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District leaders describe guiding coalitions, PLC focus and an emphasis on Tier 1 instruction
Summary
The district outlined its guiding-coalition structure, five shared commitments and five 'essential actions' aimed at strengthening professional learning communities (PLCs), interim assessment use and a pilot of standards-based grading.
Jim Gray and Jessica McCurdy briefed the board on the district’s guiding-coalition structure and the professional learning community (PLC) work that the district says will align practices across schools.
Gray described PLC fundamentals and the district’s framing: “First, I’d love to call out the staff goal number 3 if, it says utilize the professional learning community model as a vehicle for focusing on learning as our fundamental purpose through a cultural collaboration that results in measurable increases in student learning. If you look deeply within that, you'll 3 see the 3 big ideas of a PLC, which are a focus on learning, collaborative culture, and a results orientation.”
District staff emphasized five shared commitments for PLCs, including collective responsibility for student learning and guaranteeing a viable curriculum. Gray listed five essential actions the district will prioritize this year for Tier 1 instruction: ensure access to essential grade-level curriculum; identify and teach essential academic and social behaviors; create a balanced assessment approach; co-create schoolwide grading practices; and provide preventative supports to promote student success.
Jessica McCurdy, the teacher co-lead of the district guiding coalition, said the work is building teacher leadership, improving two-way communication between teacher teams and district leaders, and enabling building leaders to highlight exemplar teams and practices. She described assessment changes and a standards-based grading pilot at secondary schools, and said interim assessment blocks (IABs) are producing usable, standard-aligned data that some teachers are breaking into common formative assessments.
Gray said the district plans to provide high-school action plans tied to the Tier 1 actions so the board can monitor what high schools are working on. He also said the PLC process is referenced in the district’s equity policy as a mechanism to reduce historic “islands of excellence” and create consistent practices districtwide.
Board members thanked staff; the presentation was informational and no board vote occurred.
