat It Means to Be a Professional Learning Community Lila Cockrell Theatre

Agenda is subject to change without prior notice.

Agenda

1

Breakouts at a G

lance

Breakouts at a Glance

Presenter and TitleTuesday, July 10 Wednesday, July 11 Thursday,

July 12

10:00–11:30 a.m. 1:00–2:30 p.m. 9:45–11:15 a.m. 12:45–2:15 p.m. 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Tim Brown

Raising Questions and Finding Answers in Our Grading Practices Room 007D Room 006CD

When, Where, and How Do We Begin? Room 007D

Creating a Climate of High Expectations: It’s a Collaborative Thing Room 008B

Austin G. Buffum

Learning CPR: Creating Powerful Responses When Students Don’t Learn Room 006AB Room 008A

Tiers Without Tears: Successful Implementation of RTI by Building on PLC Practices

Room 006AB

Supporting RTI From the Central Office Perspective Room 008A

Rebecca & Richard DuFour

Building the Collaborative Culture of a Professional Learning Community at Work (Part 1)


Building the Collaborative Culture of a Professional Learning Community at Work (Part 2)


Rebecca DuFour

Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap: Whatever It Takes in Elementary Schools

Room 006ABC

Lights, Camera, Action! Setting the Stage for PLC Success in Elementary Schools Room 006AB

One Is the Loneliest Number: Developing Leadership Capacity in Your School Room 006AB

Richard DuFour

Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap: Whatever It Takes in Secondary Schools


Getting Started: Building Consensus and Responding to Resisters


How to Ensure That This Too Won’t Pass: Sustaining the PLC Journey


3



July 12

10:00–11:30 a.m. 1:00–2:30 p.m. 9:45–11:15 a.m. 12:45–2:15 p.m. 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Robert Eaker

Friday Night in America: A Common Sense Approach to Improving Student Achievement

Room 006C

Aligning the Work of a Professional Learning Community: Central Office, Schools, and Teams

Room 008A

Developing a Stretch Culture Room 007A

A Focus on Learning: What Would It Look Like If We Really Meant It? Room 007A

William M. Ferriter

Plug Us In: Using Digital Tools to Facilitate the Work of PLCs Room 007B Room 007B

Small Schools and Singletons: Structuring Meaningful Professional Learning Teams for Every Teacher

Room 007B Room 007B

We’re Meeting. Now What? A Look Inside a Learning Team Room 007B

Hector Garcia

Igniting Implementation Ideas: Developing Key Insights From High School Artifacts Room 008B Room 008B

Paving the Way: Leadership Principles That Aid Development of High School PLCs Room 008B Room 007A

Chris Jakicic

“Powering” the Common Core Room 007C Room 007C

Maximizing the Power of PLC Practices at the Middle School Level Room 007C Room 007C

Timothy D. Kanold

The Five Disciplines of the PLC Leader: Living in the Flow of Your PLC Leadership Life

Room 006D

The Five Disciplines of the PLC Leader: Turning Your PLC Vision Into Action Room 006D

Common Core Mathematics in a PLC: The Fundamental Teaching and Content Paradigms for K–12 Implementation Success

Room 006D

Common Core Mathematics in a PLC: The Fundamental Assessment and Intervention Paradigms for K–12 Implementation Success

Room 006CD

4



July 12

10:00–11:30 a.m. 1:00–2:30 p.m. 9:45–11:15 a.m. 12:45–2:15 p.m. 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Janet Malone

Partnering With Students on the Learning Journey Room 007A Room 007D

Maximizing the Power of Common Assessments Room 007A Room 007D Room 007D

Julie Schmidt

The Role of Special Education in a Professional Learning Community Room 008A

Shift Happens: How the Work of Teachers Changes in a PLC Room 006C

RTI in a PLC: A Perfect Fit Room 007C Room 008AB

Agenda is subject to change without prior notice.

5

Map

Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center

RIVER LEVEL FOYER

STREET LEVEL

RIVER LEVEL

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Tim Brown Raising Questions and Finding Answers in Our Grading Practices

As schools focus more on learning than teaching, they must also examine current grading practices, policies, and management systems to support these efforts. As we examine grading issues in our schools, staff members must establish collective commitments on a topic often viewed as too hot to handle.

Participants learn about useful tools and strategies to examine grading practices in their schools or districts. Tim Brown asserts that schools must address the controversial topic of grading to make grading practices more meaningful.

