Collaborative Teams Resources

Collaboration: Partnering with Colleagues, Families, and Caregivers to Promote Student Success

  • District, leadership, and teacher teams might use this resource to examine whether their team exhibits the skills necessary for effective collaboration and identify the “Go-To Moves” needed to improve collaboration. This resource also includes suggestions for conducting “hand-off” meetings or empathy interviews with students’ families and caregivers in order to understand students’ learning needs.

Summary  
This article provides information and resources for fostering greater collaboration with colleagues, families, and caregivers to promote student success.

DeHartchuck, L. (2021, August 3). Collaboration: Partnering with colleagues, families, and caregivers to promote student success. National Center for Learning Disabilities.

Creating Consensus for a Culture of Collective Responsibility

Summary  
This resource is a free reproducible from the book, Simplifying Response to Intervention: Four Essential Guiding Principles.

According to authors Buffum, Mattos, and Weber, a culture of collective responsibility is based on two fundamental beliefs:

  1. The first assumption is that we, as educators, must accept responsibility to ensure high levels of learning for every child.

  2. The second assumption is that all students can learn at high levels.

Adapted from Buffum, A., Mattos, M., & Weber, C. (2012). Simplifying response to intervention: Four essential guiding principles. Solution Tree Press.

From Staff to Team: 5 Practices that Encourage Collaboration to Improve Student Performance

Summary  
In this School of Thought Blog from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2020 Wyoming Principal of the Year Jeff Makelky shares 5 practices that he believes encourage a high level of collaboration and collective efficacy.

Makelky, J. (2021, January 21). From staff to team: 5 practices that encourage collaboration to improve student performance. National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). https://www.nassp.org/2021/01/21/from-staff-to-team-5-practices-that-encourage-collaboration-to-improve-student-performance/?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=SocialSnap

Checklist for Establishing and Maintaining Collaborative Teams Schoolwide

Summary
The Checklist for Establishing and Maintaining Collaborative Teams Schoolwide is from Chapter 7 of Marzano & Heflebower’s book, Collaborative Teams that Transform Schools: The Next Step in PLCs.

  • Do you want to ensure that your collaborative teams are set up for success? Are you looking for ways to maintain school wide collaboration? District, leadership, and teacher collaborative teams might choose to use the checklist for establishing and maintaining collaborative teams schoolwide and to determine if there are specific actions that need to take place in order to have effective collaborative teams throughout the district.

Marzano, R. J. & Heflebower, T. (2016). Collaborative teams that transform schools: The next step in PLCs. Marzano Research.

Foundational Protocols and Norms for Collaborative Teams

Summary  
Protocols and norms are important components of productive collaborative teams.  Protocols ensure all voices are heard and the discussion stays focused and productive.  This resource, adapted from the State of New Jersey Department of Education, offers several examples of protocols and norms that can be used for building consensus around vision and goals. 

State of New Jersey Department of Education. Collaborative Teams Toolkit. https://www.nj.gov/education/njtss/comp

The Power of Collaboration

Summary
This video by TEDxTalks features Dr. Shelle Van Etten de Sánchez providing a 6 ½ minute presentation around the power of collaboration.  Over the past 12 years as the Director of Education at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Dr. Shelle VanEttten de Sánchez learned indispensible lessons about the power of collaboration in situations of limited fiscal resources, staffing, and time. The five essential lessons shared in the video are:

  1. “Lego my Ego”

  2. “Practice makes Perfect”

  3. “Share and Share Alike”

  4. “Right Partners Lead to Big and Better Things”

  5. “Teamwork Does Not Equal Collaboration”

Collaboration, although rarely the easiest way to accomplish a goal, can turn a small idea into something that far surpasses its original potential.

  • This video might be used by leadership teams to introduce or to reaffirm the importance of collaboration to their teacher teams. The district may want to use this video to showcase the importance of collaborative partnerships between district and building leaders and between district leadership themselves.

    A transcript of the video is provided along with reflection questions to consider.

  • Connections can be made to each of the 13 practices found within Teacher Collaborative Routines.

TEDx Talks. (2014, January 15). The power of collaboration: Dr. Shelle VanEtten de Sánchez at TEDxABQWomen [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmQVNE-MbKI