TLN Making News        The Learning Network          Coaching and Other Inservices          Professional Library
Professional Development

                                                                                                    The Learning Network

Introduction

This document offers an introduction to the structure of The Learning
Network and the underlying beliefs about teaching and learning that is
supported by Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc. It will not answer all of
your questions, but we hope it encourages you to explore in more detail
the opportunity to become a school affiliated with The Learning Network.

The Network originated from many late night conversations at our Literacy
Learning in the Classroom summer institutes. Our institute facilitators,
educators from across the US and New Zealand, and our own teacher
development staff were frustrated by the limitations of the four days in
exploring a cohesive theory of literacy learning. Participants would return to
school full of enthusiasm. However, without a mechanism for encouraging
self-reflection, the opportunity for collegial challenge, and the support of a
knowledgeable key administrator, the enthusiasm would gradually subside
and classroom practice would continue much as before.

 

Recent recommendations for school development by four national
organizations* are consistent on many attributes, including the need to:
develop teachers’ understandings about both the theory and practice of
teaching and learning; have teachers work collegially with other teachers,
key administrators, and the wider community; be based on current research;
be planned by those who will participate; provide sufficient time, support, and
resources for change; and be evaluated ultimately by student achievement.
The Learning Network incorporates all of these attributes. This type of
systemic change has been greatly influenced by the work of education
researchers and writers, including Richard Allington, Linda Darling-Hammond,
William Firestone, Michael Fullan, Thomas Sergiovanni, Dennis Sparks,
Bruce Joyce, and Beverly Showers.

 

An understanding of the need for school reform led the federal government
to establish the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration grant and to
authorize the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) to create
the Catalog of School Reform Models. The Learning Network is one of a small
number of school-wide plans recognized by NWREL in the new version of the
catalog. The nine components of comprehensive school reform and the aspects
of The Learning Network that support these components appear in Appendix F
on page 27.

 

Unlike most teacher "workshops," The Learning Network supports the
professional development of teachers throughout a school over a long period
of time. The Network focuses on literacy learning, but the theory and
process of skillful teaching and learning is applicable across all curriculum
areas at all levels of teaching and learning. Schools that have Reading
Recovery® will find The Learning Network a perfect complement.

 

Several years of planning and implementation have shaped The Learning
Network, and refinements continue to be made as our experience grows.
The many facets and levels of support currently provided by The Network will
help you and your staff create a new culture of professional
development in your school, which will ultimately and directly benefit your
students.

* US Department of Education; American Federation of Teachers; National Staff
Development Council and National Association of Elementary School Principals;
National Center for Research on Teacher Learning; and National Commission on
Teaching & America’s Future.

 

What is The Learning Network®?

The Learning Network is an organization of schools that hold in common
a set of beliefs about how to organize for effective teaching and learning
and about how to develop skillful teachers and administrators who are
able to support the growth of children. The Learning Network is based on
principles of student-centered teaching and learning that apply across all
curriculum areas in all grades and with all students. We seek to improve
classroom teaching throughout the school and to develop consistency of
understandings and practice that produces increased evidence of student
achievement. As an initiative focusing on the growth and development of
the school as a learning organization, The Learning Network is:

 

• Site-based: Most of the work occurs in the school because research
  shows that feedback on the job has the greatest impact on classroom
  practice.
• Theory-driven: Theory is made concrete through connections with
  practice. The theory that shapes educational practice must be
  continuously explored through reflection and through discussion
  among colleagues and the school community.
• On-going: Developing cohesive theory and subsequent behavior occurs
  in small steps and takes time. The formal involvement of The Learning
  Network coordinator lasts two years; the process put into place will
  continue indefinitely.
• Comprehensive: Schools supported by The Learning Network make
  changes in the way they organize for teaching and learning that will
  fulfill state and district requirements.

 

The Learning Network focuses on school development. It provides support
and guidance to facilitate this change process. Schools that are supported by
The Learning Network must have faculties who are willing to change in
fundamental ways.

 

Characteristics of a Learning Network School

Learning Network schools share admirable traits:

• Quality: the quality inherent in a cohesive, unified theory of teaching
  and learning throughout the school.
• Consistency: the consistent application of theoretical principles not
  only from classroom to classroom, but from school to school and from
  region to region.
• Capacity: the capacity of each teacher to meet the needs of all students
  for life-long learning and the capacity of the school as a whole to meet
  the needs of all teachers for life-long learning.
• Interdependence: the ability of the faculty to work together and grow
  as a learning organization.