In this session, participants:• Examinecurrentgradingpracticesastheyrelatetoassessmentandlearningoutcomes.• Discussgradingguidelinesthataligntotheirschools’purposes.• Obtainstrategiesforbringingthesediscussionstolightintheirschools.

When, Where, And How Do We Begin?A professional learning community doesn’t happen by accident. Whether a school is just starting, has stumbled, or is continuing on this journey, moving forward always requires a plan. The purpose of this breakout is to provide guidance and time to create action plans and share knowledge and concepts presented at this institute.

Attendees identify specific topics to share when they return from this institute and develop a detailed presentation outline. Tools, examples, and resources support the participants’ goal of helping others at their worksites to learn about and implement PLC concepts.

Creating a Climate of High Expectations: It’s a Collaborative ThingLee G. Bolman and Terrence Deal write in their book Leading With Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit, “Organizations without a rich symbolic life become empty and sterile. The magic of special occasions is vital in building significance into collective life.”

Tim Brown offers practical strategies to create and communicate a mission, vision, and collective commitments to motivate staff. Using these strategies, educators can teach with high expectations and close learning gaps that exist for some students while helping leadership teams develop a school culture that communicates high expectations for students and themselves.

Participants in this session:• Considertheimportanceofcommunicatingthemissionandvisionoftheschooltoall

stakeholders.• Learnspecificstrategiestohaveanengagingstaffdevelopmentthatcreatesinterest,

enthusiasm, and desire of others to take the next steps in continuous improvement.• Sharetheirplansofactionwithotherattendeesinthebreakoutsession.

Session Descriptions

SessionD

escriptions

9

Austin G. Buffum Learning CPR: Creating Powerful Responses When Students Don’t Learn

Participants learn how to create a highly effective, systematic intervention program and gain practical, proven intervention ideas for elementary or secondary school students. Austin G. Buffum shows how to create a tiered system of interventions that provide supplemental and intensive support to students when they are not successful.

The most significant difference between a traditional school and a PLC is how the site responds when students don’t learn. As Richard DuFour says, “Don’t tell me you believe all kids can learn; tell me what you are doing about the kids who aren’t learning.”

Dr. Buffum illustrates:• Characteristicsofeffectiveinterventionsasparticipantsconsidertheefficacyoftheir

school’s current intervention program• Howthesecharacteristicscanbeembeddedinyourownschool’sresponsetointervention

by examining successful elementary and secondary level models

Tiers Without Tears: Successful Implementation of RTI by Building on PLC Practices Are you confused as to how to successfully implement RTI in your school or district? Are PLCs and RTI seen as two separate initiatives by your staff? This session demonstrates how the three big ideas of the professional learning community are absolutely essential in providing the foundation to successfully implementing RTI, and how these two efforts can work together to help ensure that all students learn at high levels.

Session attendees focus on:• Examiningtheirschools’currentrealitiesregardingthethreebigideasandplannextsteps

for strengthen their foundations.• UnderstandinghowtoimplementRTIaspartoftheirschools’PLCjourneys

Supporting RTI From the Central Office PerspectiveWhat should be the role of district leadership in developing and sustaining a school’s ability to help all students achieve success through response to intervention? RTI is not a series of implementation steps, but rather a way of thinking. Austin G. Buffum shows why bureaucratic, paperwork-heavy, compliance-oriented, test-score-driven approaches fail. Then, he guides attendees in how to create a focused RTI model that works. Dr. Buffum recommend data that the central office should monitor and measure (beyond NCLB results) to evaluate the effectiveness of RTI’s systemwide implementation.

Participants in this session:• UnderstandhowTalbert’sprofessionalchangestrategiescansupportasystemwide

implementation of RTI.• InteractwithothercentralofficeadministratorsandlearnwhateffortssupportRTI.• Learnfourkeydatapointsthathelpdistrictsevaluatetheeffectivenessofitssystemwide

implementation.


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Rebecca & Richard DuFour Building the Collaborative Culture of a Professional Learning Community at Work

(Parts 1 & 2) Powerful collaborative teams are the fundamental building block of a professional learning community and a critical component in building a collaborative culture.

Learn how educators transform their congenial groups into high-performing collaborative teams, and get a sense of the specific work undertaken by those teams. Discover ways to provide time and support for collaborative teams during the school day. More importantly, identify structures and strategies to help teams stay focused on doing the work that has a positive impact on student achievement.

This two-part continuing session is designed for educators at all levels and is highly recommended for all participants who are new to PLC concepts.

