The main vehicles for building the knowledge, skills and dispositions associated with PLC leadership in this course are as follows

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1 Syllabus for Online Leading the Professional Learning Community University of Massachusetts Lowell Graduate School of Education Spring Semester, 2014 Instructor: James H. Nehring, Ed.D. Phone: Office: 520 O Leary Office Hours: Monday, 2:00-3:30; Wed. 2:00-3:30; other times by appointment. Graduate School of Education Conceptual Framework A theme entitled Education for Transformation provides a conceptual framework that unifies programs at the Graduate School of Education. The mission of the University of Massachusetts Lowell is to promote and sustain regional economic development. The Graduate School of Education (GSE) contributes to this mission by developing professionals who help transform the region through leadership roles in education. The GSE s commitment to Education for Transformation produces graduates who: 1) demonstrate excellent knowledge, judgment, and skills in their professional fields; 2) promote equity of educational opportunity for all learners; 3) collaborate with other educators, parents, and community representatives to support educational excellence; 4) use inquiry and research to address educational challenges; and 5) possess the collaborative capability to transform relationships among people in schools, mobilizing them to accomplish purposes they value. Course Overview This course is designed to assist school leaders or aspiring school leaders in acquiring the knowledge, skills, and dispositions associated with leadership of a professional learning community (PLC). The PLC is an educational construct that has emerged from scholarship and practice stretching back at least several decades. In essence, the PLC is a set of school level traits associated with excellence in teaching and learning. Traits include, collaboration (educators learning with and from each other), inquiry, reflection, shared responsibility for student learning, shared examination of instructional practice and student learning, and more. In practice, the PLC ranges widely in quality, from very thoughtful cultivation that dramatically improves the quality of teaching and learning within a school, to nothing more than a new name for the same bad meetings.

2 The course is divided into four parts as follows: Part I: What is the professional learning community? Part II: How do I cultivate a professional learning community? Part III: What is the body of theory and scholarship behind the professional learning community? Part IV: How do I deepen and extend my PLC leadership? The main vehicles for building the knowledge, skills and dispositions associated with PLC leadership in this course are as follows 1. Practice with PLC protocols and approaches using web conferencing as a teaching tool and video recording by students on site as a tool for practice and coaching. 2. Development of a course project for which each student designs and carries out an initiative leading several colleagues at his or her school site. The purpose of the project is to improve instruction and/or student learning based on the principles and practices of the PLC. 3. Readings about various approaches to the cultivation of a PLC, such as, protocols, instructional rounds, action research, lesson study, S.M.A.R.T. goals, and more. 4. Readings by selected scholars who laid the intellectual foundation and conducted basic research for the contemporary PLC. Learning Standards Because a successful leader in education is necessarily both an effective practitioner and a knowledgable scholar, this course identifies two sets of standards: practitioner standards and scholar standards. Practitioner Standards The practitioner standards for this course are taken directly from educational administration standards of the National Policy Board for Educational Administration and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The standards identified for this course have been carefully selected in coordination with other courses in the University of Massachusetts Lowell program of which this course is a component to ensure that the degree candidate will have the opportunity to meet all standards for both the National Policy Board for Education Administration and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The practitioner standards for this course appear below with the exact language of the standard from the source document and the identifying code for reference purposes. For the purposes of assessment in this course, cross-walk language, combining the two sets of standards is also included. Scholar Standards The scholar standards used in this course are based upon the signature elements of traditional scholarly work, forming an intellectual foundation for effective practice.

