Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
by
Michael D. King
REFLECTING PROCESS
The goal of the reflecting process is to generate a list of the strengths and weaknesses that are true to the
organization’s beliefs of why it exists. This process will answer the question, “Where are we when
compared to the characteristics for effective school practices?” The following section is a list of the
characteristics for effective school practices that can be used in the reflecting process as the topic
categories on group participation focus sheets.
In the reflecting process, a collaborative work group session should be used to examine the strengths and
weaknesses of existing school programs. The list of effective school characteristics (See Effective School
Characteristics and Practices) should be used as a guide for comparing the existing practices of the school
to the practices that have become known as the characteristics of the effective school movement. It should
be noted that these characteristics are to be used as a guide and not as a panacea for total school
transformation.
A Quick Guide to School Reflection Process
Because all schools are not alike and because they do not all foster the same beliefs about teaching and
learning, these characteristics will not measure or determine all facets of effective education. Schools are
entities unto themselves and have created their own tools for teaching and learning that are inherent to the
individuality of the organization. Successful schools are created by the desires and beliefs of individuals
within the school who are driven by their own experiences and beliefs, and each school will differ.
The characteristics listed below were first published by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
in 1984 and updated in 1990. The research cited classroom, school, and district practices that foster
positive student achievement, attitudes, and social behavior. The list contains school-level practices that
have been shown to promote student learning. Goal developers may choose to use classroom-, school-, or
district-level practices, depending on the focus or level of goal setting. School-level practices are used
here because the focus is on school-level site goals. However, before developing site goals, district-level
goals should already be in place.
Focus Sheets
Focus sheets are the result of the reflecting work group’s analysis of the school’s strengths and
weaknesses. One purpose is to distinguish between weaknesses that are tolerable and those that are
critical and must be corrected. The focus sheets are compiled as one document and used in the goal
setting work group session to establish future goals for the organization.
FOCUS WORKSHEET
The Focus Worksheet will be used as a reflection guide to enable each professional learning community
to focus on those characteristics that give substance to meaningful school improvement. The Focus
Worksheet is designed as a support document that reflects the data gathered from the school profile by
identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the school. In the reflective process the focus worksheet
allows individual PLC groups to answer the question "Where are We?"
Step One: Select and Outlier: Outliers are used to guide PLC groups to help define existing or
nonexistent qualifiers to school improvement.
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Step Two: Select Profile Indicators: Profile indicators are used to help PLC's identify what areas in the
school profile are needed to obtain true statements of strengths and weaknesses that are identified in the
outlier statement.
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STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
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