Dear Members,
You may be hearing a murmur of something called a “Professional Learning Community”. You have definitely given, worked on, or have been directed to create common assessments. You have had staff development or reconstructed your curriculum on Rubicon Atlas. Believe it or not, this is all connected.
The philosophy of a professional learning community is a twenty-year-old concept that was developed to help move public schools away from the factory model of education. The core of the philosophy asks three essential questions:
- What do we want our children to learn?
- How will we know when they learn it?
- What will we do when they don’t?
Rubicon Atlas is the tool that theoretically is used to lead us to finding the answer to, “What do we want our children to learn?” The positive side should be that we take a look at our curriculum and ditched what is no longer viable. We can then add the pieces we have created and updated an outline of our curriculum. The down side is twofold. Most of us have State Curricula that leave little to our discretion. Most have done the work but have little idea of how it has value in our day to day.
A common assessment is the tool that may answer, “How will we know when they learn it?” The quarterly exams you have been discussing really are tests created for either a grade level or a course. Everyone teaching that grade level or course gives the same test to their students. The outcome is then analyzed to see what concepts the kids understand and what they don’t. Not bad in theory but, because the philosophy isn’t clear again, the problem is two fold. It is wrongly viewed as a way to judge teachers rather than a tool to help kids and a great deal of work has been done by math specialists and teachers yet, few understand the value it may have in our day to day.
“What will we do when they don’t learn?” is the big piece. As you know, AIS, IST teams, 504 committees and success programs have been established in your buildings. All of this is to support our most vulnerable students and help them to pass NCLB and N.Y. State standards. Fabulous in theory but, the teachers are doing a substantial amount of work while the student and /or parents are not being held as accountable.
Hopefully now you may see the connection to all you have heard and seen recently at your faculty and department meetings. The initial question is when will we have time for all this? Watts & Castle (1993) state, “Time is a significant issue for faculties who wish to work together collegially, and it has been cited as both a barrier (when it is not available) and a supportive factor (when it is available) by staffs engaging in school improvement.” We need time to talk, think and understand our direction.
We need time to communicate with one another and administration. We need time to spend doing constructive things with students, not standing in a cafeteria or hallway. Time must be given while upholding our contract. We and the district need to be creative.
Teachers are overwhelmed with increased class size, fewer teaching assistants, more mandates, less parent support, and more needy students. We cannot work harder. We need to work smarter. The intention of the North Rockland School District to move in this direction is commendable yet we all know the old adage, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I, as the president of the NRTA, must say that we can support this initiative but must make it clear that our support will only sustain to the degree that the administration’s observable support is equal to its verbal pronouncements.
To move forward in good faith, we can commit to establishing a Professional Learning Community that supports teaching and learning when we experience needed change:
Change that will not violate our contract with the school district.
Change that gives us the sense we are being heard.
Change that gives us hope.
Sincerely,
Robin Brennan |