 

Benefits of The Learning Network®

Analysis of anecdotal data shows that schools affiliated with The
Learning Network are positive environments for students and faculty
alike. Key administrators become active and involved instructional
leaders. They ensure responsibility and accountability for achieving
educational success. Teachers develop a deep understanding of the
theory that drives good classroom practice. They become more productive
and effective decision-makers. Students thrive in an environment that
is consistent from classroom to classroom and grade level to grade level.
They become confident, accomplished readers and writers, and
enthusiastic, independent learners. Schools become learning organizations
that are constantly developing. They are enriched environments for all
members of the community.

 

The Learning Network® Principles

The principles that drive The Learning Network are drawn from current
research and understandings of how learning occurs and how to optimize
teaching and learning. These principles are consistent with current
recommendations for staff development (see page 3) and provide the platform
for the development of theory that guides the teachers’ classroom
practice:

• Good classroom practice crosses curricula boundaries. The
  Learning Network uses literacy as a vehicle for understanding
  theory, but the theory of teaching and learning is appropriate for
  all content areas.
• Good classroom practice is applicable to any age group. The
  theory is not specific to any grade, age, or developmental level.
  There is consistency in how the theory supports both classroom
  practice and professional growth for teachers and administrators.
• Good classroom practice builds consistent language and procedures
  throughout the school. Continuity will put all children on a
  continuum of learning. High expectations are held for all students.
• Good classroom practice is based on considering teaching and
  learning a cyclic activity. Assessment and evaluation drive planning
  and teaching. Good teaching for students or adults starts with
  evaluating what the learner knows and determining what the learner
  needs to know. Careful planning creates the most appropriate teaching
  and learning experiences to lift the learner to the next level of
  understanding.

 

                     

 

The Teaching and Learning Cycle:
A Key Construct of The Learning Network

Teaching is providing the amount of support necessary to ensure that
new learning occurs. For that to happen, the teacher must know what
the learner needs, and how to teach it. She makes decisions based on
the teaching and learning cycle. The teaching and learning cycle has
four key elements: assessment, evaluation, planning, and teaching,
supported by an understanding of the reading process, the writing process,
and of the conditions that are favorable for learning to occur. The teaching
and learning cycle describes the process by which teachers make
professional instructional decisions and then act on those decisions.
The goal of any teaching is to produce new learning, which in turn provides
a new assessment sample for the teacher to evaluate.

 

                                     Assessment 
                                               collecting data        
        Learning                                       

      Teaching                                           Evaluation
providing appropriate                                         determining next
  support in order for                                            learning step
new learning to occur
                                                                               
                                   Planning          
                                selecting an objective
                                        grouping the learners
                                         choosing a resource
                                    determining the approach

    The Teaching and Learning Cycle

 

Assessment and Evaluation

The cycle begins with the teacher taking an assessment sample, which
for reading or writing is likely to be a running record, a writing sample,
or notes from the teacher’s monitoring notebook. The teacher evaluates
the samples, looking for the strengths of the learner and what the learner
needs to know next. The evaluation is formative, done for the purpose
of identifying the teaching that is needed to help each learner move forward.

Planning and Teaching

Effective planning leads to focused teaching. Using the analysis of the
sample, the teacher plans for the teaching event. The teacher’s
understandings of the reading process and writing process guide her in
selecting a teaching objective.

 

Instruction can be whole group, small group, or individual. The teacher
will often group children with similar needs. She chooses a resource that
will help her achieve her objective and then determines the approach
based on the amount of support needed by the learner(s). Students of all
ages experience being read to, shared reading, guided reading, and
independent reading, and writing demonstrations, shared writing, guided
writing, and independent writing on a daily basis.

 

The teacher’s careful planning provides an experience for the student
that scaffolds new learning, that lifts the learner to the next level of
understanding, and that in the process provides a new assessment
sample for the teacher to evaluate.

 

Roots of The Learning Network®

This model of teaching and learning has its roots in the theory and
practice of literacy education that evolved in New Zealand over the last
forty years. It has been influenced by the research and experience of
Sylvia Ashton-Warner, Marie Clay, and Don Holdaway of New Zealand,
John Dewey, Ken Goodman, Yetta Goodman, Donald Graves, and Don
Murray of the United States, Margaret Meek of the United Kingdom,
Frank Smith of Canada, Brian Cambourne of Australia, Lev Vygostky
of Russia, and many other prominent researchers and educators.