Rebecca DuFour

The Power of Professional Learning Communities at Work: Bringing the Big Ideas to LifeThe professional learning community concept is supported by research and endorsed by educational organizations at all levels as our best hope for sustained, substantive improvement. But what are the big ideas that drive the professional learning community concept, and what do they look like in the real world of education?

Rebecca DuFour offers practical strategies for bringing the big ideas to life. Participants engage in the actual work of collaborative teams in a PLC and travel on virtual field trips to schools and districts that use these ideas to profoundly impact student and adult learning.

Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap: Whatever It Takes in Elementary SchoolsSchools that function as PLCs must ultimately do two things: 1) build a collaborative culture to promote continuous adult learning, and 2) create structures and systems that provide students with additional time and support for learning.

Participants in this session examine strategies to collectively: • Respondtothelearningneedsofeachstudentinatimely,directive,andsystematicway.• Createandsustainstrongparentpartnershipstoenhancestudentlearning.• Makecelebrationsapartoftheschoolculture.

After examining different models of systematic intervention and enrichment, participants receive criteria to assess their own school’s response and an action-planning template for next steps in raising the bar and closing the gap.

This session is recommended for elementary school educators.


= Keynote11

Rebecca DuFour Lights, Camera, Action! Setting the Stage for PLC Success in Elementary Schools

Elementary school educators beginning the PLC journey face the immediate challenge of how to provide the time and structure essential to the PLC process. This interactive workshop is designed to help elementary educators address that challenge.

Becky DuFour provides effective templates and proven strategies for reallocating existing resources to support learning for all. Participants are invited to bring their creative ideas to this session.

This session is recommended for elementary-level educators who have an interest in and/or a responsibility for creating schoolwide and team schedules.

One Is the Loneliest Number: Developing Leadership Capacity in Your SchoolBoth educational researchers and organizational theorists have concluded that widespread leadership is essential to the success of a learning organization. To initiate and sustain the PLC process in your school or district, lots of leaders are necessary.

In this highly interactive session, participants examine a case study, identify specific strategies to develop and support leaders, and create the structures for widely dispersed leadership that is characteristic of PLCs.

Richard DuFour

Implementing the PLC Process: Will You Soar or Settle?The journey to becoming a professional learning community is fraught with dangerous detours and seductive shortcuts at every turn. Inevitably, these detours and shortcuts can circumvent actually doing what PLCs are meant to do. Recent studies have found that partial implementation of the PLC process produces no gains in student achievement while deep implementation results in dramatic gains. In this session, Richard DuFour alerts educators to inevitable challenges in implementing a PLC and provides research, rationale, strategies, and tools for overcoming these challenges.

Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap: Whatever It Takes in Secondary SchoolsThe mission statement of most schools asserts all students can and should learn. The nagging question that confronts those schools, however, is “What happens when they don’t learn?”

This session uses the powerful video Through New Eyes: Examining the Culture of Your School to help you see school from a new perspective—the perspective of a student. Participants then contrast the traditional school response when students experience initial difficulty in their learning with the systematic response of a professional learning community.

This session calls on participants to:• Assessthecurrentmannerinwhichtheirschoolsrespondwhenstudentsdonotlearn.• Examinedifferentschedulesandmodelsthatprovidestudentswhoarenotlearningwitha

timely, directive, and systematic response that ensures they receive the additional time and support essential to their learning.

This session is recommended for middle and high school educators.


= Keynote12

Richard DuFour Getting Started: Building Consensus and Responding to Resisters

The most significant barrier to building a school culture focused on continuous improvement is the tradition of privatization of practice, isolation, and individual autonomy that has characterized teaching. How can a faculty build consensus for significant change? What are the most effective ways of addressing the concerns of those who resist even when the staff has decided to move forward?

As a result of this session, participants can:• Defineconsensus.• Applythemosteffectivestrategiesforbuildingconsensus.• Utilizesevenresearch-basedstrategiesforaddressingresistance.

How to Ensure That This Too Won’t Pass: Sustaining the PLC Journey Most education leaders have ample experience launching school-improvement initiatives but few have experience in sustaining those initiatives until actual improvement occurs. A central challenge for any school engaged in the PLC process—whether its journey is just beginning or it has been on the journey for several years—is sustaining the focus, collective effort, and commitment necessary to drive the process deep into the culture.

In this session, participants explore current research on how to sustain an improvement effort then translate that research into specific, practical strategies they can implement in their own schools or districts.

