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Email ArticleBTO SUCCESS STORY: EXCELENCIA EXCELS AT CREATING A COLLABORATIVE CULTURE THAT ADVANCES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
One of the most daunting tasks that school principals face is transforming a staff of individual teachers into a high-performing collaborative team known as a professional learning community or PLC.
PLCs are united by a commitment to student achievement, and fit neatly within the Beat the Odds framework although they are part of a separate program. Their activities include working and learning collaboratively, visiting and observing other classrooms (peer mentoring), and participating in shared decision-making. Despite their hard work, many schools’ efforts in creating a PLC results only in “collaboration light.”
A recent statewide teacher job satisfaction survey indicates that Excelencia Elementary School is much more successful than many other Arizona schools in achieving a truly collaborative environment.
“Collaboration is very much a part of who we are,” commented Principal Damon Twist. He is in his fourth year as principal of the central Phoenix K-6 school, which has a student population that is 97 percent Latino and 97 percent eligible for the free or reduced lunch program, an indicator of poverty.
Principal Twist is one of more than two dozen principals who are participating in the Beat the Odds School Partners Program during the 2007-2008 academic year. The program is based upon the findings of the research study, “Why Some Schools with Latino Children Beat the Odds … and Others Don’t.”
It found that collaborative problem solving is a key component of Arizona schools where students are beating the odds academically. Pushing problem solving down through the ranks empowers teachers, increases job satisfaction and creates greater accountability for student achievement.
Hiring the Right People
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At Excelencia, developing a high-performing collaborative culture begins with hiring decisions.
“Positive attitude is one of the most important things that we look for when we interview teaching candidates,” Principal Twist said. “You can’t teach someone to have a positive attitude or to want to work with other people.”
During the interview process and when checking references, school leaders explore whether the teaching candidate will open the door to their classroom and talk openly about their areas of success and where they are struggling.
“We look for someone who will be open, honest, is a lifelong learner and wants to be part of a collaborative team,” he said. “It’s more important than some of the instructional questions we ask during the interview.
“When they are brand new to the profession or brand new to the school, that is when you have a special opportunity to mold teachers’ expectations regarding your school and collaboration,” he added.
Creating a Collaborative Environment
Excelencia does an exceptional job of building “common time” into teaching schedules so that teachers can interact. Core subject teachers meet two periods per week when students are in “special area” classes such as physical education, music or art. One period is dedicated to planning and the other is a results-oriented meeting during which teachers review student assessment data and develop curriculum.
In addition to providing adequate time for collaboration, Excelencia Elementary engages the faculty and staff in creating a supportive environment that will allow for successful collaboration.
Commented Principal Twist, “You can provide the time and the structure for collaboration to take place but if you haven’t developed a sense of community and safety where teachers feel safe to talk about areas in which they are struggling, then all you are going to get is ‘collaboration light:’ talking about what they did over the weekend, key discipline problems, some surface-level planning, asking ‘What are you doing?.’
“The first thing we do every year as a staff and at each grade level is to develop staff norms and grade level norms—their ground rules for working together,” he said. “We find out what they want this time to be like so that everyone feels this is an environment that is comfortable for collaboration.”
Surprisingly, getting teachers to talk about the things they are doing exceptionally well is a significant hurdle to overcome. “So often when you think of collaboration, you think about getting people who are not willing to collaborate to open their doors,” said Principal Twist. “For some teachers, it’s difficult for them to share in a way they won’t consider boasting.”
Once the staff and grade-level teams have written their norms and the principal has approved them, the norms are read at the beginning of every staff and grade-level meeting to focus the team’s energy and intention.
Team Goals: The Clear Bottom Line
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Each grade-level team sets SMART goals to tie their collaborative work to student achievement. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, results-driven and time-bound. For example, a grade level team may set a goal of 70 percent of the students passing the AIMS test.
“We ask, ‘Is it realistic? Can it be achieved in the time allowed?,’” said Principal Twist.
One of the signs that true collaboration is taking place is that teachers no longer focus solely on the students in their classroom. They have learned to take ownership of all of the students’ academic achievement, across the grade level and throughout the school.
“We judge our effectiveness by how we do in all classes, not just one,” he said.
Further evidence that the school is truly operating in a collaborative manner appeared in the findings of the Arizona Teachers’ Working Conditions Survey. (See “Excelencia Walks the Talk.”)