A Focus On Learning
Priority Schools Conference
February 26, 2014
Reflection About Your
School’s Collaborative Teams
• What practices are your school’s collaborative
teams utilizing that focus on student learning?
• In order to improve your collaborative teams
effectiveness, what could you do to have a
deeper focus on student learning?
County Team
School Administrative Team
School Leadership Team
Collaborative
Team
Focus
Team(s)
Collaborative
Team
Student
Assistance
Team
Collaborative
Team
Collaborative
Team
Local School
Improvement
Council
Faculty
Senate
Collaborative Teams
Teachers are organized into collaborative
teams on the basis of shared responsibility
for addressing the critical questions of
teaching and learning with a particular
group of students – for example, by content,
course or grade level. Team members work
interdependently to achieve a common
goal for which each member is mutually
accountable.
Collaborative Teams…
• Focus on learning and continuous improvement
• Are responsible for service and program delivery
– Standards
– Assessment
– Instruction
• Manage the day-to-day services provided to students –
– Those who exceed
– Those who meet
– Those who do not meet
• Monitor achievement, climate and satisfaction data to
assure that the learning environment is producing results
consistent with the school’s stated goals
• Identify gaps in performance or processes and plans for
their improvement
• Align team’s work with the district and classroom
• Align with grade level before and after
Expectation
Every teacher in the school will be called
upon to work collaboratively with
colleagues in clarifying the questions
“Learn what?” and “How will we
know?” The pursuit of these questions
cannot be assigned to others. The
constant collective inquiry into these
questions is a professional responsibility
of every faculty member.
Focus on Learning
The engine behind school improvement is the team—
grade level teams, departmental teams, course or
content teams.
The actions of these teams are guided by the
following questions:
1. What is it we expect students to learn?
2. How will we know when they have learned it?
3. How will we respond when they don’t?
4. How will we respond when students already know
it?
Focus on Learning
Find the 4 critical questions
What is it we expect students
to learn?
How will we know when they
have learned it?
How will we respond when
they don’t?
How will we respond when
students already know it?
What are the “right things” that a school
staff should address if high levels of learning
are the focus of their collaborative efforts?
Communication is KEY
Communication Dilemma
How many issues are the result of
poor communication?
Communication
Scenario #1
1. Read the scenario.
2. Determine what caused the problem.
3. What might be done to solve the
problem?
Communication
Scenario #2
1. Read the scenario.
2. Determine what caused the problem.
3. What might be done to solve the
problem?
Hard Questions About
Practice
Article by Richard F. Elmore
Talk Time
What practices are already in place in your
school’s collaborative teams that are not
consistent with a focus on learning?
Communication
Improvement
High Expectations! High
Standards! No Excuses!