Collaboration - a 21st Century skill we must value with more than lip service

Last week, I was humbled to be asked to present at the BC Principals and Vice Principals Association a presentation entitled "Restructuring not Refinancing - changing structures to improve student achievement".  Part of what I presented was a model that was based upon the work of Dufour, Dufour and Eaker that we have adapted to use at our school.  In this model, we have weekly collaborative time for teachers backed on to subject-specific tutorial time for students.  It has given teachers an opportunity to work on ropics in curriculum, instruction and formative and summative assessment:  in its fourth year of existence at our school, we have seen a steady increase in the results of our survey of staff in improvement of instructional practice, as well as a notable increase in success rates in all courses for our students.  While we are far from perfect, and there are many bumps in the road, I feel like we are definitely moving in the right direction. 

In the litany of research that is out there about the importance of schools becoming professional learning communities (just a few listed below), and what we are hearing in terms of collaboration being a 21st Century skill that we must teach (and model, I might add) to students, I still am puzzled as to why it has taken so long for this concept to catch on.

I was so pleased to hear that districts in New Brunswick have taken this very seriously (see http://umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/articles/williamsspraguesullivanbrien.html).  I think that they have hit it on the head by hitting this head on.  I think their courage in this area is something that I would love to see all districts follow--they have valued the collaborative process with more than just lip service.

I think we could all take a lesson from New Brunswick when it comes to creating a collaborative learning environment.

Making Time for Collaboration. Adapted from Learning by Doing: A Professional Learning Community at work
DuFour Burnette, R, Eaker, R, Many, T (2006). Solution Tree. pp.95-97.

Professional Learning Communities:Exploring the power of teamwork
Posnick-Goodwin, Sherry (2007). CTA (California Teachers Association). November. Volume 12, Issue 3 retrieved on 2/4/2008 from http://www.cta.org/media/publications/educator/archives/2007/1107_feat_01.htm.

Shared Vision, Team Learning, and Professional Learning Communities
McKelvy, Earline, Thompson, Sue .Middle Ground. Volume 10. Number 3,pg12-14. Retrieved on 11/29/07 from http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/MiddleGround/Articles.  

Teacher Collaboration in Raising Student Achievement
Olverson, Tyrone L., Ritchey, Sandra (2007). Staff Development Council of Ohio. SDCO Fall Professional Newsletter No. 5, December .

Teachers Working Together to Improve Instruction
Mednick, Amy (2004). 'Conversations' Center for Collaborative Education. Volume 4 (2) Spring 2004.

Working Smarter by Working Together
Honawar, Vaishali (2008). Education Weekly. April 2. Vol. 27, Issue 31, Pages 25-27. Retrieved on 4/3 at http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/04/02/31plc_ep.h27.html?print=1.