3 Table 1: Practitioner Standards and Scholar Standards for this Course Practitioner Standards *NPB Standard **MA Standard Language of Standard from Source (NPB, MA) 1.1 Candidates understand and can collaboratively develop, articulate, implement, and steward a shared vision of learning for a school 4a Develops, promotes, and secures staff commitment to core values that guide the development of a succinct, results-oriented mission statement and ongoing decision-making 4b Successfully and continuously engages all stakeholders in the creation of a shared educational vision in which every student is prepared to succeed in postsecondary education and careers. 1.3 Candidates understand and can promote continual and sustainable school improvement III. 4d Cultivates and promotes reflective, adaptive, and collaborative behaviors and skills of self and others in leading change or confronting new challenges. 4g Develops and nurtures a culture in which all staff members are reflective about their practice and use student data, current research, best practices and theory to continuously adapt instruction and achieve improved results. Models these behaviors in the administrator s own practice. 4j Builds high quality and effective teams and fosters collaborative decision-making and responsibility. Cross-walk Standard Used in this Course I. Understands the elements of a shared vision for learning, including Engaging stakeholders Working collaboratively Focusing on success for all Focusing on results II. Effectively builds a shared vision for learning by Engaging stakeholders Working collaboratively Focusing on success for all Focusing on results Understands the elements of a professional learning community, including Adaptive thinking Collaboration Inquiry&reflection Shared responsibility Focus on data Focus on Research/ theory IV. Effectively cultivates a Professional learning community, based on Adaptive thinking Collaboration Inquiry&reflection Shared responsibility Focus on data Focus on Research/ theory 2.3 Candidates understand and can develop and supervise the instructional and leadership capacity of school staff 4d See above. V. Guides the school staff toward instructional improvement 3.4 Candidates understand and can develop school capacity for distributed leadership. VI. 4d See above. Guides the school staff toward distributed leadership 4j See above. 4h Demonstrates strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, facilitates groups effectively, and fosters clear lines of communication between and among constituencies. 6.3 Candidates understand and can anticipate and assess emerging trends and initiatives in order to adapt school-based leadership strategies. 4g See above. Scholar Standards I. Communicates clearly in writing II. Integrates scholarly literature and practice VII. Adapts strategic thinking in response to literature, trends, initiatives, and local context VIII. Effectively enacts adaptive strategies in response to trends and initiatives III. Demonstrates inquisitive and reflective stance toward literature and practice IV. Demonstrates complexity of thought V. Adheres to rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation and APA style * from National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2012, August) Educational Leadership Program Standards, 2011, Educational Leadership Constituents Council, Building Level. ** from Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2012, August) Guidelines for the Preparation of Administrative Leaders.

4 Required Texts Readings have been selected that introduce students to the PLC construct, various approaches to cultivating PLCs within schools, and scholarly foundations for the PLC construct. Readings have been compiled in a coursepack plus a single, separate PDF. The PDF will be made available by the instructor during the course. Coursepack Dufour, R. & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing student achievement. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service. ASIN: B001TK8U5C Chapter 2, A new model, the professional learning community Schmoker, M. (2006). Results Now. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ISBN: Chapter 8: Professional learning communities: The surest, fastest path to instructional improvement. McDonald, J., Mohr, N., Dichter, A., McDonald, E. (2007). The Power of Protocols: An Educator s Guide to Better Practice. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. ISBN: Chapter 1: The basic ideas, Chapter 2: Facilitating. Boudet, K., City, E. & Murnane, R. (2006). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. ISBN: Introduction. Boudet, K., City, E. & Murnane, R. (2006). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. ISBN: Chapter 1: Organizing for collaborative work Boudet, K., City, E. & Murnane, R. (2006). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. ISBN: Chapter 4: Digging into data City, E., Elmore, R. Riarman, S. & Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. ISBN: Introduction. City, E., Elmore, R. Riarman, S. & Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. ISBN: Chapter 5: Doing rounds part I: Problem of practice and observing, Chapter 6: Doing rounds part II: Debriefing and the next level of work Dana, N. and Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2008). The Reflective Educator s Guide to Professional Development: Coaching Inquiry-oriented Learning Communities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. ISBN: Chapter 1: Facilitating the professional development of others.

5 O Neill, J., Conzemius, A., Commodore, C. & Pulsfus, C. (2006). The Power of SMART Goals: Using Goals to Improve Student Learning. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. ISBN: Chapter 1: Introduction: The SMART goals process Stepanek, J, Appel, G, Leong, M., Mangan, M. & Mitchell, M. (2007). Leading Lesson Study: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Facilitators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. ISBN: Chapter 1: Introduction: Making the case for lesson study Dewey, J. (2010). How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Process. FQ Books. ASIN: B004Q0A876 Chapter 1: What is thinking? Schon, D. (1995). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professional Think in Action. Ashgate Publishing ISBN: Chapter 2: From technical rationality to reflection in action. Isaacs, W. (1999). Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together. New York: Crown Business. ISBN: Chapter 1: A conversation with a center, not sides. Argyris, C. (1993). Knowledge for Action: A Guide to Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: Chapter 2: Defensive routines that limit learning. Separate PDF Document Hord, S. (1997). Professional learning communities: Communities of continuous inquiry and improvement. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Required Software In order to capture and work with video recordings that each student will make of his or her leadership practice, students will be required to obtain an account with Videowurks, available at Click on the VideoWurks link at the top of the page. The current cost of this account (good for 12 months) is $ Also, the student must have a web cam, audio capability, and sufficient internet connectivity to support the video and audio components of this course.

