The Bush Elementary School PLC Story
Staff members of Bush Elementary School began the PLC journey in the Fall of 2011. Our building had various research based practices in place, but not at all grade levels. It was obvious that we lacked communication across our grade levels and departments. We also lacked common language, collaboration, and accountability for student learning and outcomes. This journey began our systematic process with the creation of a shared Mission, Vision, and Collective Commitments to lead our building to higher levels of learning for all individual students and staff. First, our entire staff participated in the creation of our Mission: Excellence is our plan by doing all we can! Then, we committed ourselves to “living the mission” through discussions about unity, fidelity, and culture in our building. The creation of the mission was then followed by a similar process in creation of a Vision statement. Next, our Collective Commitments were written and revised to make more applicable to our Bush School family. We shared our newly created mission, vision, and commitments with our students’ families. This has proven to be very powerful as our families have a tangible reminder of the commitment Bush Staff has made to their children. Our Mission is visible to all who enter our building. Since 2011 we have made a commitment to revisit these as a staff on a yearly basis to ensure our classroom practices reflect our commitment to student learning.
The writing of S.M.A.R.T goals has been an integral part of our learning community. Through writing and progress monitoring of our S.M.A.R.T goals, we have learned to take a closer look at what classroom practices we are using, and why we are following said practices. When making instructional decisions we are constantly asking ourselves, “Which corollary questions does this meet?” “How will the results be used?” “Are these results and practices productive for our staff and students?” Our grade level teams are very efficient in using Data Cycles to focus on the Corollary Questions.
We understand that climate is crucial to the success of our building. Each year, our building completes a climate survey in order for all staff to get anonymous feedback on the topic. The building leadership team then plans appropriate activities based on those results. We have also spent time improving our school climate through a “Bucket-Filling” campaign. Through this campaign, students and staff share their appreciation for others by writing positive comments on paper buckets. These buckets are shared and displayed for all to see. Other climate activities have included Team Builder activities, “Question of the Week,” nominating fellow teachers for Role Model for the Month, Staff Member of the Week, “I appreciate _____ when . . .”(This is used to show staff appreciation for the big and small things we do daily. These statements are shared on the announcements to allow students an opportunity to witness adults showing respect and appreciation for one another.) Our future climate activities include a Breakfast Spotlight where a grade level team will prepare and share breakfast for the staff while all staff are invited to browse classrooms and share teaching and learning.
Continuous Improvement has been an important part of our PLC process at Bush School. At the beginning of the year, our school district provides PLC training to all new staff. At this time, our administrator Mrs. Engle meets with Bush new teachers to review and answer questions more specific to PLC at Bush School. Our RPDC trainer also meets with these teachers to provide more in-depth training on the purpose and process of data teams. Each year, during our back to school faculty meeting, the PLC building team provides a review of the PLC process to date, as well as goals for the upcoming school year. Each year, we have the staff complete the BAT/implementation rubric. This allows the PLC team to monitor the fidelity of our PLC process while also determining the needs and goals for our building. The PLC team then uses this assessment and its results to plan building level training at each faculty meeting and/or professional development days. The Leadership Team also plays a role in the continued implementation of PLC as they direct the work of collaborative teams, set building level S.M.A.R.T goals, and review the action research and data cycles of grade level teams. Our continuous improvement includes student work and growth. We provide students with many intervention/differentiation opportunities which include: Title I, Reading Recovery, Blue Jay Buddies, OOPS, College Tutors, A+ Tutors, Reading Buddies, Data Binders, progress monitoring.
The writing of S.M.A.R.T goals has been an integral part of our learning community. Through writing and progress monitoring of our S.M.A.R.T goals, we have learned to take a closer look at what classroom practices we are using, and why we are following said practices. When making instructional decisions we are constantly asking ourselves, “Which corollary questions does this meet?” “How will the results be used?” “Are these results and practices productive for our staff and students?” Our grade level teams are very efficient in using Data Cycles to focus on the Corollary Questions.
We understand that climate is crucial to the success of our building. Each year, our building completes a climate survey in order for all staff to get anonymous feedback on the topic. The building leadership team then plans appropriate activities based on those results. We have also spent time improving our school climate through a “Bucket-Filling” campaign. Through this campaign, students and staff share their appreciation for others by writing positive comments on paper buckets. These buckets are shared and displayed for all to see. Other climate activities have included Team Builder activities, “Question of the Week,” nominating fellow teachers for Role Model for the Month, Staff Member of the Week, “I appreciate _____ when . . .”(This is used to show staff appreciation for the big and small things we do daily. These statements are shared on the announcements to allow students an opportunity to witness adults showing respect and appreciation for one another.) Our future climate activities include a Breakfast Spotlight where a grade level team will prepare and share breakfast for the staff while all staff are invited to browse classrooms and share teaching and learning.
Continuous Improvement has been an important part of our PLC process at Bush School. At the beginning of the year, our school district provides PLC training to all new staff. At this time, our administrator Mrs. Engle meets with Bush new teachers to review and answer questions more specific to PLC at Bush School. Our RPDC trainer also meets with these teachers to provide more in-depth training on the purpose and process of data teams. Each year, during our back to school faculty meeting, the PLC building team provides a review of the PLC process to date, as well as goals for the upcoming school year. Each year, we have the staff complete the BAT/implementation rubric. This allows the PLC team to monitor the fidelity of our PLC process while also determining the needs and goals for our building. The PLC team then uses this assessment and its results to plan building level training at each faculty meeting and/or professional development days. The Leadership Team also plays a role in the continued implementation of PLC as they direct the work of collaborative teams, set building level S.M.A.R.T goals, and review the action research and data cycles of grade level teams. Our continuous improvement includes student work and growth. We provide students with many intervention/differentiation opportunities which include: Title I, Reading Recovery, Blue Jay Buddies, OOPS, College Tutors, A+ Tutors, Reading Buddies, Data Binders, progress monitoring.