Determine How to Assess Using Assessment Design
Determine How to Communicate Results and Respond to Student Learning
Reflect and Take Action
6 Planning Meaningful and Effective Instruction
Determine Vision Versus Reality
Start Now
Design Classroom Culture
Plan Units
Use First-Best Instructional Practices
Respond to Student Learning
Reflect and Take Action
Determine Vision Versus Reality
Start Now
Hold Collaborative Teacher Teams Accountable
Model Leadership Accountability
Hold Students Accountable
Reflect and Take Action
Epilogue: School Improvement for All—Start Now!
Embrace PLCs and Continuous-Improvement Cycles
Plan to Start Now
Know That Everything Matters
About the Authors
Sharon V. Kramer, PhD, knows firsthand the demands and rewards of working in a professional learning community (PLC). As a leader in the field, she emphasizes the importance of creating and using quality assessments as a continual part of the learning process. Sharon served as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction of Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96 in Illinois. In this position, she ensured all students were prepared to enter Adlai E. Stevenson High School, a model PLC started and formerly led by Richard DuFour. A seasoned educator, Sharon has taught in elementary and middle school classrooms and served as principal, director of elementary education, and university professor.
In addition to her PLC experience, Sharon has completed assessment training by Rick Stiggins, Steve Chappuis, Larry Ainsworth, and the Center for Performance Assessment (now the Leadership and Learning Center). She has presented a variety of assessment workshops at institutes and summits and for state departments of education. Sharon has also worked with school districts across the United States to determine their power standards and develop assessments. She has been a Comprehensive School Reform consultant to schools that have received grant funding to implement PLC as their whole-school reform model, and her customized PLC coaching academies have empowered school and district leadership teams across the United States.
Sharon has presented at state and national conferences sponsored by Learning Forward, National Association for Gifted Children, American Federation of Teachers, and California State University. She has been instrumental in facilitating professional development initiatives focused on standards-based learning and teaching, improved understanding and utilization of assessment data, interventions and differentiation that meet the needs of all learners, and strengthened efforts to ensure K–12 literacy.
Sharon earned a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from Loyola University Chicago.
To learn more about Sharon’s work, follow @DrKramer1 on Twitter.
Sarah Schuhl, MS, is a consultant specializing in PLC, common formative and summative assessments, school improvement, and mathematics. She has been a secondary mathematics teacher, high school instructional coach, and K–12 mathematics specialist for more than twenty years.
Sarah was instrumental in the creation of a PLC in the Centennial School District in Oregon, helping teachers make large gains in student achievement. She earned the Centennial School District Triple C Award in 2012.
In addition to her work in Oregon, Sarah has worked with other districts throughout the United States to implement PLCs and create common assessments. Her practical approach includes working with teachers and administrators to implement assessments for learning, analyze data, collectively respond to student learning, and map standards. She is a consultant and coach in many schools, including those targeted for school improvement.
Sarah also works with districts as a consultant and coach to implement the Common Core State Standards for mathematics or independent state mathematics standards for K–12. Her work includes short- and long-term professional development focused on implementing content standards, Standards for Mathematical Practice or state process standards, and assessment, including formative assessment and an understanding of current state assessment practices. Her book, Engage in the Mathematical Practices: Strategies to Build Numeracy and Literacy With K–5 Learners, focuses on strategies to use when designing lessons that develop the habits of mind in students necessary for them to effectively learn mathematics.
Previously, Sarah served as a member and chair of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) editorial panel for the journal Mathematics Teacher. Her work with the Oregon Department of Education includes designing mathematics assessment items, test specifications and blueprints, and rubrics for achievement-level descriptors. She has also contributed as a writer to a middle school mathematics series and an elementary mathematics intervention program.
Sarah earned a bachelor of science in mathematics from Eastern Oregon University and a master of science in mathematics education from Portland State University.
To book Sharon V. Kramer or Sarah Schuhl for professional development, contact [email protected].
Introduction
To aptly describe the state of education, one might paraphrase a familiar quote from the works of Charles Dickens (1859): it is the best of times and the worst of times (Eaker & Keating, 2011; Marzano, 2003). At this moment, the United States is experiencing the highest graduation rate in its history, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2016b). The high school graduation rate reached 82 percent in 2013–2014, the highest level since states adopted a uniform way of calculating graduation rates in 2010 (NCES, 2016b). More students than ever before are