6 Course Outline and Calendar Spring 2014 semester: January 21-May 3 Learning Module Topic Reading Assessment Due and Chat time/date Part I: What is a professional learning community (PLC)? 1. 1/22-1/ /27-2/2 Introduction to the professional learning community (PLC) Dufour et al, Schmoker, Protocols and PLCs McDonald et al, Watch protocol video Part II: How do I cultivate a professional learning community? 3. 2/3-2/9 Approaches to PLC work: Datawise Boudet et al, /10-2/ /17-2/ /24-3/2 7. 3/3-3/9 8. 3/10-3/16 Approaches to PLC work: Instructional Rounds Approaches to PLC work: Inquiry Approaches to PLC work: SMART goals Approaches to PLC work: lesson study Developing the Project Plan City et al, & Dana et al, **CHAT: Tues. Wed. 1/29 7:30-8:30 PM Eastern Time. Practice Video; CHAT: Tues. 2/4 and Wed. 2/5 7:30-8:30 PM Eastern Time. (Choose one.) CHAT: Tues. 2/11 and Wed. 2/12 7:30-8:30 PM Eastern Time. (Choose one.) CHAT: Wed. 2/19 7:30-8:30PM Eastern Time. O Neill et al, Project Proposal; CHAT: Tues. 2/25 and Wed. 2/26, 7:30-8:30 PM Eastern Time. (Choose one.) TIME Stepanek et al, Video 1 due; CHAT: Tues. 3/4 and Wed. 3/5 7:30-8:30PM Eastern Time. (Choose one.) No reading Project Plan; CHAT: Tues. 3/11 and Wed. 3/12, 7:30-8:30 PM Eastern Time. (Choose one.) SPRING BREAK March NO CLASS

7 Part III: What is the body of theory and scholarship behind the professional learning community? 9. 3/24-3/30 Hord, PDF avail. through course video 2; CHAT: Tues. 3/25 and Wed. 3/26, 7:30-8:30 PM Eastern Time /31-4/ /7-4/ /14-4/20 Dewey, Schoen, Isaacs, Argyris, 1-10 No reading Part IV: How do I deepen and extend my PLC leadership? 13. TBA 4/21-4/ /28-5/4 TBA (Choose one.) Project journal CHAT: Tues. 4/1 and Wed. 4/2 7:30-8:30PM Eastern Time (Choose one.) Project journal CHAT: Tues. 4/8 and Wed. 4/9, 7:30-8:30PM Eastern Time. (Choose one.) Essay; video 3; CHAT: Tues. 4/15, 7:30-830PM Eastern Time. Project journal; CHAT: Wed. 4/24, 7:30-8:30PM, Eastern Time Optional Video 4 Final Reflection; *This outline is designed to meet the NEASC definition for credit hours. As a three credit course, there is an online equivalent of 45 hours of instructional time and an expectation for at least 90 hours of student work beyond the instructional time. (New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, Policy on Credits and Degrees, Effective July 1, 2011). **Two sessions are offered for each chat in order to accommodate differing student schedules. Students will be asked to sign up for a preferred time in advance. Usually, a chat session requires 3 sign ups in order to be held. During the early weeks of the course, we will hold chats each week. Later, chats may be cancelled if we do not need them.

8 Projects and Assessment Listed below is each of the major assessments for this course along with its contribution to the course grade expressed as a percentage. Course Project 70% Project Plan (20%) Project Journal (20%) Project Videos and Analysis (30%) Essay 20% 10% Following is a detailed description of each of the major assessments for the course. Project Plan A major component of this course is a project that you will design and carry out. For the project, you will, either, a) form a group of at least four colleagues (including yourself) to work on a particular goal that draws on PLC principles and practices b) apply PLC principles and practices for the purpose of a particular goal within a group of at least four colleagues (including yourself) that you are already leading. The first step in your project is the creation of a project plan. Following are instructions for the development of your project plan which should be between 1250 and 1750 words in length (about 5-7 pages in Times New Roman, size 12, double spaced, conventional margins): Please compose your project plan, based on the following prompts, printing the appropriate prompt as the headings for each section 1. Describe your school context, your role, and the roles and relationships of the people you will collaborate with. 2. Describe the problem that prompts your project. 3. State a question focused on improvement of instructional practice and/or student learning that will drive your work. ( How can we? ) 4. Explain how the problem and your driving question (above) relate to your school s mission/vision statement or other similar document, such as report from accreditation review, goals for a specific schoolwide initiative, etc.. 5. What will you do (steps/process/strategies) to achieve success with your project? Include an indication of the time span for the project and its components, with dates as appropriate. It is anticipated that your project may extend well beyond the end of this course, however, there must be substantial collaborative work designed into the project for the period during which you are enrolled in this course. 6. What established principles/practices, studied in this course, are you applying and how are you adapting them to your particular context? 7. Make a case that inquiry, collaboration, and reflection are fundamental to your design and evident throughout your project plan. 8. What is your theory of action (i.e., the logic chain driving your action: If I do A then B will happen. If I do C then D will happen)?