Robert Eaker What It Means to Be a Professional Learning Community

Given the fact that there is unprecedented agreement among researchers and practitioners that PLCs offer our best hope for improving schools, it might be said that the time for PLCs has come. However, a word of caution is in order—even in the face of such widespread enthusiasm. Advocates of PLCs face the daunting challenge of sustaining the hard work of change and ensuring that changes ultimately impact school culture in significant ways.

Robert Eaker offers a number of practical suggestions for moving a school along a continuum from knowing about PLCs to doing the work of implementation to ultimately being a PLC.

Friday Night in America: A Common Sense Approach to Improving Student AchievementImproving student learning is a difficult, complex, and incremental endeavor. However, more is known about ways to ensure student learning than is realized at first glance.

Many of these methods are used in non-academic school settings. Practices that coaches on Friday nights use to ensure success on the football field are similar to efforts that school teams undertake to guarantee success in the academic arena.

Robert Eaker reviews school practices that lead to improved student learning. He shows how teacher teams can suit up with powerful strategies to win every day of the week.


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Robert Eaker Aligning the Work of a Professional Learning Community: Central Office, Schools,

and TeamsA districtwide professional learning community is more than a sum of individual parts. A high-performing school district that functions as a PLC reflects a thoughtful alignment and integration of work at the central office level, in individual schools, and in teacher teams. While highlighting the efforts of highly successful school districts, Robert Eaker describes how these districts organize and align at each organizational level to implement professional learning community concepts and practices districtwide.

Developing a Stretch CultureIf the goal of achieving high levels of learning for all students is to be realized, then schools must develop a culture that stretches the aspirations and performance levels of students and adults alike. Robert Eaker focuses on cultural shifts that professional learning communities make during the development of a stretch culture. He pays particular attention to the topic of assessment and providing students with additional time and support.

A Focus on Learning: What Would It Look Like If We Really Meant It?A fundamental difference between schools that function as professional learning communities and their more traditional counterparts is a shift from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning. While recognizing the importance of teaching, PLCs make learning their primary focus. This distinction has profound implications. Participants explore ways that PLCs emphasize learning as their primary mission. Specifically, Robert Eaker offers proven strategies to address the critical questions associated with moving from a culture of teaching to a culture of learning.

At this session, attendees:• Developastrongunderstandingofateamversusagroup.• Determinethecharacteristicsassociatedwithcollaboration,coordination,and

cooperation.• LearneffectivestrategiestostrengthencollaborativeteamsinaPLC.

William M. Ferriter Plug Us In: Using Digital Tools to Facilitate the Work of PLCs

For professional learning teams, the costs of collaboration can be quite high. Sharing information, creating new lessons together, and communicating with colleagues—both within and beyond their schools and districts—can take huge amounts of additional time that teachers just don’t have. As a result, many teachers begin to question the benefits of PLCs. In this session, William M. Ferriter introduces participants to a range of free digital tools that 21st century learning teams are using to make their collective learning more efficient and rewarding.

Bill Ferriter helps participants learn how to:• Usedigitaltoolstocarryonconversationsaboutinstruction,organizehelpfulweblinks,

develop joint lesson plans, and create warehouses of important documents.• EmployinstantmessagingserviceslikeTwittertoplugintoanetworkofdigitallearners

beyond the schoolhouse walls.• Identifydigitaltoolsthataremostappropriateforsupportingtheworkoftheirlearning

teams.


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William M. Ferriter Small Schools and Singletons: Structuring Meaningful Professional Learning Teams

for Every TeacherThe PLC concept resonates with most educators, but making collaborative learning work in small schools or for singleton teachers can be challenging. To this end, participants explore three models for creating meaningful professional learning teams in such settings: 1) the creation of vertical teams studying skills across content areas, 2) designing class loads that allow teachers to teach the same subjects, and 3) using electronic tools to pair teachers with peers working in the same subject area. The session also focuses on how building or district leaders can facilitate and support PLCs.

Participants in this session:• Discussthecommonstructuralbarriersthatpreventsingletonsfromworkingon

collaborative teams.• DevelopthebeginningsofanactionplanforincorporatingsingletonsintothePLC

process. • ReviewkeyprinciplesforhelpingadministratorsestablishPLCs.

We’re Meeting. Now What? A Look Inside a Learning TeamFor many teachers, professional learning team meetings can be nothing short of overwhelming! Not used to making collective decisions, teams struggle to organize their work together and begin to question the benefit of a school’s decision to restructure as a professional learning community. Solution Tree author Bill Ferriter explores the kinds of actions that learning teams take to make their meetings successful.