 

One contribution to this robust and cohesive theory offered by The
Learning Network is making the connection to any teaching and
learning situation. It is as relevant to a teacher working with
kindergarten students as it is to a social studies teacher in a middle
school as it is to a coordinator of staff development or an administrator
working with a group of teachers. It applies to the personal/professional
development of teachers and it applies to the development of the school.
The power of the school development cycle is described in more detail
in The Reflective Principal: Leading the School Development Process
(see page 16). The pattern of assessment, evaluation, planning, and
teaching forms the core of The Network in action as the model comes
to life in a school supported by The Learning Network, as described in
the next section.

The Learning Network® in Action

Changing the culture of a school requires more than making changes
in individual classrooms. To facilitate reform at the individual, classroom,
school, and district levels, The Network provides an extensive support
structure. This structure has been fine-tuned by experience over many
years. The trainers of Learning Network coordinators continue to be
Learning Network coordinators themselves, and so understand at a
personal level the challenges of this new paradigm.

  

The Learning Network® Organizational Chart

 

The Critical Triangle

The Learning Network is a model of teacher development that depends
on the mutual support of the three important leadership roles of the key
administrator, The Learning Network coordinator, and the teacher
leaders, which form a critical triangle. This group of professionals will
lead the faculty in changing the school culture. Because the leadership
team consisting of the key administrator and the teacher leaders
remains in the school after the formal involvement of The Learning
Network coordinator ends, expertise is always available.

 

The Learning Network® coordinator (LNC) is the professional educator
from Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc./The Learning Network who
comes into a school affiliated with The Learning Network on a monthly
basis over two years (eight contact days per school year). The coordinator
works with the key administrator and teacher leaders both in their
classrooms and as they begin to work with colleagues. Learning Network
coordinators may also offer support via e-mail and The Learning Network
listserve, and get involved in faculty, department, district, or parent
meetings, with budget planning or data collection, or by guiding the
selection of resources, to mention only a few areas. Our Learning
Network coordinators have developed a deep understanding of both this
model of teaching and learning and of working with adults as learners
through extensive training on an on-going basis. They also receive
continuing support for their own growth from a trainer of Learning
Network coordinators.

 

The key administrator, usually the principal, is at the apex of the
critical triangle. The key administrator is an instructional leader – a
person with a vision, with beliefs firmly grounded in this model of
teaching and learning, and with a commitment, willingness, and
ability to provide active support for The Learning Network. The key
administrator is engaged in providing support for teacher leaders and
receiving support from The Learning Network coordinator to be more
effective in the role of instructional leader.

 

The key administrator may be involved with the "business" aspect of
the relationship, such as negotiating the contract with Richard C.
Owen Publishers, Inc., arranging for funding, ordering materials,
completing paperwork, and ensuring that teacher leaders and teachers
have appropriate release time.

 

More important is the role of the key administrator in leading school
development. He or she completes action plans, attends the observation
and instructional dialogues of teacher leaders during School Year 1,
and participates in Learning Network focus meetings with The Learning
Network coordinator and other key administrators. The key administrator
attends the summer Literacy Learning institute and is encouraged to
attend The Leadership Seminar and The Learning Network conference
annually.

 

Each key administrator is expected to sign the Administrator’s Declaration
of Support and to honor the commitments.

ADMINISTRATOR’S DECLARATION OF SUPPORT I understand that as the administrator of _______________, a Learning Network site, I will: Actively support The Learning Network as the focus for teacher development. Devote professional faculty meetings to the content of The Learning Network. Attend TLN focus meetings and make myself available for classroom observations and instructional dialogue with The Learning Network coordinator on each monthly visit or when the TLN coordinator is on campus. Write a monthly action plan to develop skills for facilitating school-wide change. Attend the Literacy Learning in the Classroom summer institute with the teacher leaders prior to implementation of The Learning Network. Send teacher leaders to the summer institute. Send all teachers who will be working with teacher leaders to the summer institute. Attend and send teacher leaders to The Learning Network conference starting in Year 2. Meet with teacher leaders on a weekly basis and be available for classroom observation as needed. Maintain the guidelines for determining the number of teachers who can be supported by each teacher leader by providing appropriate release time. Actively support teacher leaders in the commitments specified in the Teacher Leader’s Declaration of Support. Incorporate my evolving understanding of the teaching and learning model into my interactions with the TLN coordinator, faculty, students, and learning community. Work toward a personal goal of becoming a life-long learner and a school goal of developing a community of learners. ______________________________      __________________ signature                                    date

