Sustaining PLC at Work® Model Agenda

Jason A. Andrews

Navigating the PLC Journey: Your GPS to Fulfilling the Promise of Learning for All

This closing keynote serves as the ultimate navigation tool. Imagine your PLC journey as a transformative GPS where you plot the course for paths to take and checkpoints along the way. What mile markers let us know we are on the right route? Jason A. Andrews goes beyond summarizing and connecting key aspects; he intricately maps out the intersections of essential PLC actions, revealing how they form a GPS-like framework for continuous improvement. Prepare to be motivated, invigorated, and equipped with turn-by-turn guidance needed to drive positive change in your schools. Participants are challenged to embrace Dr. Robert Eaker’s advice to “get started, then get better—forever!” as a rallying cry for transforming challenges into opportunities. This keynote is more than a conclusion; it’s the beginning of a journey with a clear destination where your PLC GPS guides you in fulfilling the promise of learning for all. Let the intersections guide your path as you embark on this educational adventure with renewed energy and enthusiasm.

Tim Brown

How to Make Our Promise a Reality

A complete examination of the PLC at Work process shows there are six interconnected characteristics that influence the cultural and structural changes that occur within a school. This keynote is designed to wrap up the institute by examining those characteristics that need to be embedded into the culture of our school in order to fulfill the promises we make to our students and community. The keynote is structured to inform, engage, and deepen our understanding as to how these characteristics help develop collective teacher efficacy and reinforce our belief in our ability to organize and execute the course of action to move us closer to accomplishing our mission, vision, values, and goals.

Luis F. Cruz

Transformational Leadership: Effectively Addressing Resistance to PLC Process Implementation

As a result of the pandemic, inequities revealed nationwide beg the question, Are we really all in this together? Since schools do not exist in a vacuum and have inherited social inequities, educators must embrace bold leadership approaches to ensure high levels of learning for all.

As we reimagine school leadership in a new and challenging context, we must accept that our PLC journey is ultimately fueled by changing adult behaviors. But what happens when well-intentioned adults in our schools refuse to commit to the necessary behaviors? Luis F. Cruz, a former elementary, middle, and high school principal, reveals insights from his best-selling book, Time for Change: Four Essential Skills for Transformational School and District Leaders (Solution Tree, 2019), to guide participants in the work of creating robust PLCs. In addition, Dr. Cruz reminds us of the moral imperative we all share that must act as the driving force for PLC implementation back home.

Brandon Jones

The North Star: Making Our Compelling Future a Reality

Poverty. Illness. Learning differences. Behavior problems. Lack of motivation. Social and emotional needs. Language barriers. Insufficient funding. Prerequisite skill gaps. Limited time and resources. Increased state and national expectations. Does this list sound familiar? If the answer is yes, then you likely recognize challenges that stand in the way of your school becoming all it could be. You could probably even add to that list!

The fact is, all schools struggle with issues that impede learning. Yet, some schools defy the odds year after year. These schools consistently make progress toward the type of school they want to become despite daunting obstacles. The secret to their success lies not in the newest shiny program or a charismatic leader. Instead, the answer is much more realistic, attainable, and sustainable than you might think.

In this session, Brandon Jones outlines how to create your own North Star, a steadfast navigation point your team uses to make decisions and commitments that improve culture, learning, and growth for students and educators alike.

Mike Mattos

Behavior Solutions: Leveraging the PLC at Work Process to Teach Essential Behaviors

The fundamental purpose of a professional learning community is to ensure high levels of learning for all students. To achieve this mission, we know that some students will need support mastering the behaviors needed to succeed in school and beyond. Every school knows this universal truth, but many schools lack the systematic processes to achieve this outcome. In this breakout, Mike Mattos demonstrates how a school can leverage the PLC at Work process to identify, teach, assess, and intervene when students lack essential academic and social behaviors.

Mike Mattos

Taking Action: How to Create a Highly Effective, Multitiered System of Supports

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, educators face an unprecedented challenge: how to close the learning gaps created by months of school closures and uneven access to learning opportunities. In this breakout, Mike Mattos discusses specific steps that schools can take to create a highly effective, multitiered system of supports to target learning gaps and show how the PLC at Work process creates the larger, schoolwide framework required to successfully intervene.

Anthony Muhammad

From PLC Lite to PLC Right!

The PLC at Work process has been accessible to educators for over 25 years. Schools and school districts have been enamored with the concepts, and many have attempted to implement the process at scale. Unfortunately, not nearly enough schools have fully implemented the process. Most settle for a modified, scaled-down version called PLC Lite. In this session, Anthony Muhammad explores the key leverage points that will guide any school into PLC excellence!

Maria Nielsen

The 15-Day Challenge: Win Quick, Win Often!

This interactive session establishes, reboots, or re-energizes the work of collaborative teams. Schools nationwide are using this simple learning-assessing process to connect the dots of a PLC. Maria Nielsen helps teams see the big picture of a PLC and put it all together in a recurring cycle of collective inquiry. The 15-day challenge is a practical way to bring the PLC process to life.

Jeanne Spiller

Protocols for Results: Using Data Discussions to Lead to Higher Levels of Learning for All

Is your system overwhelmed with data? Using protocols to transform data into information is an efficient and effective way to achieve improved results. Participants examine tools that empower teams to use data to drive instruction, impact student learning, and identify specific processes to meet district needs.

Eric Twadell

Grading and Reporting for Learning: The Five Stages of Evidence-Based Grading

Standards-based grading has often been cited as the “third rail of school reform.” And yet, this is an important destination on the journey to becoming a PLC that embraces assessment and grading practices and supports student learning. This session provides participants with a roadmap for differentiating professional development for teachers and teams interested in implementing standards-based grading.