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District rolls out instructional leadership teams and PLCs across buildings; members question focus on college-prep classes
Summary
The committee heard that ILTs and PLCs will be implemented in every district building; ILTs will focus on schoolwide trends while PLCs concentrate on classroom- and student-level data. Board members raised equity concerns about starting PLC work in college-preparatory high-school classes.
The Wallingford-Swarthmore Educational Affairs Committee on Jan. 13 received a districtwide rollout plan for Instructional Leadership Teams (ILTs) and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).
Speaker 2 (addressed as Jennifer during the meeting) said ILTs, composed of principals, teacher leaders, counselors and specialists, will focus on school- and grade-level trends while PLCs will be grade- or course-specific teams that concentrate on classroom and individual-student data. "An instructional leadership team is really focusing on school, department, and grade level data, while a PLC will be looking at individual student outcomes," she said.
Districtwide implementation: after piloting work in selected grades and buildings last year, the district plans ILT and PLC teams in every building. Presenters described practical data protocols teachers can use to analyze MAP, PSSA and curriculum-based assessment results and turn those data into targeted small-group instruction and interventions.
Why the high-school emphasis: the rollout includes a phased approach at the high school level that initially targets college-preparatory courses. Committee members questioned that choice, saying it could send misleading signals about course-level labels. Speaker 2 responded that principals requested a starting point where student-ability variance is greatest and where teacher requests for support have been strongest. "Teachers were saying that the most challenging level is college prep because there are so many levels of students in class," a teacher who spoke in the meeting said.
Accountability and next steps: presenters said ILTs and PLCs will use one-page data protocols and internal web tools to make data-driven decisions; elementary ILTs will apply protocols to MAP results, middle school teams will focus on engagement and learning, and high-school ILI/ILI (instruction and intervention) teams will use student-support data to guide college-prep improvements.
Committee schedule: the chair closed the meeting by noting the next Educational Affairs Committee meeting is scheduled for Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. in room B226.
