March 5, Dear Staff,

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1 March 5, 2009 Dear Staff, Over the years a high percentage of our staff members have received IIP (Improving Instructional Practices) training. Improving Instructional Practices was a collaborative training for teachers and principals to learn to work together in a structured systemic way to look at evidence of their students' learning and the instructional practices and learning processes that impact that evidence. The ultimate goal of IIP was to establish embedded professional learning communities in every school, across grade levels and content areas, where teachers collaborate together around evidence of their students' learning. Much has been done this school year to continue the journey towards reaching the goal of establishing professional learning communities in every school. A Professional Learning Community Guiding Coalition has been established and a team from every school has been trained in the PLC model by Rick and Rebecca DuFour. Rick and Rebecca are highly regarded pioneers in the area of developing authentic professional learning communities. The Guiding Coalition is a team of teachers, principals, and district office personnel. The members of the coalition received training in the Professional Learning Community model at the PLC State Summit last November and several of the members also received training from Rick and Rebecca DuFour in January. The Guiding Coalition met for a full day at the end of January to make some recommendations to help us achieve our goal of establishing embedded professional learning communities in every school. The recommendations of the committee are as follows: The district office will provide ongoing support to buildings in their development of authentic professional learning communities throughout the district. Collaboration time will be embedded in the routine practices of each school within the school day. This time will be in addition to already established planning time. All schools will focus on the following questions as a building and within collaborative teams to ensure high levels of learning for all students and adults alike: What do we want each student to learn (in a particular content area)? Power standards will eventually be developed for each area. There will be a procedure established to develop common power standards district wide to ensure a guaranteed and viable curriculum in the North Kitsap School District.

2 How will we know when each student has learned the agreed upon standard? (Teacher developed common assessments and other relevant data will be used to make this determination.) How will we respond when a student experiences a difficulty in learning? Each building will develop a pyramid of interventions for struggling students. How will we respond when a student demonstrates understanding? How will we deepen their learning? The district office will support the buildings by: - making student learning the priority and aligning all resources, policies, practices, and procedures to promote student learning. - making a commitment to study the school calendar to promote increased collaboration time built into the school day. - measure all major decisions against the probable impact on learning. - limiting initiatives. Based on these recommendations there will be an expectation for every building to create time within the school day for increasing the amount of collaboration for teachers within a professional learning community framework during the school year. An expectation will be also for teacher teams to be engaged in dialogue around the four questions referenced above by the Guiding Coalition. There will be training for all staff members next year in the area of developing professional learning communities. The district is committed to supporting staff members as we continue this journey that started with IIP. The evidence is overwhelming--when educators work together in collaborative teams, clarify their priorities, analyze the results of common assessments and provide additional time, support, and enrichment they create conditions that will improve student learning. The following website contains more information about Professional Learning Communities: Attached you will see a signature page that shows support of the teachers and administrators who went through the Dufour Professional Learning Community training last January. Thank you for your dedication to the students and families of the North Kitsap School District.

3 Sincerely, Rick Jones, Superintendent North Kitsap School District North Kitsap School District Office Administrators North Kitsap School District Building Administrators Guiding Coalition Members: Allison Bruschetta (Teacher Suquamish), Andrea Neault (Teacher/Admin. Intern Suquamish), Ben Degnin (Principal Wolfe), Beth Lahaie (Teacher Gordon), Bill Every (Director of Technology), Chad Collins (Assistant Principal NKHS), Charlie McCabe (Principal, Vinland), Chris Frasier (Teacher/Math Coach PMS), Christy Cole (Principal KHS), Claudia Alves (Principal Gordon), Colleen Fairchild (Teacher Vinland), Debra Pavlich-Boaz (Teacher Breidablik), Dorothy Siskin (Director of Special Education) Gregg Epperson (Executive Director Student Support Services), Heather Carrell (Assistant Director - Learning Support Services), Jamie Patnode (Teacher KMS), Jason Murray (Teacher KHS), Jeanette Wolfe (Principal Poulsbo), Joe Davalos (Principal Suquamish), Joyce Brown (Teacher Poulsbo), Lynn Jorgenson (Principal Breidablik), Marsha Rova (Teacher Wolfle) Matt Vandeleur (Principal PMS), Patricia Moore (Principal Pearson), Peggy Dunbar (Teacher NKHS), Amy Roth (Teacher Pearson), Shawn Woodward (Executive Director of Teaching and Learning), Susan Wistrand (Principal, KMS), Wally Lis (Director of Curriculum and Assessment) Professional Learning Communities Cohort I Members (See attached signature page)

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