Moving from isolated teachers to connected R&D teams across multiple schools

With only four days until our big release, we are more than delighted to hear from a talented middle school teacher who has not just great ideas about Design Challenge #1 – Putting the “D” in “R&D” – but also the experience to back it up.

Alex Bragg is a member of the Mount Vernon Presbyterian School faculty in Atlanta, Georgia. Bragg serves as the Head of 8th Grade, teaches 7th and 8th grade social studies, and for the past two years has worked to redesign the middle school social studies curriculum into thematic courses. In addition to these roles, Alex has served on the Atlanta K-12 Design Challenge Team, an innovative partnership with Fulton County Schools, various Atlanta area independent schools, and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (the d.School). Charged with utilizing design thinking to innovate around school challenges, the coalition spends intentional time together, problem solving and working with tight feedback loops, to iterate solutions for students.

Bragg, who holds a B.S. from Auburn University, an M.A.T. from The University of West Alabama, and an Ed.M in Education Leadership from Columbia University, was recognized during last year’s Teacher Appreciation Week at the White House, where she conversed with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Dr. Jill Biden.

We are grateful to Alex for this great piece on R&D in and out of schools. Follow Alex on twitter @mrsacbragg

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Moving from isolated teachers to connected R&D teams across multiple schools

by Alexandria Bragg

Too often, our teachers in both private and public schools feel isolated from their colleagues.  For some, there simply isn’t enough time in the daily schedule for collaboration, or it has not been made an urgent priority in addressing student achievement.

A 2013 national Scholastic Gates Foundation study found that 51% of public school teachers surveyed felt that a significant challenge they faced as a teacher was not enough time for collaborating with colleagues. Related to this, 20% cited as another significant challenge a lack of career ladders and opportunities. Various studies have shown that feelings of isolation are a major reason teachers leave the profession.

A parallel issue of isolation is happening among K-12 schools. Public schools, private schools, and charter schools are driven by a common goal of educating the next generation of civically minded, global citizens. However, they are missing an opportunity to collaborate purposefully toward improving student achievement.  

But consider this. Although regulations and legal structures tend to separate the public and private sectors, they coexist in their passion for innovation in resources, strategies, and instructional design.

Many schools, both public and private, and their overarching school districts have implemented research and development (R&D) teams to spark innovation and bolster student achievement.  Teams are led by teachers in some schools, by teachers and administrators in others.  While this collaboration aims at having a positive impact in improving student achievement, it is also occurring in isolation.  Each school has its own team, and its own experience.  We are missing a huge opportunity to collectively leverage the influence of R&D teams.

Through my involvement with the Atlanta K12 Design Challenge — a partnership between Atlanta area independent schools, Fulton County Schools, and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University — I have seen the positive impact that public and private collaboration has on our schools.   This partnership provides an opportunity for private and public schools in the Atlanta area to use Design Thinking to nurture school innovation.  As each school utilizes various elements of Design Thinking in their own individual design challenges, there are intentional moments built in for schools to pair up, share best practices, and give feedback.  This feedback is driving the design challenges forward, and it’s sparking new ideas.  The design challenges may be different, but the conversations around best practices and ideas are cohesive and insanely creative.  Schools are implementing ideas that emerge from the feedback loops. Most importantly, relationships are being built.

Inspired by my experience with the Atlanta K12 Design Challenge, I want to enhance the concept of R&D teams and propose the specific creation of teacher-led R&D teams that serve as an intentional partnership between local public, charter, and private schools. This could be achieved when a school district partnered with private and charter schools in the area, each providing at least one representative on the R&D team. Team size and focus could vary, but the teams would be driven by a common goal of innovating schools to strengthen achievement and support the diverse needs of students.

R&D teamwork is an opportunity for teachers to feel connected and empowered to lead from within their classroom. For example, through this collaborative work, teachers share ideas, observe, research, and prototype solutions as they lead initiatives within their school while maintaining their influence in the classroom. They no longer have to assume an administrative position to leverage their leadership. Instead, they can be driving forces for change within their school while continuing to teach. In this proposed approach, the R&D team’s collaborative work would be conducted in addition to classroom duties, but accompanied with a reduced class and duty load to ensure full participation.

