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The Work of Our Professional Learning Community

Board Work Session 9/22/25

MPCSD - Empowering Students to Achieve Without Limits

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Print :

slides with notes

and handouts of:

2024 ISPP and SOP; SIG; pop scope and sequence

PRint a demographic from 2024 as well

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Mount Pleasant CSD is a

Professional Learning Community

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The Three Big Ideas of Professional Learning Community

A Focus on Learning

A Collaborative Culture

A Results Orientation

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Focus On Learning

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Students learn more when the adults learn more!

PLP and Adult Learning Scales

Four Oaks Book Studies

Ongoing Teacher Quality learning opportunities (TQ Session Day, various learning all year)

In-district PD provided throughout the year (LETRS, GRR, Mentoring, Coaches, Building PD, etc.)

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It’s not ‘we taught it’ but, ‘did they learn it?’

Intended Curriculum - What we plan

Implemented Curriculum - What is actually taught

Attained Curriculum - What students actually learn

The degree in variance between these three can have a significant impact on student achievement.

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Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC)

A guaranteed and viable curriculum only happens when teachers work collaboratively to:

Study the intended curriculum and agree on priorities within it

Clarify how the curriculum translates into specific student knowledge and skills

Establish pacing guidelines (map) for delivering the curriculum

Commit to one another that they will actually teach the curriculum

Elementary Sample

Secondary Sample

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Skills for Learning - Portrait of a Panther

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Portrait of a Panther - The Skills

Resilience

Our students are learning to:

SKILL 1: Exhibit resilience and grit in achieving goals by overcoming difficulty and opposition

SKILL 2: Demonstrate a growth mindset by persisting in reasonable risk-taking

SKILL 3: Embrace the idea that mistakes, failure, and reflection are essential parts of the learning process

Integrity

Our students are learning to:

SKILL 1: Engage in ethically correct behavior, regardless of external pressures

SKILL 2: Be dependable by following through on commitments

SKILL 3: Be open and honest when communicating with others

Compassion

Our students are learning to:

SKILL 1: Practice awareness, sensitivity, concern, and respect for others

SKILL 2: Understand the feelings, opinions, and experiences of others

SKILL 3: Interact with kindness, caring, and authenticity, individually or as a team

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Portrait of a Panther - The Skills

Responsibility

Our students are learning to:

SKILL 1: Take ownership and accountability for personal choices and actions

SKILL 2: Consider how their choices affect self, others, and the greater community

SKILL 3: Develop a positive work ethic and independence

Communication

Our students are learning to:

SKILL 1: Listen effectively to determine meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes, and intentions

SKILL 2: Express thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and non-verbal communication skills in a variety of ways

SKILL 3: Work collaboratively with others toward a common goal

Problem Solving

Our students are learning to:

SKILL 1: Create innovative solutions to complex problems through inquiry and investigation

SKILL 2: Reframe the problem through multiple perspectives, and embrace trial & error

SKILL 3: Apply prior experiences to create possible solutions either individually or as a team

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Map of the Competencies and Skills (to ensure viability)

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Map of the Competencies and Skills

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Map of the Competencies and Skills

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LINK

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LINK

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Timeline of Portrait of a Panther

25-26 School Year

One competency per month is focused on at the

building level:

September - Resilience
October - Integrity
November - Compassion
January - Responsibility
February - Communication
March - Problem Solving

School Assembly each month - Guest speakers to share real life experiences related to the competencies

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2. Collaborative Culture

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“Educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collaborative inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve”

Dufour, R., Dufour, R, (2016)

Collaborative teams are primarily teachers whose classes share essential student learning outcomes

These teachers work collaboratively to ensure that their students master priority standards

Collaborative Teams

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Teams go through stages of development. The most commonly used framework for a team's stages of development was developed in the mid-1960s by Bruce W. Tuckman, now a psychology professor at Ohio State University. Although many authors have written variations and enhancements to Tuckman's work, his descriptions of Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing provide a useful framework for looking at your own team.

Each stage of team development has its own recognizable feelings and behaviors; understanding why things are happening in certain ways on your team can be an important part of the self-evaluation process.

The four stages are a helpful framework for recognizing a team's behavioral patterns; they are most useful as a basis for team conversation, rather than boxing the team into a "diagnosis." And just as human development is not always linear (think of the five-year old child who reverts to thumb-sucking when a new sibling is born), team development is not always a linear process. Having a way to identify and understand causes for changes in the team behaviors can help the team maximize its process and its productivity.