9 Rubric for Project Plan Criteria Assessment C Insubstantial evidence and/or insufficient quality B evidence of high quality for some of the elements of the criterion OR evidence of sufficient quality for nearly all elements of the criterion. A evidence of high quality for nearly all elements of the criterion Your project plan demonstrates understanding of the elements of a professional learning community, including, adaptive thinking, collaboration, Inquiry, reflection, shared responsibility, focus on data, focus on Research/ theory (studied in this course) Your project plan guides the school staff toward instructional improvement Your project plan demonstrates understanding of the elements of a shared vision for learning, including, engaging stakeholders, working collaboratively, focusing on success for all, focusing on results Your project plan adapts strategic thinking in response to literature (studied as part of this course), trends, initiatives, and local context Your project plan guides the school staff toward distributed leadership Your project plan is clearly written Your project plan integrates scholarly literature (studied as part of this course) and practice Your project plan demonstrates an inquisitive and reflective stance toward literature and practice Your project plan demonstrates complexity of thought Your project plan adheres to rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation and APA style Your project plan adheres to all deadlines

10 Video/ Analysis For the video/ analysis portion of this course, you will be expected to video record approximately 20 minutes each of three collaborative sessions facilitated by you. For the purpose of this video, a collaborative session is live interaction among four or more adults who are actively learning with and from each other. For each recording, you will also compose a written analysis. It is recommended that you record an entire session if it is longer than 20 minutes and then select a 20 minute continuous segment for submission. For the written analysis, you will review the recording and create 7 clips with comments (using your Videowurks account), as follows: The first clip will be a very short segment at the beginning with a comment describing when the session occurred, who is involved, what the purpose was, and how it relates to your project. The next four clips will show evidence of criteria listed in the rubric below. The comment you compose for each of the 4 clips should explain how the clip represents evidence for the criterion you have selected. The final 2 clips will show areas in which you would like to improve. The comment you compose for each of the two clips should explain what needs to be improved and what you could do differently to improve it. The three videos you create will consist of the following: Video/Analysis 1: Assigned protocol. For video/analysis 1, you will video record a session in which you are facilitating a group of at least four persons (including yourself) with the protocol assigned by the instructor. Video/analysis 2: Assigned protocol. For video/analysis 2, you will video record a session in which you are facilitating a group of at least four persons (including yourself) with the protocol assigned by the instructor. Video/analysis 3: free choice (to be submitted week 8, 9 or 10). For video/analysis 3 you will video record a session in which you are facilitating a group of at least four persons at work on some aspect of your course project. You will also make a practice video early in the course which will not be formally assessed. Note: When you submit your final reflection near the end of the course, you will indicate any 2 of the three submitted videos that you wish to count toward your final grade. Counting just 2 of the three videos will, I hope, help you to feel a little more relaxed about making the videos knowing that you don t need to feel pressured for perfection with every one of them. In addition, I will allow you to submit an optional fourth video during week 13 if you want another opportunity to make a video that meets your expectations.

11 Below is the rubric that will be used to assess your video/analysis Criteria Assessment C Insubstantial evidence and/or insufficient quality B evidence of high quality for some of the elements of the criterion OR evidence of sufficient quality for nearly all elements of the criterion. A evidence of high quality for nearly all elements of the criterion Your video and analysis show evidence that you are effectively cultivating collaboration, shared responsibility for student learning, and engagement of stakeholders. Your video and analysis show evidence that you are engaging in adaptive thinking, inquiry, and reflection. Your video and analysis show that you are effectively drawing on research, theory, literature, and trends in the profession. Your video and analysis show that you are making effective use of data. Your video and analysis show evidence of a focus on results, instructional improvement, and success for all students. You adhere to all deadlines for your video and analysis. Your video and analysis feature at least 20 minutes of continuous recording plus 7 clips with commentaries. Project Journal Throughout the development of your project you will keep a journal of project-related collaboration. You will be expected to submit several journal entries as indicated in the course outline and calendar (above). In your journal, you will describe a collaborative session, with at least one other adult involved in your project, of at least 20 minutes, that occurred during the period specified. It should document a session not documented by a video or another journal entry. Below are the guidelines and rubric for the project journal: Project Journal for week of