In this session, participants:• Reviewtherolethatclearnormsandexpectationsforbehaviorplayinthesuccessfulwork

of a learning team.• Exploretoolsdesignedtosupporttheworkoflearningteamsovertime.• Learnaboutthekindsoftasksthatlearningteamscantackletogether.

Hector Garcia Igniting Implementation Ideas: Developing Key Insights From High School Artifacts

Today’s leaders must seek innovative ways to explain difficult ideas and outline solutions to multifaceted concepts. While many staff members quickly embrace PLC principles, others want to answers to what and how questions. Therefore, it is essential for school leaders to quickly identify promising practices and find ways to adapt or build on them.

In this session, Hector Garcia helps educators:• Learnhowschooladministratorshavemovedtheirschoolsfromtheorytopracticeand

from great ideas to powerful guiding principles.• Developanunderstandingofhowhighschoolstranslatethethreebigideasintoprocesses

and artifacts. • ExamineopportunitiesfordevelopingclarityandfocusintheirPLCs.


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Hector Garcia Paving the Way: Leadership Principles That Aid Development of High School PLCs

How many times have school leaders heard people say that they feel overwhelmed? Some staff members suffer from this problem because they do not understand the initiative, fail to focus their energy on the right work, or simply do not see alignment between what is discussed and implemented. This session focuses on how leaders can achieve high-level clarity, focus, and alignment for their schools as they proceed along the PLC path.

Participants in this session:• Analyzemethodstodevelopclarityduringtheimplementationphase.• Helphighschoolleadersfocustheirimplementationefforts.• Createnewideasforaligningtheeffortsofleadersandstaffmembers.

Chris Jakicic “Powering” the Common Core

The Common Core Standards provide an opportunity for teachers to set high expectations for achievement and lay out a path that will help students reach those expectations. However, unless teachers better understand and manage them, these standards still represent a curriculum that may be seen as “too much to teach.”

Participants in this session learn a process to navigate the new standards and determine essential or power standards. This process can help them work collaboratively to teach, assess, and ensure that all of their students are achieving at these high levels of expectation. As a result of this session, participants:

• Understandwhyitisimportanttohaveclearessentialoutcomes.• LearnaprocesstoidentifypowerorprioritystandardsamongtheCommonCore

Standards.• Knowhowtousetheseessentialstandardstogetbetterresultsfortheirstudents.

Maximizing the Power of PLC Practices at the Middle School LevelAlthough strong teams are the foundation of most middle school structures, the deft implementation of PLC practices can ensure student achievement and success at even higher levels in the middle school. This session explores how rethinking team structures can help capitalize on the benefits of both the traditional interdisciplinary team and teachers who teach the same subject working together. Successful schools find ways to have both. In addition, Chris Jakicic examines ways to create intervention time and opportunities for both students who can’t do the work and students who won’t do the work.

Participants become familiar with:• Howschoolsincorporateinterdisciplinaryandsubjectmatterteamsintotheirschedules• Waysmiddleschoolteamscananswerthefourcriticalquestionsofacollaborativeteamin

a PLC• HowmiddleschoolteamscanwriteSMARTgoals,planCFAs,andprovideinterventions


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Timothy D. Kanold The Five Disciplines of the PLC Leader: Living in the Flow of Your PLC Leadership Life

This motivational session provides insight into how to live, lead, and train for a dynamic and fully engaged work life. Using cutting edge resources such as recent energy management research and Daniel Goleman’s Social Intelligence work, participants take a close look at how to manage their life energies, fully engage their collaborative teams, and guide those within their sphere of influence. They then can use the PLC leadership discipline of reflection and balance to lead others and themselves into optimal work experiences. Participants learn how to use an in the flow analysis tool to create and design differentiated expectations for all collaborative teams. This leadership discipline helps attendees to reach a state of mind where Dr. Kanold says, “Your focus is energized, your involvement is deep, and your engagement is total.”

The Five Disciplines of the PLC Leader: Turning Your PLC Vision Into ActionPLC at Work™ schools are a great idea, but they are not soft: successful leaders set tight expectations for the right set of adult behaviors with consequences. Timothy D. Kanold offers leadership training insights and practices that can inspire leaders, teachers and teams to fully implement the vision of a program, school, or district. He shows how leaders can turn vision into action by motivating individuals and collaborative teams, by applying the discipline of accountability and celebration, and by focusing the effort and energy of the school’s programs.

