Part 6 - Tale of Two Schools: The Professional Community – Okanagan
Karen Seashore Louis talks about a school that illustrates what professional community looks like. “Okanagan” is a failing big-city middle school that had previously attempted to be a magnet school and reopened itself with a new staff and principal as a community school in a very low-income Hispanic and African-American community. The staff really focused on the importance of professional community—although the term had not yet been invented—and organized themselves into ”families” that collectively made all the decisions related to teaching and learning. Also, they created their own school-wide assessment and shared in the responsibility of determining the levels, even across subject areas. Louis explains how the components of a professional community school compare to those of a “regular” school.
Think about:
- Do you have an example of an “Okanagan” or professional community school with which you are familiar?
- Do you see evidence in Ontario schools that the notion of collective responsibility among staff is increasing?
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