In 2016, Tomball Intermediate teachers understood the need for time to collaborate and focus conversations on curriculum, data, and student needs. By the 2017-2018 school year, the campus mission shifted to focus on establishing a PLC culture. Content teams began focusing conversations around why the PLC exists and what the desired outcome would be for the campus. Campus leadership realized that teams needed to build trust among one another, collaborate, and take collective responsibility for all students learning at high levels. The campus administration designated time, weekly, for team collaboration. Collaborative meetings included campus administration, district content specialists, instructional specialists, and content team members. After the collaboratives were established, it was determined that instructional teams would benefit from additional training from Solution Tree to better understand the components of the collaborative process. Throughout the upcoming school years, leadership members, instructional specialists, and team leaders were sent to grow their knowledge through the PLC at Work Institute. 

Campus professional development for the 2018-2019 school year was strategically planned to incorporate a focus on establishing collective commitments among the teams and the 4 PLC questions.The leadership team realized that teams were meeting and compliant, but were focused on planning instead of the purpose of collaboration. In establishing collective commitments there was a resistance to change to move beyond planning to collaboration and mutual accountability. A Solution Tree consultant was hired to bring clarity around the PLC process, highlight strengths of teams, and determine areas for growth. Moving forward, teams shifted their focus to diving deeper into the Design Learning Templates (i.e. boulders, rocks, butterflies) to connect the state standards, district curriculum, and high quality instruction for all students. Once teams committed to the shift from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning, collaboration conversations shifted to supporting steps in all four of the PLC questions. A monthly vertical alignment collaborative was created to support alignment of state standards, curriculum, vocabulary, and strategies among different grade levels and content areas. The teachers decided they needed a common understanding of all student growth, which led teams to begin creating common formative assessments. Vertical alignment meetings, team DLTs, and formative assessments provided teachers meaningful reflection time and understanding on their teaching practices and the learning needs of their diverse students.

Through the established culture and commitment to the collaborative process, time was built into the master schedule for teams to have a common planning time to have deeper conversations regarding the 3 Big Ideas of a PLC - focus on learning, collaborative culture, and focus on results. Ongoing data analysis increased, initially focusing on students who lacked mastery, to realigning our efforts to provide responsive instruction and extend learning, as well as to refine systems for intervention. This intentional data analysis led to teams creating and collaborating on SMART goals that focused on student growth, by student by standard. Teachers began utilizing common templates for lesson planning, team collaborative agendas, data analysis, and Design Learning Templates to establish a shared knowledge of the state standards. 

Beginning with the end in mind, we restructured our Campus Improvement Plan to better align with our data, campus goals, and collaborative process. Tomball Intermediate’s collaborative culture continues by building teacher capacity to work as members of high-performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students, including students from traditionally underserved student populations (Emergent Bilingual, Economically Disadvantaged, Special Education, Gifted/Talented). 

Over time, conversations shifted from only focusing on intervention to increasing our efforts to extend learning for all students through the professional development, coaching, and feedback from Bryce Amos, Solution Tree consultant. The Depth of Knowledge training enhanced our self-efficacy as educators, and reframed our mindset regarding instructional planning and delivery using the Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method and Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning.

The reflection process began by allowing teams to self evaluate their collaborative process, utilizing the PLC Team Self Assessment and Evaluative Team Summary tool. These efforts led each team to commit to growing at least one level in each indicator of the evaluation tool. Results of the tool revealed that most teams were sustaining their collaborative process.

Tomball Intermediate is where champions are made! We believe that all students can learn at high levels. Our mission is to work together with purpose, skill, and pride so that all students can achieve success.  As visionaries, we have created a high-performing, sustainable, and a reflective culture of collaboration through the PLC process. This is truly PLC at work.

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

The process of designing learning for students exists through the PLC process, as indicated by protected time devoted to collaboration in our Master Schedule. Teams utilize Design Learning Templates to identify essential learning standards, key vocabulary, learning misconceptions, assessment, enrichment and intervention, and instructional pacing. State standards determine the learning targets, but teams use the Design Learning Template to gain a shared understanding of the requirements of the learning objectives and guide them in the design of their Tier I instructional strategies to answer Question 1 in the PLC process, What do we want students to learn and be able to do?. During collaboratives, the teams develop student-centered instructional strategies that allow students to track their progress and take ownership of their own learning. Timely feedback provides students the tools necessary to demonstrate proficiency in learning standards. Students are actively engaged in monitoring their proficiency by setting personal learning goals and tracking their progress.

Instructional practice implemented across the campus is the use of formative assessments. Content teams adapted each common formative assessment to ensure mastery of essential learning standards in their content area (i.e., Show What You Know (SWYK), quick checks, checkpoints, exit tickets, formal/informal running records, turn and talks, and Renaissance Learning, district benchmarks). The data collected allows for on-demand instruction and the formulation of the small groups. Teams collaborate weekly to flexibly regroup by student by standard. Over a three to four week period, teams review data from the small group instruction to create new groups based on each student’s level of proficiency with their learning goal and standards.

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

At Tomball Intermediate, we created a master schedule that embedded specific times allocated for Response to Intervention (RTI) and extension opportunities provided in the master schedule. Intervention is a part of our campus culture, and daily small group instruction is non-negotiable. During collaborative meetings, teams discuss purposeful flexible regrouping to target student needs regarding questions 3 & 4 in the PLC process. We base groups on formative assessment data, reading levels,and campus/district created checkpoints. After each unit assessment, teams collaborate on essential standards that need to be retaught and extended through Tier 1 instruction. Interventionists participate in the PLC with content teams and design lessons to support what students are learning in the classroom.Teachers create videos modeling specific teaching strategies, creating additional opportunities to collaborate vertically across grade level content teams. At the beginning, middle, and end of the school year, instructional specialists facilitate conversations and collaboration for Kid Talks to address student learning gaps, data, and ongoing support for students lacking mastery. Our faculty learning sessions occur monthly. The topics are based on data collected during walkthroughs, feedback from teachers, and Campus Improvement Plan needs. These learning sessions provide an opportunity for teachers to facilitate their own learning, as well as to plan and collaborate for instructional delivery.

3. Building teacher capacity to work as members of high performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students.

Tomball Intermediate has leveraged many effective practices that have yielded positive results and increased our  participation in implementing core PLC processes and practices. This common campus vision and support for PLC have proven to be critical in our efforts to create an “All Means All” environment for our students. Such practices include building teacher capacity by actively participating in the PLC at Work seminars and receiving support from Solution Tree consultants. Teachers take active ownership and meet weekly to discuss the needs of students to guide their instruction based on student learning. For example, teachers have taken the initiative to participate in video coaching and modeling through the platform Sibme. The Sibme tool allows teachers to have exemplars of instructional strategies modeled by their peers, building their capacity to provide high quality instruction on a consistent basis.

A Core Instructional Leadership Team was established to serve as our Guiding Coalition that meets weekly, to lead change and help foster vertical, as well as horizontal communication and feedback. In building consensus for our school’s mission to work together with purpose, skill and pride so that all students can achieve success. Teachers demonstrate their expertise in teaching and learning during our Faculty Learning Sessions. Our teachers stand firm on their collective commitments and want to see students succeed, even when change has to occur. District Content Specialists also provide support to teachers through the PLC process and professional learning for every aspect of teaching and learning. Support from our District Content Directors clarifies instructional delivery, guides data digs, and seeks out opportunities for actionable feedback for change. 

Achievement Data Files

• tomball-intermediate-school-student-achievement-data-1.xlsx

Additional Achievement Data

The pandemic severely impacted our students, and it was evident in our data. However, our district continued the data collection process from the beginning and the middle of the year for the 2019-2020 school year. The PLC process continued to guide us through the four questions. Additional data reflected district benchmark results, as a way to measure and monitor student progress during the pandemic. We used this data to plan for support that students would need in the following school years and to measure the learning gaps created by learning loss. TISD gave the option for campuses to create their own benchmark; therefore district data is not available for this assessment.The 6th grade math team prepared a campus benchmark as well; however, due to COVID, the benchmark was not administered. Overall unit assessment data is reflected.

Texas Education Agency Distinctions 2018-2019 (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR))

• Academic Achievement in Mathematics
• Academic Achievement in Science
• Academic Growth
• Closing the Gaps
• Postsecondary Readiness

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Files

• template_-assessment-data-tracker.xlsx
• 5th-science-data-tracker.xlsx
• 6-8a-teks-breakdown-2022.pdf
• copy-of-math-2022_23-kid-talks.xlsx
• skill-builders-club-details.xlsx
• unit-1-integers.xlsx
• tis-master-schedule.pdf
• 6th-ela-10_10_22-va-collaborative-agenda.pdf