New York Office Ÿ PO Box 585 Ÿ Katonah, NY 10536 Phone: 914/232-3903 Ÿ Fax: 914/232-3977

 

Two teacher leaders (TLs) are chosen from the faculty of each school
receiving support. In the first year the two TLs work directly with The
Learning Network coordinator to develop their understandings of the model
of teaching and learning. In the second year, the teacher leaders begin to
work with up to eight teachers each to dig deeper into those individuals’
understandings of the model. The Learning Network coordinator’s
responsibilities now focus on increasing the TLs’ skill in guiding and
supporting their colleagues. During the first two years teacher leaders also
work with other TLs in their area in a Learning Network class (see "The
Learning Network Focus Meetings" on page 13).

 

Identifying the best people for the two teacher leader positions is vital to
the success of The Learning Network. This is a significant investment.
The school should expect a long-term commitment from the teachers who
will be trained as teacher leaders. The key administrator makes the final
selection of teacher leaders with the support of a Learning Network
coordinator and sometimes the entire faculty. Principals need to look for
candidates who inspire confidence and who see themselves as learners.
The following criteria will help the principal determine who can do the job
effectively. The successful teacher leader:

• has respect for and is respected by colleagues;
• is a competent classroom practitioner with at least three to five
  years of classroom experience;
• has full responsibility or permanent partial responsibility for a
  classroom during Year 1 and beyond;
• sees him- or herself as a learner; is open to new ideas and new
  learning;
• seeks professional challenge;
• displays leadership qualities and works comfortably alongside adults;
• can motivate others to take responsibility for their own personal/
  professional growth;
• is able to stay focused on and committed to a set of beliefs, even
  in the face of resistance and challenge from others;
• makes a long-term commitment to the school.

 

Teacher leaders sign a Teacher Leader’s Declaration of Support and are
expected to honor the commitments.

TEACHER LEADER’S DECLARATION OF SUPPORT I understand that as a teacher leader in ____________________, a Learning Network site, I will: Prepare a weekly action plan and share with the administrator and other teacher leader(s) in the school. Work with The Learning Network coordinator in my classroom half a day each month and engage in instructional dialogue with the TLN coordinator each month. Keep a record of developed understandings on benchmark and indicator sheets. Participate in TLN focus meetings twice a month (once with TLN coordinator, once with TLs). Meet weekly with the administrator and other teacher leader(s) in the school. Work constructively alongside the administrator in the school. Participate in faculty meetings and allow colleagues and others to observe in my classroom. Attend the summer institute, Literacy Learning in the Classroom, prior to beginning my training and again the second summer with a team of teachers from my school. Attend The Learning Network conference with teacher leader colleagues and the administrator. Starting in Year 2 take weekly observations (with monitoring notes) and instructional dialogue with the number of classroom teachers according to the guidelines developed by The Learning Network. Starting in Year 2 facilitate dialogue groups and staff meetings. Starting in Year 2 engage in tiered dialogue with the TLN coordinator monthly. Develop the instructional resource room with colleagues. Work toward a personal goal of becoming a life-long learner and support colleagues in developing a community of learners. Develop the capacity to focus on the bigger picture; put the needs of the school or others first. ________________________________________ _____________________ signature                                                 date

New York Office Ÿ PO Box 585 Ÿ Katonah, NY 10536 Phone: 914/232-3903 Ÿ Fax: 914/232-3977

To request more information about The Learning Network®, or to have a copy of
Understanding The Learning Network  or a loaner copy of the video 
'News and Views from the Lakeview School District' sent you,  please contact us:

              800/262-0787


                     Richard C. Owen Publishers Inc.
                                      PO Box 585
                          Katonah, New York 10536
       9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday

Information about the Annual Learning Network Conference 

News and Views from the Lakeview School District - This video contains
interviews with TLN teacher leaders, classroom teachers receiving support, 
and district leadership in Battle Creek, MI (complimentary loaner videotape) 

Professional Development Contents
The Learning Network Conference
Professional Development options
The Learning Network Leadership Seminars
The Learning Network Press Release
List of Learning Network Schools

Book Publishing Contents

Top
Contact Us
Catalogs/Information
About Our Company

 

PO Box 585 - Katonah, NY 10536 - 800/262-0787 9-5 EST. M-F

Copyright © 1999 by Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.