One contributing factor to teacher isolation is a sense that in-classroom coaching and support tapers sharply after one’s first years of teaching. Through this model, the R&D team would use a variety of methods for administering needs assessments, conducting Instructional Rounds, and participating in “learning walks” across a variety of schools, thus allowing teachers an opportunity to continue to develop in their profession.

Instructional Rounds provide a unique lens through which to observe a classroom for various elements and trends occurring with specific instructional strategies. This process involves observation, and then includes a debrief, which engages the teacher and observers in critical dialogue regarding strategies and support. The debrief also serves as a coaching opportunity in which ideas are explored and feedback is given to the teacher. The learning and research here is mutually beneficial, and the team can easily use the learning from Instructional Rounds to develop targeted interventions and supports.

The continued use of needs assessments, Instructional Rounds, and learning walks within the participating schools would enable the R&D team to identify trends and patterns affecting student achievement. It is through this dialogue and this experiential learning in new contexts that the development of key resources and strategies could emerge. This development can then be taken to the R&D members’ individual schools for implementation and data collection to determine if iterations are necessary.

For example, the team may discover from a needs assessment or Instructional Rounds that 7th-grade students are experiencing disparities in the English Language Arts benchmark assessments.  After further analysis, the disparities might be correlated to teacher and resource effectiveness.  The R&D team could then analyze various curricular structures and supports in place across the different schools, then use this analysis to create stronger curriculum maps, observation and coaching cycles, and a targeted tutorial or remediation programming for personalized learning.

The overall goal for this team would be to continue their collaboration throughout each school year. Conducting needs assessments each year would drive the priorities of the R&D collaboration, in addition to defining how the team’s effectiveness in supporting student achievement is being measured.

Although schools and districts may encounter obstacles in creating teacher-led, collaborative R&D teams, there are strategies to ensure their short- and long-term success.

First, recruiting the most passionate and committed teacher leaders as participants will mean increasing financial compensation and/or reducing school duties. Although this could place an additional financial burden on some school systems and schools, the disparity can be addressed by reconsidering resource allocations with respect to human capital, time, and money.

For example, the creation of these cross-sector R&D teams might require a shift in administrative positions to take a share of classroom responsibilities so that additional time is available for teachers to meet and collaborate. There may also have to be schedule changes to provide teachers planning and off-campus collaboration time.  Depending on the location of the R&D teams, applying for state and city grants might be a viable option for securing additional funding to hire new positions, easing the workload of the teachers on the R&D teams.

Second, standardized testing will be a challenge, as it is accompanied with deadlines and pressure. If these R&D teams are to be successful, teacher leaders will need support from administration to ensure that proposed strategies and initiatives are innovative, and positively impacting student achievement. Thus, data collection and benchmarking will be critical for administrators and R&D teams to ensure that innovation complements accountability and achievement.   It will be important to strike a balance between innovation and accountability, especially for teachers who serve in public and charter schools.

While more obstacles are bound to arise, the rewards will surely outweigh the challenges. This proposal has the potential to transform our schools through a diverse partnership of teacher leaders dedicated to innovation, differentiation, and maximizing student achievement.  With the support of administrators, district officials, and state policymakers, creative solutions to the obstacles at hand will ensure the proposal of this R&D partnership and initiative can be accomplished.

A shared vision ignites passion, diverse experiences spark wildly imaginative ideas, and innovation transforms learning experiences.  It’s time to break down the walls that separate our teachers in public, charter, and private schools.  Let’s empower teachers to collaborate and lead transformation within their schools through research and development, and watch how students and communities are strengthened as a result.

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References:

Scholastic and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (2013). Primary sources: America’s teachers on teaching in an era of change (3rd ed.). Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/primarysources/PrimarySources3rdEditionWithAppendix.pdf.

Hightower, A., Delgado, R., Lloyd, S., Wittenstein, R., Sellers, K., Swanson, C. (2011). Improving student learning by supporting quality teaching: Key issues, effective strategies.  Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/media/eperc_qualityteaching_12.11.pdf.