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What’s on Your Refrigerator Door?Clarifying What Really Matters in Your School

Best Practices/Tom W. Many, Ed.D.

A school with a ocus on learning is committed tohelping all students learn to high levels. Tis principalengages teachers in a collaborative process o seekinganswers to the critical questions o learning. each-ers in these schools work to 1) clariy the knowledge,skills and dispositions all students must acquire; 2)monitor each student’s learning on a timely basis; 3)provide systematic, timely and directive interventionswhen students do not learn; and 4) develop strategiesto enrich and extend the learning or students who areprocient. Tey search or answers to the critical ques-tions o learning.

Principals working to oster a more collaborativeculture in their schools realize that the undamen-tal building block o a PLC is a team o teachers “inwhich members work together interdependently toachieve a common goal or which they are mutually accountable.” (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker and Many,Learning By Doing, p. 98.) In schools with collabora-tive cultures, teacher teams ocus on clariying the

essential outcomes by grade or course. Tey developcommon assessments and establish learning targets.Tey analyze assessment results and plan or inter- ventions. Tey dra SMAR (Specic, Measurable,Attainable, Realistic, imely) goals as a team and cre-ate schedules that support protected time or teachercollaboration during the regular school day.

Schools in which principals have created a resultsorientation constantly seek evidence that stu-dents are learning at high levels. Faculty membersencourage the eicient and eective use o data as

part o a continuous improvement process—a pro-cess solely devoted and designed to provide timely and accurate inormation about student learning toindividual teachers, teacher teams and the school.eachers in schools with a results orientationembrace the belie that their policies, practices andprocedures are aligned to promote the idea that allstudents can learn.

Clarifying What is ImportantSometimes principals assume the PLC model ismore deeply embedded than it really is. By gathering

Here’s a question: When was the last time youlooked—I mean really looked—at what’s on the dooro your kitchen rerigerator? My guess is that mostrerigerator doors probably look a lot alike, busy andcovered with papers, pictures and notes. Althoughyou might characterize it as clutter, in act, you cantell a lot about what is important to someone simply by seeing what is on his or her rerigerator door.

For a moment, extend the metaphor o the rerigera-tor door to your school. Obviously, we are not talk-ing about what’s on the door o the rerigerator in theteachers’ lounge, but about using the metaphor toexamine what is important in your school. For ex-ample, does a look at the rerigerator door reveal thatyour school values teaching or learning? Working inisolation or on collaborative teams? What really  matters in your school?

Defning What is ImportantBecoming a Proessional Learning Community (PLC)

is not something a aculty engages in or a year ortwo, only to abandon beore moving on to a new initiative. Principals recognize that becoming a PLCcannot be reduced to a recipe or a prescriptive set o activities. As Andy Hargraeves observed, “Becominga PLC [is a process that] creates an ethos that perme-ates a school.” Simply put, becoming a PLC is notsomething you do; it is something you are.

Schools working to become PLCsare clear about what is impor-tant. Principals in these schools

ocus on the essence o a PLCas captured in three big ideas:a ocus on learning, a collab-orative culture, and a resultsorientation. Rick and Becky DuFour have created a set o operational denitions oreach o these big ideas thatprincipals can use to reecton what is important intheir schools.

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work products and producing a portolio o artiacts,a principal can become more aware o the level o implementation o PLCs in his or her school. Hereagain, the DuFours have provided a valuable list o specic work samples or artiacts that reect a com-mitment to and an understanding o each o the bigideas. By collecting and reviewing these products,principals can conrm the current reality o theirschool’s development as a PLC.

Artiacts principals can collect as evidence o a ocuson learning include a list o the essential outcomes oreach grade level in reading, writing and math, team-developed pacing guides and common assessments.Principals may also ask teachers or a description o how each team is systematically providing time orintervention and enrichment.

Principals can identiy the current reality o thecollaborative relationships in their schools by col-lecting the meeting agenda, norms and SMAR

goals created by each team or gathering evidence o how teams are organized, when they are providedwith time to meet, and how the work o the teams ismonitored and supported.

Finally, principals can assess their school’s resultsorientation by collecting descriptions o how datagenerated by common assessments is presented toeach teacher, by reviewing analysis sheets indicatingteam conclusions and strategies or improvement,and by seeking evidence that teacher teams are usingprotocols that promote the ecient and efective

analysis o data.

As Dennis Sparks said, understanding what really isimportant in your school “is essential because indi- viduals and organizations move toward that whichthey are clearest about. It is very dicult or lead-ers to lead in the creation o that which they cannotdescribe in some detail.” (Dennis Sparks, Leading for Results, 2004, p. 148.) Having evidence—in the ormo products that support the presence o each o thesebig ideas—helps principals clariy how deeply each isembedded in their schools.

So what’s on the refrigerator door?

Focusing efort and energy on looking—really  looking—at what your school values is worth doing.By rst dening what is important (the three bigideas) and then clariying the level o implementa-tion by gathering products or artiacts related tothe big ideas, Rick and Becky DuFour have givenprincipals the tools to cut through conusing clutteron the “refrigerator door ” and clearly articulate whatreally matters in their school.

 3  b i g   i d ea s:•  F o c u s  o n 

 L ea r n i n g 

•  C o l la b o ra t i v e  C u l t •  R e s u l t s  O

 r i e n ta t  

B e c o m i n g  a  P L C  i s  n o t  s o m e t h i n g  

y o u 

 

d o ;;  i t  i s  s o m e t h i n g  y o u  a r e . . . 

b u i l d i n g b l o c k o f  a P LC=t e am o f  t e ac he r s  w o r ki n g t o ge t he r ++c o mmo n  go al + ac c o u n t ab i l i t y 

 A  s c h o o l  w i t h  a 

 f o c u s  o n  l e a r n i n g   i s 

 c o m m i t t e d  t o 

 h e l p i n g   a l l  s t u d e n t s 

 l e a r n  t o  h i g  h  l e v e l s.

During the course of a career spanning more than 30 years, Dr. Tom W. Many has served as a classroomteacher, principal and superintendent —all at theelementary level.