Collaboration

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Collaboration
Steve Edwards Newport News, VA October 20-22, 2005

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What has resonated with you thus far?

• Share with your team one take away from this
  mornings session.
• Report out

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What Would Help All Students Be Better Students

• Take three minutes to write your answer to this
  question.
• Be prepared to report out.

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What Would Help All Students Be Better Students

• What students said
• More hands on activities
• More enthusiastic teachers
• Teachers expand their teaching techniques
• Teachers improve their attitudes
• Have students learning from students
• Teachers show more respect towards students
• (Results of a five year study of students ideas
  on improving learning, school safety, risk
  prevention and relationships. James Ciurczak.
  February 2004).

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Additional Findings

• What would help all students be better students
• Students drive to achieve academically is often
  driven more by the student-teacher relationship
  than by a fundamental interest in the subject.
• Students see a positive relationship with
  teachers as the pillars that come before learning
• (Results of a five year study of students ideas
  on improving learning, school safety, risk
  prevention and relationships. James Ciurczak.
  February 2004).

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FNO Principle 3

• Collaborative Teaming Focused on Teaching and
  Learning
• What does collaboration mean?
• What does it look like?
• Why collaborate?
• Who benefits?

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Common Language

• Do we have a common language among all
  stakeholders?
• Does collaboration mean the same to all parties?

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Team Processing Time
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Creating a Collaborative Culture

• We need to make collaboration the way we do
  business
• A collaborative culture needs to become the
  institutional norm, not the exception
• By no means easy to do, but the great schools do
  it-what is the alternative?

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Collaboration Is Not Congeniality

• The Secret Santa exchange
• Recognition of birthdays
• Friday afternoon social gatherings

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True Collaboration is not Staff Developing
Operational Guidelines and Procedures

• The attempt to build consensus on
• How teachers respond to issues such as tardiness,
  whether the school permits classroom parties or
  not, supervision rotation for recess, etc.

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Cooperation is not Collaboration

• Many schools point to teachers working together
  to create school wide programs as evidence of a
  collaborative culture
• Planning an annual school picnic
• Science Fair
• Career Day
• Etc.

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The Examples Described in the Previous Slides

• Are often used as examples of collaboration
• All the activities mentioned above are of value
  and worthwhile
• There is little evidence that teacher
  congeniality and social interactions impact
  student achievement. Simply put, they will not
  transform a school (Marzano, 2003)

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Four Types of Collaborative Cultures

• Individualistic
• Teachers do their own thing
• Balkanized
• Deep rooted cliques within the staff
• Contrived Collegiality
• Only deal with service issues-looks good
• Collaborative
• True commitment to getting results with student
  achievement

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Which One Is Your School?
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Determining Your Readiness For Collaboration
Review Culture Resources and Renewing Americas
Schools A Guide for School-Based Action by Carl
Glickman
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True Collaboration Defined

• The systematic process in which we work
  together to analyze and impact professional
  practice in order to improve our individual and
  collective results

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Key Word

• RESULTS

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The Key Term is Systematic

• Teachers are not invited or encouraged to
  collaborate
• Collaboration is embedded in the routine
  practices of the school

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Teams Address the Following Questions

• What is it we want students to learn?
• How will we know when each student has learned
  it?
• How can we improve on current levels of student
  achievement?

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What Does It Look Like?

• Teachers are organized into teams and given time
  to meet during the school day
• Teachers are provided specific guidelines and
  asked to engage in specific activities to help
  them focus on student achievement

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Strategic Direction Matrix Accountability at All
Levels
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15 Day Identification Log
Team
Date
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Data Notebooks

• Each principal, assistant principal, LEAD, and
  teacher will maintain a data notebook
• Contents of the notebook will be consistent for
  each of the above four groups
• Included in the teacher notebook will be
• Grade distribution data
• Results of three, seven, and nine week
  assessments
• Specific areas of weakness identified through
  periodic course assessments
• Reports from walk-through
• Intervention action sheet
• Teachers individual Blueprint for Excellence
• LEADS and building Blueprint for Excellence

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Intervention Action Sheet

• Intervention Action Sheets
• This sheet will document adjustments that will be
  made in instruction based on data analysis of
  identified weaknesses
• Evidence of interventions will be
• Teacher lesson plans that demonstrate adjustments
  in instructional practices
• Periodic review of teacher lesson plans by LEADS
• Evidence of modification in lessons as viewed
  during walk-through
• Teacher lesson objectives that address
  intervention strategies

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Intervention Action Sheets

• This sheet will document adjustments that will be
  made in instruction based on data analysis of
  identified weaknesses
• Evidence of interventions will be
• Teacher lesson plans that demonstrate adjustments
  in instructional practices
• Periodic review of teacher lesson plans by LEADS
• Evidence of modification in lessons as viewed
  during walk-through
• Teacher lesson objectives that address
  intervention strategies

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Intervention Action Sheet
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Impact Professional Practice

• Staff uses collaboration as a catalyst to change
  practice
• Continuously looking for more effective ways to
  help all students learn

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Collective Process is Assessed

• Assessed on results
• Not based on perceptions, projects or positive
  intentions
• Teams identify and pursue specific, measurable,
  results-orientated goals
• Further, teams look for evidence of student
  achievement as their measure of success

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Classroom Visitation Log
September, 2005
Supervisor Dr. Edwards
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Create the Dialogue
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(No Transcript)
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• The Role of The Leadership Team In The
  Collaborative Process

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This Leadership Team

• How do you behave as a team? Do you model
  collaboration as stated in the previous slides?
• Do you regularly collaborate in the truest sense?
• Are you exploiting the leadership capacities of
  this team?
• What are your individual strengths? Where are
  your gaps?

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The Leadership Teams Contribution

• You as a leadership team foster collaboration
  when you engage teams of teachers in
• Clarifying the essential knowledge and skills of
  a particular grade level
• Developing common assessments of student learning
• Analyzing results to identify strengths and
  weaknesses for both individual teachers and teams
• Establishing specific goals and action plans to
  improve achievement
• Teachers need both student achievement data and
  collegial support

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• Model behavior you want others to practice

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Building a Collaborative Culture

• Work from the micro to the macro
• Your team
• The staff
• The community
• And beyond

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Identify a Challenge and Build a Collaborative
Process
Results
Data
Evaluation
Action Plan
Resources
Incentives
Skills
Vision
Problem
Data
What data do you need to collect?
Vision
What is your vision for the ideal outcome?
Skills
What skills do you have and need to achieve
results?
Incentives
What motivating factor is there to do this?
Resources
What resources will you need (internal
external)?
Action Plan
What steps will you need to take to make it
happen?
Evaluation
How will you measure results?
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• No Organization Can Rise Above The Constraints Of
  Its Leadership-If You Want Collaboration Model It

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Collaboration Curves
Technical Skills
Interpersonal Skills
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20-70-10 Principle

• According to Jack Welch
• 20 Get it
• 70 Could get it
• 10 Will never get it

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Even The Playing Field

• July 11th 1984
• Two babies born-July 11th was the first and last
  day those two children were on the same playing
  field
• We are not comparing apples to apples
• Social Isolation

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Final Thoughts
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Contact Information

• Steven W. Edwards, Ph.D.
• Phone [phone]
• Cell [phone]
• Email stevewedwards_at_comcast.net
• For a Presentation Contact
• The HOPE Foundation
• 800-627-0232
• hope_at_hopefoundation.org