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Collaborative Team Tools

Team Agenda

Team Norms

Trained Team Facilitator

Rotating Roles

Focus on the Four Questions

Expectations

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Collaborative Inquiry - An opportunity for teams to go from data to action

Our Goal: To go from proficiency scales to

common formative assessments to data and collaborative inquiry to

shared team action.

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Our District’s Collective Commitments

Educators work in collaborative teams, taking collective responsibility for student learning.

Collaborative teams implement a guaranteed and viable curriculum.

Collaborative teams monitoring student learning through an ongoing assessment process that includes frequent, team developed common formative assessments.

Educators use the results of the common formative assessments to improve individual practices, build team’s capacity to achieve its goals, and intervene and extend on behalf of students.

The school provides a systematic process for intervention and extension.

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Strategy

Implementation

Guide

District Professional Practice Goal:

By the end of the 25-26 school year, 95% of collaborative teams will rate themselves as

‘tight’ for Collective Commitment #1 Collaboration : Educators working collaboratively,

rather than in isolation, and taking collective responsibility for student learning.

Current baseline 65% in Spring 2025.

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Four Questions Live on

the MTSS Model

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Do we all have the same understanding of what should be happening in Tier 1 when it comes to Instruction, Curriculum, and Environment?

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The Three Big Ideas of Professional Learning Community

A Focus on Learning

A Collaborative Culture

A Results Orientation

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3. Results Orientation

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Iowa School Performance Profile: Our Demographics

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Iowa School Performance Profile:

Attendance/ELPA?Graduation Rate

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Iowa School Performance Profile:

Academic Growth and Proficiency

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Iowa School Performance Profile:

Post-secondary Readiness

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Iowa School Performance Profile:

Post-secondary Readiness

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Van Allen Elementary ISPP Results

Between 2024 and 2025

Van Allen +33.92 (57.11% to 61.95%)

Van Allen score puts them at “Commendable” if not for subgroup status dropping them down one to Acceptable.

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Salem Elementary ISPP Results

Between 2024 and 2025

Salem -23.92 (87.19 to 83.78%)

Salem score puts them once again

at Exceptional.

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Middle School ISPP Results

Between 2024 and 2025

Middle School +69.46 (55.61% to 65.53%)

Middle School score puts them at “Commendable” if not for subgroup status dropping them down one to Acceptable.

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High School ISPP Results

Between 2024 and 2025

High School +75.77 (56.45%to 64.87%)

High School score puts them at “Commendable” if not for subgroup status dropping them down one to Acceptable.

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Summation of ISPP Results (% of possible points)

	High School	Middle School	Van Allen	Salem
2022	56%	48%	53%	64%
2023	53%	52%	52%	70%
2024	56%	56%	57%	87%
2025	65%	66%	62%	84%

Points of celebration:

Attendance: 2023 (27%); 2024 (27.49%); 2025 (11.2%)
Science Proficiency: 2024 (58.25) to 2025 (67.84)
Post-Secondary Readiness (College & Career/Workplace)

Areas of continued improvement:

Graduation Rate
Academic Growth and Proficiency

- Subgroups - ELL and Special education students

Chronically Absent students are absent for more than 10% of the school days for any reason.

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Our District Goals for 2025-26

Goal 1	Graduation Rate: By the end of the 25/26 school year, we will raise our 4 year graduation rate to 95%. Current baseline 80.3% on ISPP.
Goal 2	Attendance: By the end of the 2025-26 school year, 90% or more of our students will be in attendance 90% or more of the school year/grading period. (Chronic absenteeism percentage will be 10% or below). Current baseline 11.2% of students are currently chronically absent district wide.

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Goal 3	Academics: By the end of the 25-26 school year, 80% of all MP students will be proficient in Math and English Language Arts. Current baseline 69% in ELA and Math.
Goal 4	Skills for Learning/SEBH: By the end of the 25-26 school year, the percentage of students identified as “at risk” in the SAEBRS will decrease by 10% compared to the baseline data collected in the Fall of 2025. Current baseline to be determined.
Goal 5	Professional Practice: By the end of the 25-26 school year, 95% of collaborative teams will rate themselves as ‘tight’ for Collective Commitment #1 Collaboration : Educators working collaboratively, rather than in isolation, and taking collective responsibility for student learning. Current baseline 65% in Spring 2025.

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What questions do you have?