Puzzle of Practice
In order for teachers to scale up their expertise school-wide, they needed to collaborate efficiently and effectively. Joplin School District wanted to refocus their existing PLC structure by putting students back at the center. They wanted students to take ownership of their learning.
Collective Goal
Teacher leaders and school leadership participated in a total 15 days of job-embedded professional learning with a focus on deep implementation of the Impact Team Model: A Student Centered PLC Model. This service is now exclusively delivered through Corwin Press.
Collective Action
Joplin School District leadership and teacher leaders partnered with Dr. Bloomberg to Unpack Standards for Success, a collaborative process in which teachers get to know standards by understanding cognitive rigor, determining the standard’s relevance in the world we live in, and developing the specific criteria needed for successful mastery of the standards. They also started implementation of the Impact Team classroom protocol; a classroom protocol designed for deep implementation of the formative assessment process. In addition teacher leaders learned a process for analyzing student work to plan differentiated instruction. Dr. Bloomberg facilitated 3 Impact Team meetings with three model teams. This meeting was recorded so the district could use the model to build capacity district wide.
Impact
When interviewed about the result on advancing teacher and principal effectiveness in the district, Sarah Stevens, the Director of Curriculum and Instruction said:
The implementation of the Impact Team Model has helped us to systematically plan grade level and department collaborations that has produced: unpacking standards documents, standards aligned rubrics, the development of learning intentions and success criteria and helped us to align yearlong pacing guides and units of study. In addition they have supported us in understanding and implementing research based highly effective instructional strategies. This is the first time I have seen excitement at all levels of the district and we are excited to continue this amazing work. Students are beginning to own their learning as a result of implementing the Impact Team Model. It is a student-centered PLC model and the classroom protocol really makes a difference!