Sticky Standards

PL Standards Overview

on the PL Standards

Podcasts: Overview of the Standards

WHY PROFESSIONAL LEARNING STANDARDS?

It makes no difference what changes or innovations are being implemented, it is a challenge.  Educational change is complex. As educators across our country new evaluation systems, new accreditation models, social and emotional learning, innovative platforms and apps, you name it, it is about LEARNING.  Change = Learning.  Learning = Change. Our goal is to increase teacher effectiveness that improves all student results.

These PL Standards from Learning Forward are the FOUNDATION for change. It is like the foundation of a house.  After the beautiful house becomes our home, we can barely see the foundation….unless the foundation was not built well. If there are cracks in the foundation, watch out!!  It is the same with the PL standards, with an emphasis on engagement, collaboration, and collective efficacy.

What is the driving question? What about this one, “What will have the biggest impact on educator effectiveness and learning for each student?” We will do this!! We are all learning partners! Bring your driving questions and your POSSIBILITY THINKING, SOLUTION FINDING!!

ALL OR SOME?

These 7 PL standards are the foundation for change in our schools. If we are struggling with an innovation/change, let’s look at each standard and see if one is missing. We must have ALL SEVEN to increase teacher effectiveness and results for all students.

Adapted by Learning Forward Senior Consultant Chris Bryan from Ambrose, D. (1987).   Managing complex change.  Pittsburgh. PA: The Enterprise Group, Ltd.  (Modified by Dayna Richardson)

Roland Barth
Ultimately, there are two kinds of schools; learning enriched schools and learning impoverished schools. I have yet to see a school where the learning curves of the adults were steep upward and those of the students were not. Teachers and students go hand and hand as learners…or they don’t go at all.

….if  we want to improve performance, the most effective way is to respect their emotions and improve their THINKING.

The nature of the relationships of the ADULTS in the building has more to do with success of the STUDENTS in that building than any other factor

Deal and Peterson
Improvement efforts are likely in schools with positive professional cultures – norms, values, and beliefs – that reinforce a strong educational mission. Culture is a key factor in determining whether improvement is likely.

DuFour and Marzano
School improvement means people improvement. A commitment to building a collective capacity requires environments in which professional learning of educators is:

  • Ongoing and sustained
  • Job-embedded
  • Aligned with school/district goals
  • Improved results
  • Collective/Collaborative endeavor

Albert Einstein
New frameworks are like climbing mountains – the larger view encompasses, rather than rejects the earlier, more restricted view.

Oliver Wendell Holmes
What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are insignificant compared to what lies within us.

Milton Berle
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.

Random thinking
Standards set the characteristics of quality.
On a scale of 1 to 10, where would your colleagues rate YOU as a learner?
Our dendrites were dancing…..together!!
Energy and enthusiasm are contagious!!
Life is change.  Growth is optional.  Choose wisely.

HAPPY LEARNING AND LEADING!!


Books
Playbook for Professional Learning: Putting the Standards into Action, by Stephanie Hirsh and Shirley Hord, 2012
Becoming A Learning School, by Joellen Killion and Patricia Roy, 2009

Journals/Articles
The WHY, HOW, and WHAT of Professional Learning, by Lois Brown Easton, LF, Tools for Learning Schools, Spring 2012
Where Do I Start?, by Anthony Armstrong, Tools for Learning Schools, Fall 2012

Websites
Learning Forward 

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