USI Network Presented at MWERA, October 2009
Posted: October 7th, 2009 by melissa
Sybil Madison-Boyd and Melissa Goodnight presented a paper, Making practice public: Sharing challenges and successes in enhancing student learning through cross-school learning walks (Madison-Boyd, S., Westbrook, K., Zimmer, T., & Goodnight Stippler, M.; 2009) at the annual meeting of the Mid-Western Educational Research Association in St. Louis on October 15th. The paper outlines the USI Network’s Learning Walk process and what the Network has learned as a result of this practice over the 2008-2009 school year.
Abstract from the Conference Paper:
United by a common set of beliefs about effective urban education, the schools of the Urban School Improvement (USI) Network share practices, tools, resources, and lessons learned. They are part of a professional community of Pre-K to 12 educators committed to ensuring that all their students are prepared for success in college and careers. This presentation outlines one of the Network’s thriving professional development practices, learning walks. Learning walks are implemented by USI Network coaches to facilitate cross-school sharing by making schools’ classroom practices public to other network colleagues. Teachers and school leaders participate in evidence-based observations (focused around a specific area of instruction) by walking through classrooms. Learning walks provide schools’ instructional leadership teams with valuable information that informs their plans for improving instruction and enhancing student learning. This presentation highlights both the practice of learning walks and the professional learning that has resulted from them during the 2008-2009 school year.