12 1. Briefly introduce the collaborative session. Who was involved, how long did it last, what was the purpose, when did it occur? words) 2. Provide a narrative description of the major elements of the session, i.e. first this happened, then this happened, etc. (@250 words) 3. Make a case for three of the standards below (1-6) for which you believe this session offers substantial and high quality evidence. (@250 words) Criteria Assessment C Insubstantial evidence and/or insufficient quality B evidence of high quality for some of the elements of the criterion OR evidence of sufficient quality for nearly all elements of the criterion. A evidence of high quality for nearly all elements of the criterion Your journal shows evidence that you are effectively cultivating collaboration, shared responsibility for student learning, and engagement of stakeholders. Your journal shows evidence that you are engaging in adaptive thinking, inquiry, and reflection. Your journal shows evidence that you are effectively drawing on research, theory, literature, and trends in the profession. Your journal shows evidence that you are making effective use of data. Your journal shows evidence of a focus on results, instructional improvement, and success for all students. You adhere to all deadlines for your journal. Your journal is based on a collaborative session of at least 20 minutes with at least one other adult, which occurred during the time period for which it was submitted and is not documented in another journal entry or video submission. Important Note for Project Plan, Project Journal and Videos: Evidence for all of the practitioner standards must be present among the project plan, journal and video submissions collectively. Each standard must earn a grade of B at least once. The highest course grade a student may earn who fails to do this is a C+. As you are developing your plan, journals and video, keep track of the standards for

13 which you are developing evidence to ensure that you are addressing all of them. This expectation ensures that a student who passes the course overall has demonstrated proficiency with all relevant licensure standards. Essay Imagine that a major article has just appeared in Education Week reporting that after ten years of dominance in the education world, the idea of the PLC is being widely dismissed as a fad and that the trend in many public schools is moving away from PLC work. Write a response, of approximately 1000 words, to this trend showing how really good, thoughtful PLC work is rooted in traditional scholarship, respected research, and well-grounded theory. In your response, refer to the work of any three of the five authors we have read in Part III of the course (Argyris, Dewey, Isaacs, Schon, and Hord), citing specific passages. Write your response in the style of an Education Week Commentary (except that you need to include citations). You may view numerous Education Week commentaries online. Google Education Week and follow directions for free registration). Criteria C B A I. Your writing is clear and effective: (a) Your essay is appropriate for an audience of thoughtful practitioners I. Your writing is clear and effective: (b) Your essay is coherent, engaging, and persuasive II. Your essay integrates scholarly literature and practice III. Your essay demonstrates an inquisitive and reflective stance toward literature and practice IV. Your essay demonstrates complexity of thought V. You essay adheres to rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation, APA style, and length (@1000 words) VI. You adhere to all deadlines Your participation in class will be assessed weekly, based on your buddy feedback, assignment postings, chat participation, timeliness, and any other elements of participation expected for the week. The assessment will be holistic, spanning all of your contributions during the week. Unlike major projects, there will not be regular feedback on your participation assessment. For the first week of the course, your participation will be assessed, but the assessment will not count. This is done to give you a sense of the participation expectations with no risk. Also, at the end of the course, your lowest weekly participation assessment will be dropped from the gradebook. Also, chat sessions are assessed as part of participation for a given week. In the event that you are unable to attend a chat session, you are expected to send an to the entire class and the instructor the following day responding to the content of the chat session, which you may view online, with at least two thoughtful paragraphs. Please post your response as an to the whole class using the course system. To access the chat session after it is over, click on Chat and then on Recordings

14 Holistic Rubric for Weekly Participation Criteria C C+ B B+ A Quantity The length or frequency of your participation is very inadequate. The length or frequency of your participation is adequate. The length or frequency of your participation is exemplary. Quality The quality of your participation is very inadequate. The quality of your participation is adequate. The quality of your participation is exemplary. Timeliness Your assignments are sometimes or frequently late. Your assignments are mostly on time. Your assignments are consistently on time. Course Policies Assessment of projects will fall into one of the following categories A= Excellent work demonstrating independent and high quality performance (4.0) B= Work of graduate standard, but omissions exist or careful analysis is not in evidence. (3.0) C= work of very poor quality, indicating little understanding of the depth of analysis required. (2.0) + = work just above a letter grade (2.3, 3.3). Note: 4.0 is the highest numeric grade. - = work just below a letter grade (1.7, 2.7, 3.7) Academic Honesty: This course adheres to the University s Academic Integrity Policy as explained in the following link: