ON CAMPUS AT THE NEWPORT-MESA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT:PLCs provide solid foundation for learning

It is hard for me to believe that I have reached the half-year mark as superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

Time seems to have flown by as I continue to learn about our communities and the high expectations you have for student learning. As stakeholders, you realize that the results of student achievement today will have a significant impact on the future of our municipalities. After all, the reality is that while many of our graduates will leave Newport Beach and Costa Mesa for college or profession, most seem to find their way back.

I also continue to be impressed with the caliber of our employees who are meeting the charge of student learning.

There is a high level of dedication across the employee spectrum as our classified and certificated staff work closely with the school board to ensure student success.

As we begin the new year, you will start to hear a common theme throughout the school district as we focus on the foundations of becoming a Professional Learning Community (PLC).

Recognizing that we are in the midst of the Information Age, a global economy and international competition for jobs, we must have higher expectations for our students and for ourselves.

High-stakes testing, standards-based curriculum and the need to keep up with rapid advancements in science, mathematics and technology require us to change the way we carry out our mission.

While the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Strategic Plan and Secondary Redesign are addressing these changes, a PLC will give us a foundation for implementation.

While I am always cautious of “educational reform” in light of the countless federal and state initiatives, think-tank reforms and nomenclatures we have had to endure for the past decade, it is important to know that I consider a PLC an anti-reform movement. As you begin to hear more about a PLC, I think you will agree that it is a fundamental concept we can all support and embrace.

Based on the work of Dr. Rick DuFour, our PLCs will focus on teams of teachers working collaboratively to answer three simple questions:

What do we want each student to learn?

How will we know when each student has learned it?

How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?

While it could be argued that the first two questions are to some degree answered for us by the California State Standards and the Standards Test, the answer to question three separates learning communities from traditional schools.

By working in collaborative teams to define standards and assessments, our teachers have already begun to break the culture of being “independent contractors” and are having powerful discussions about why students are not learning rather than why they are.

From these discussions, interventions are being developed and best practices are being shared to ensure student learning.

While possibly a cliché, in a PLC, student failure is clearly not an option.

As we progress down the PLC path, I look forward to your partnership to ensure all students in the Newport Mesa Unified School District learn at the highest levels possible.

I am giving you a homework assignment to read at least one book and engage in at least one random act of kindness over the holidays.

It is my hope that children of all ages will participate in this assignment, and I wish you all a joyful and restful holiday.

“Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.”