2. What are Whole-Faculty
Study Groups?
a student driven approach to professional development
a job-embedded, professional development system designed to
build a community in which professionals continuously strive to
increase student leaning
“Whole-Faculty” means every faculty member at a school is a
member of a small study group focusing on a targeted area
linked to school improvement centering on student instructional
needs
3. Whole-Faculty Study
Group Guided Questions?
What to students need for you to
do?
What do students need for teachers to do so that teachers
will have a deep knowledge of what they teach?
What do students need for teachers to do so that teachers
will be more skillful in how they teach?
What do students need for teachers to do so that teachers
will challenge students to learn difficult and fundamental
concepts?
What do students need for teachers to do so that teachers
will give students skills to be deep thinkers and problem
solvers?
4. How is student learning
increased?
This is accomplished as we, practitioners, deepen our own
knowledge and understanding of what is taught, reflect on our
practices, sharpen our skills, and take joint responsibility for
the students we teach.
5. The Guiding Principals
students are first
everybody participates
leadership is shared
responsibility is equal
the work is public
6. Functions of Whole-
Faculty Study Groups:
to support the implementation of curricular and instructional
innovations
to integrate and give coherence to the school’s instructional
strategies and programs
to target a school-wide need
to study the research and latest developments on teaching
and learning
to monitor the impact of innovations on students and on
changes in the workplace
7. Keep the size of the study groups to no more than six
Do no worry about the composition of the study groups
Establish and keep regular schedule, letting no more than
two weeks pass between meetings
Establish group norms at the first meeting of the study
group
Agree on a written Study Group Action Plan that is shared
with the whole faculty by the end of the second meeting
Complete a Study Group Log after each study group
meeting that is shared with the whole faculty
Encourage each member to keep an Individual Reflection
Log that is for their own personal and private reflection
Guidelines for Whole-
Faculty Study Groups
8. Guidelines for Whole-
Faculty Study Groups Establish a pattern of rotating group leadership
Give all study group members equal status
Have a curricular or instructional focus
Plan ahead for transitions
Make a comprehensive list of learning resources, both material
and human
Include training in the study group’s agenda
Evaluate the effectiveness of the study group, using the
intended results stated in the Study Group Action Plan