Teacher/staff Collaboration

The process of education is a detailed method of teaching and learning with a variety of contributors. The walls and classrooms are just the shell to house the process that should be focused on collaboration to be successful (Sanders, 2016). According to Stevens (2014), collaboration by teachers and staff members is the most effective method of improving professional practice which will ultimately lead to improved student outcomes. Collaborative groups can be called by several names but they all share a common focus. They are all outcome based and promote professional dialog around student achievement (Stevens, 2014).

Collaboration is extremely important to a school as it is very clear that schools do not operate solely with one person in charge. It takes a team of people working together under the guidance of the governing board and through sound policy to meet defined goals (Guthrie & Schuermann, 2010). The use of this instrument can facilitate team building and communication throughout the process building professional relationships (Malakyan, 2013). Though it is the responsibility of the principal to listen to all stakeholders, the collaborative process can help by giving others an avenue to improvement (Stevens, 2014).

There are multitudes of ways that collaboration can become deep and meaningful in a school setting and every time collaboration takes place there is likelihood that student achievement will improve (O’Brien, 2015). Stevens (2014) also reports that not only student achievement will improve with collaboration, but teacher effectiveness will improve as a result. With the well documented success of collaborative groups, there are five elements that need attention during the implementation process: 1) Staying data centered; 2) Developing trust; 3) Time; 4) Engagement in the process; and 5) Alignment with the District (Stevens, 2014). When collaborative groups are implanted with fidelity, they force a change to standard practice. 

The bottom line that collaboration works and we are stronger together than alone. Until next time...