Community’s Work Nets High-Quality Results

After developing a problem of practice, participants created a KASAB (knowledge, attitudes, skills, aspirations, behaviors — see table below) around their problem of practice. Teams then developed a theory of change and logic model.

Early on, the leadership team simply complied with the requests to complete these processes. Once they finished and reflected on the conversations, participants recognized the power of these protocols.

This initial work was done as a community of learners, in which each team shared results with the other school district teams. This sharing and feedback from colleagues proved powerful and helped participants refine their work to a higher quality than would have been possible by working in isolation — the very definition of a community of practice.

Principals Join The Learning Community

After working together for 1½ years, Galveston County Learning Leaders superintendents extended the work to principals in their districts by engaging principals in an institute on effective professional learning. Although district leadership teams shared what they were learning with principals in their districts and facilitated sessions to develop new skills in leading professional learning, they believed an institute would boost their work. Because the group’s problem of practice focuses on developing district professional learning plans that positively impact the skills of principals to engage teachers in standards-driven professional learning at their schools, this request seemed like a natural extension of the work.

Together, superintendents and coaches crafted a curriculum for the institute that focuses on engaging everyone in the cycle of continuous improvement, using the Standards for Professional Learning to design effective professional learning for teams of teachers, change theory, giving precise feedback, and coaching for success. Principals engaged in authentic learning with collaborative teams around a common issue and worked together to apply the precise professional learning deemed necessary to propel change at their school.

Here is what we’ve learned:

• Combining intensive professional learning for district leaders who then organize principals in communities of learners is essential to building a learning system in a district.
• Principals learning together around a problem of practice focused on their district’s goals accelerate learning of all and facilitate the implementation of district initiatives.
• District leadership teams working side by side with principal learning communities keep all focused on the primary learning expected of all.
• When principals learn from each other, equity develops across the district.

Responses from participants in the principals institute have been promising. Data taken from principals attending the institute strongly suggest that they perceive considerable benefit from their participation. While some described the rigor of the content as “challenging,” the vast majority noted the value of the learning experience.

Principals overwhelmingly expressed an appreciation for the time to collaborate with colleagues from their own district as well as an opportunity to form relationships with principals from other districts. One participant said, “We experienced better clarification of the process and had ample opportunity to digest, reflect, and utilize the new information. Thanks for the specific examples!”