Collaborative Team Structures Overview

IMPORTANCE

Effective collaboration enhances results.

“Quality teaching is not an individual accomplishment, it is the result of a collaborative culture that empowers teachers to team up to improve student learning beyond what any one of them can achieve alone.”
Carroll, 2009

Is anyone smarter by themselves than they can be when they engage the thinking of others in the problem-solving process?

“The messages in ‘Visible Learning’ are not another recipe for success, another quest for certainty, another masking of untruth. There is no recipe, no professional development set of worksheets, no new teaching method, and no band aid remedy. It is a way of thinking: ‘My role, as teacher, is to evaluate the effect I have on my students.’ It is to ‘know thy impact’, it is to understand this impact, and it is to act on this knowing and understanding. It requires that teachers gather defensible and dependable evidence from many sources, and hold collaborative discussions with colleagues and students about this evidence, thus making the effect of their teaching visible to themselves and others.”
Hattie

OVERVIEW

Collaborative teaming at the classroom level involves educators working interdependently to learn about and communicate the impact of their teaching, using evidence of student progress to improve outcomes for all students.

“Educator” includes ALL relevant school personnel (teachers, paraprofessionals, specialized teachers, special education teachers, counselors, administrators, social workers, etc.). Every school setting is different, but when appropriate, any or all of these educators should be actively engaged in the work of Collaborative Teams.

What does it mean to work interdependently? What does it mean to communicate the impact of teaching? What evidence of student progress might be used?

Structuring Collaboration

These are structural components and processes that must be in place in order for teams to collaborate effectively, and in order to participate in this work. Effective structures support collaborative cultures.

Dedicated Weekly Block of Collaborative Time

Teams need focused time each week to work on student outcomes.

Monitoring and Feedback

Teachers need training on how to be effective members of a team, and teams need support to work effectively.

Inclusion of All Instructional Staff

Teams must include the appropriate personnel – including general ed and special ed teachers and special subject teachers working together on classroom level collaborative teams. Who is responsible for the learning of the children? Everyone, right? Then “everyone” needs to be included on the classroom collaborative team.

Support and Training for Teams to Develop Climate

In order to develop a climate of trust structures for effective collaborative teams, the work of the team must be supported and monitored by administrators to ensure they have the skills and resources needed to be effective.

Reflect on the collaborative teaming structures in your school. Are these effective structures included in every classroom level collaborative team?

Make a note for yourself on how well your school meets each of these points and if not, what you believe are the barriers. Which ones do you have firmly established, which ones are in need of support and how might you envision getting these elements strengthened?

Some schools struggle with who to have on the collaborative team. Think about how you can fully involve and integrate special education teachers, as well as other specialists, who are providing instruction to struggling learners to be vital members of every classroom level collaborative team.

Watch this grade-level collaborative data team as they discuss math formative assessments. As you watch, think about the effective structures this team uses to support their collaboration?