Competency Task 3: (Field Experience) Investigating Collaborative Professional Learning at the School Site
JENNIFER WATSON, FALL 2019 1
Competency Task 3: (Field Experience)
Investigating Collaborative Professional Learning at the School Site
DUE: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 11:59 pm
(CAPEs 2A; 2C; 5A; 5B)
Evidence/Direct Measures:
Written Narrative: Professional Learning at the School Site/District-CalAPA Leadership Cycle 2, Step 1 Plan
Candidate Tasks: Investigate
- Investigate the role of current professional collaboration at the school as it relates
to student learning
and/or well-being.
- Consult with teachers and school leaders to learn about collaborative professional learning activities, including communities of practice, that are currently underway.
- Consider how the practices of group professional collaboration and learning affect the school’s learning environment; the experiences of teachers and students; and ongoing school, district, and California-initiated school improvement efforts.
Task Instructions
- Research professional learning best practices and the role capacity building of staff plays in school success and student academic achievement, including development and use of professional small group learning groups. Identify those practices and perceptions that support and contribute to successful professional learning groups that positively impact the learning environment (use course resources). This can be used as an introduction to set up the tone and research for engaging in such a practice.
- Investigate the role of current professional collaboration at the school as it relates to student learning and/or well-being (may use data collected in CT #1).
- Complete a document dig to determine the past professional learning opportunities, including professional small group learning, intended outcomes, and teacher perceptions of the experiences. (Documents for review might include SPSA, Climate Assessment, Needs Assessments, and workshop feedback surveys, parent/student surveys.)
- Interview school leaders and teachers Consult with teachers and school leaders to
learn about collaborative professional learning activities, including communities
of practice, that are currently underway. Consider how the practices of group professional
collaboration and learning affect the school’s learning environment; the experiences
of teachers and students; and ongoing school-, district-, and California-initiated
school improvement efforts.
- Questions should include:
- What types of professional learning groups are currently in place at the school?
- What is the purpose of each of the professional learning groups?
- What activities (How) do teachers engage in when they meet in their professional learning groups?
- Describe the structure and various roles of individual members in the professional learning groups?
- Who determines activities and outcomes of professional learning group sessions? How are those decisions made? How is progress communicated to school leaders?
- What training do you believe you need in order to ensure your work in professional learning communities is effective? Why?
- What formal training, if any, have teachers had at the school within the past three years related to
- professional learning groups, group building and/or group processes?
- Questions should include:
- Analyze the role of professional learning (combine the information from steps 1-4 for your analysis) at the school where your investigation takes place (e.g., the history of collaborative professional learning in the school; practices of collaborative professional learning or communities of practice among teachers, staff, students, and families; the management of communities of practice at the school; expected outcomes for collaborative professional learning at the school). What evidence is used to draw your conclusion? Does professional learning facilitate or hinder collaborative learning at the school? Describe how collaborative professional learning reflects evidence-based adult learning processes.
- Gather feedback from at least one colleague in your cohort as well as one individual you interviewed. The feedback from your classmate should follow the peer editing format previously used, as well as, CalAPA Rubric 2.1 (see below). The “interviewee” feedback can be as simple as you reading your notes to an individual interviewed, you can have them review a portion of this assignment, or a simple discussion to run your analysis by them. This exercise is so that you have others triangulate your findings and confirm, refute, or provide an alternative thought process to your thinking.
- As a result of your investigation and given the contexts as well as available school data related to student learning and/or well-being, describe the most important issues you will need to consider in preparing to co-facilitate and support a community of practice to engage in collaborative professional learning at the site you investigated. These thoughts will then help focus your energy as you prepare for Leadership Cycle 2, Step 2- 4.
JENNIFER WATSON, FALL 2019 2
Step 1 Rubrics
Rubric 2.1 — Step 1: Investigate
Essential Question: How does the candidate describe and analyze the role of current practices of professional collaboration at the school as they relate to student learning and/or well-being?
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate does not describe or analyze the role of current professional collaboration practices at the school. | Candidate briefly describes current professional collaboration practices at the school with minimal analysis of their role. | Candidate describes and analyzes the role current professional collaboration practices at the school and how these practices relate to student learning and/or well-being. | All of Level 3, plus: Candidate explains the relationship between different forms of professional collaboration at the school and how these practices have impacted student learning and/or well-being, providing evidence from observations, documentation, surveys, student work, and/or staff consultations. | All of Levels 3 & 4, plus: Candidate critiques professional collaboration at the school, citing evidence-based adult learning processes and/or research that supports or refutes the practices and outlines implications for facilitating a community of practice at the school. |
CAPE Standard 2; Elements 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D
Source of Evidence:
- Written Narrative: Context, Area of Educational Focus, Community of Practice
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