Mike Shmoker, a well-respected educational consultant and author of Results: The Key to Continuous School Improvement writes, “If there is anything that the research community agrees on, it is this: The right kind of continuous, structured teacher collaboration improves the quality of teaching and pays big, often immediate, dividends in student learning and professional morale in virtually any setting.”

The teachers and administrators in the North Kitsap School District recognize the need for this type of ongoing, inquiry-based collaboration focused on improving student learning, and will be building collaboration time into the school schedule this year.The type of collaboration being implemented is based on Rick DuFour’s

Professional Learning Communities. Teachers working in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) work interdependently to answer and address the following;

1. What should our students know and be able to do? Using the Washington State Standards teachers will create essential learning goals for students at each grade level and content area.

2. How will we know when they have mastered the essential learning? Teachers will create common assessments for each grade level and content area to monitor student progress towards mastery of the essential learning goals.

3. How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning? Teachers and staff will design a timely systematic process of interventions to ensure students receive additional time and support for learning.

4. How will we deepen the learning for students who have already mastered essential knowledge and skills? Only by working collaboratively can this powerful process occur.

At Kingston High School, our 2009-2010 schedule provides collaboration time for teachers and tutorial time for students on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  All 9^th and 10^th graders are required to attend tutorial. Attendance will also be mandatory for those upperclassmen (11^th and 12^th graders) who have been assigned to tutorial by their teachers.  Upperclassmen in good academic standing are also encouraged to attend—they will find it a valuable time catch up on heavy reading loads for AP classes, join a study table, get additional help on assignments, and complete missed work due to absence.  All of our students will be assigned to tutorial groups regardless of their academic standing during the first 2 weeks of school.