Common Core Mathematics in a PLC: The Fundamental Teaching and Content Paradigms for K–12 Implementation SuccessThis engaging session explores three key areas: 1) dynamics that led to the Common Core in mathematics, 2) fundamental curriculum and instructional paradigms that schools and districts must embrace, and 3) how to successfully pursue mathematics program improvement K–12. This session is based on the book series Common Core Mathematics in a PLC at Work™, and series editor and author Timothy D. Kanold provides insights into how collaborative teams and district personnel need to proceed.

Participant outcomes are to:• Understandhowthecurriculum(content)andinstructional(StandardsforMathematical

Practice) expectations for the Common Core in mathematics K–12 will impact school districts.

• ExplorethelatestinformationandtimelineforCommonCoremathematicsreadiness.• Learnthemathematicscontent and instruction professional development that has the

greatest impact on student achievement.• Interpretreferences,resources,anddigitalinformationtosupportthetransitiontothe

Common Core.


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Timothy D. Kanold Common Core Mathematics in a PLC: The Fundamental Assessment and Intervention

Paradigms for K–12 Implementation SuccessThis motivational session provides insight into the most recent developments from the Common Core assessment consortia in mathematics—both the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Attendees examine two second-order assessment and intervention paradigms necessary to meet expectations for improving mathematics program assessments at school and district levels. This session is based on the book series Common Core Mathematics in a PLC at Work™, and series editor and author Timothy D. Kanold explores how collaborative teams and district personnel can erase assessment based inequities and create a high quality formative assessment process that prepares all students for the assessment expectations of the Common Core in mathematics K–12.

This session helps participants:• Understandhowtodevelophighqualityassessmentandinterventionprocessesin

districts and schools in order to meet the vision for assessment of the Common Core for mathematics K–12.

• UnderstandthelatestinformationandtimelineforimplementationoftheCommonCoremathematics.

• Exploreformativeassessmentprofessionaldevelopment(thePLCteaching–assessing–learning cycle) that has the greatest impact on student achievement.

• Receive references, resources, and digital information to support the Common Core transition.

Janet Malone Partnering With Students on the Learning Journey

Students who engage in all aspects of their learning journey develop into reflective, independent learners. To support such engagement, teachers use formative assessment practices—providing effective feedback and involving students in self-assessment, record-keeping, and communicating results—not only to promote student motivation but as a bridge to higher levels of achievement. Participants explore strategies and tools to engage students as partners in monitoring and managing their own learning.

Session participants:• Understandthepowerofstudentinvolvementinclassroomassessments.• Acquirestrategiesandtoolsforinvolvingstudentsaspartnersintheassessmentprocess.• Learnandpracticetheattributesofeffectivefeedback.• Gaininsightintocurrentassessmentpractices.


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Janet Malone Maximizing the Power of Common Assessments

Together everyone achieves more!

One of the best ways to maximize achievement for students and teachers alike is for teacher teams to collaboratively develop and examine common assessment results. In this session, participants experience the processes of designing, implementing, analyzing, and using common assessments to adjust instruction.

Janet Malone provides strategies and tools for team use, as well as guidance in:• Understandingtherationaleforcommonassessments• Identifyingthekeyfactorstoconsiderwhendevelopingcommonassessments

Julie Schmidt The Role of Special Education in a Professional Learning Community

Special educators can effectively participate in a collaborative culture, but success depends on clarifying goals for what teachers want all kids to know and be able to do.

Participants in this session:• Discussifallreallymeansall.• Examinewaysforspecialeducatorstoparticipateinacollaborativeculture.• Learnwhycleargoalsarepowerfulforspecialeducators.

Shift Happens: How the Work of Teachers Changes in a PLCJulie Schmidt focuses on how the work of teachers changes in a professional learning community. She explores these shifts and translates what they mean in the day-to-day work of teachers and teams.

In this session, participants:• Exploreshiftsinassumptionsandbeliefs.• Examinehowshiftsimpactteams’answerstothefourcriticalquestions.• Discusshowshiftsimpactstudentlearning.• Considerexamplesofwhattheworkmightlooklike.

RTI in a PLC: A Perfect FitThis session reviews the rationale behind RTI legislation and clarifies why the marriage between RTI and PLCs is a perfect fit.

Julie Schmidt helps participants:• ClarifyRTIandPLCvocabulary.• ExamineinterventionsthroughthelensofaPLC.• UnderstandwhyPLCworkisessentialtosuccessfullyimplementingRTI.


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