How Schools Thrive - Susan K. Sparks

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Nothing meaningful is ever accomplished without embracing both the emotional and intellectual dimensions of the work.

      • Commitment is relentless. It requires acting with a sense of urgency, and it demands an unshakable dedication to the success of an idea; it requires a willingness to reject other initiatives and continue “working on the work” until you get results.

      • Commitment is purposeful. It means devoting sufficient resources and making necessary changes, even if they are hard. It requires aligning all of your policies, practices, procedures, and planning efforts to the singular goal of ensuring high levels of learning for all.

      Those who commit to coaching collaborative teams create the conditions that expand the capacity of coaches to help teams get better at getting better. In these schools, the most effective principals and teacher leaders understand that coaching is not about having all the answers or simply telling people how to improve their practice; they also understand that coaching is not reserved for the select few who have the word coach in their job description or job title.

      Leaders who commit to coaching embrace it as the primary way to deliver professional development to teachers. They are confident that, given the right opportunity, everyone will benefit from having the opportunity to be a coach and the most effective leaders will strive to create a school culture where everyone is willing to coach and be coached in an effort to improve their practice.

      Schools committed to coaching believe that coaching should not be limited to new or struggling teachers but that everyone, even the most effective teams and individual teachers, can continue to learn and improve. In these schools there is a belief that everyone has something important to share with others, and thus, everyone is encouraged, even expected, to engage with colleagues to improve.

      Five beliefs are present in schools where teacher leaders, coaches, and principals have committed to coaching as the vehicle for developing high-performing collaborative teams.

      1. Belief in the power of learning together through a process of collaboration and collective exploration: In schools committed to coaching, everyone is willing to coach and be coached in the name of improving their collective practice.

      2. Belief that together we create better solutions than any of us do by ourselves: Said another way, the smartest person in the room is the room. No one person has all the answers, but by working through a process of collective inquiry together, we create better solutions to new challenges than we can by thinking and working alone.

      3. Belief in other people and their potential to continuously learn and grow: There is always room for improvement; in fact, it is the biggest room in the school. We can only improve our collective performance through continuous learning and improvement with a real focus on helping both individuals and teams realize their collective potential.

      4. Belief that challenges are opportunities for new learning, and that problems are best addressed through careful study and reflection: If you’re too busy to reflect, you’re too busy to improve. We get the most out of people, not by telling, explaining, or even demonstrating what to do, but through engaging people in a process of action research and problem solving that helps them think through choices and options.

      5. Belief that we do the work we do to help us achieve the results we seek: The best reason to engage in the intentional coaching of collaborative teams is to help teams get better at getting better, and, ultimately, achieve the results of higher levels of learning for all.

      These beliefs are closely linked to the essential elements of a PLC as outlined in the definition of PLC: “an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve” (DuFour et al., 2016, p. 10). They serve as the foundation of coaching collaborative teams. In a PLC, teams must develop a certain degree of mastery over essential elements of the PLC process, which include collective inquiry, continuous improvement, action orientation, and a focus on results (which are the topics of the chapters in part II of this book). In schools committed to coaching, collaborative teams incorporate these elements—as well as the specific tasks, routines, and habits that support them—into their professional practice every day. PLC leaders must recognize that in order to ensure high levels of learning for all, it is not enough for teams in their schools merely to survive; teams must thrive.

      Take a moment to think about how teams in your school develop habits of practice. Are their habits the result of a conscious, purposeful, and intentional process grounded in what research tells us about best practice, or have they evolved haphazardly in a random and arbitrary fashion over an extended period of time? And, to what are their habits of practice aligned? Have teams identified the mission-critical habits of practice they aspire to see in their school? Do the team’s habits reflect the values, beliefs, and commitments of the school, or are they based on history, past precedent, and personal preference?

      When teams have established the right habits for the right reasons, they can overcome any obstacle in their path. It matters not if they are challenged by a new set of standards, implementation of new curricula, or changes in student demographics; they will consistently respond in ways that promote high levels of learning for all.

      It is the combination of effectiveness and efficiency that creates higher levels of productivity on collaborative teams. Teams become more effective when individual tasks are combined in routines and more efficient when the routines become habits of professional practice. The goal of those in coaching roles is to make the work of collaborative teams as productive as possible, and teams become more productive when they create positive habits around their professional practice. Coaches recognize that productive habits don’t happen by chance; they develop as coaches and leaders support teams with ongoing clarity, feedback, and support.

      As an example of the symbiotic relationship between effectiveness and efficiency, consider the activities or tasks associated with PLC critical question one, What do we want students to know and be able to do? (DuFour et al., 2016). Responding to question one requires teams to accomplish a number of individual tasks including prioritizing and unwrapping the standards, identifying high-leverage learning targets, developing learning progressions, and drafting student-friendly “I can” statements. Each of these individual tasks is beneficial in and of itself, but when a number of tasks or activities are combined into a single routine, teams amplify the impact of their efforts; said another way, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. As these routines become ingrained in the everyday working environment, they become habits of practice. Teams that develop habits of practice complete their work faster, with greater confidence, and more ownership of the outcome. In this case, when the way teams respond to question one becomes a habit, they no longer think about the individual steps associated with the task; they just do the work!

      Oftentimes, teams new to the PLC process are given time to meet in collaborative teams without direction on how they should spend their time. Without guidance from someone in a coaching role, these teams may end up discussing topics like tardy policies, field trips, or discipline issues, which have nothing to do with responding to the four PLC critical questions or ensuring that all students learn to high levels. Unfortunately, when teams do not receive the kind of support and guidance that coaching can provide, the result is the development of unproductive habits that do not move teacher teams or student achievement forward. Therefore, it is imperative that leaders provide teams with differentiated coaching that helps them identify the tasks and routines that they must develop in order to create new habits consistent with the premises of the PLC process.

      It is not uncommon for teams to develop inefficient and ineffective habits that are harmful to teaching and learning. These bad habits often develop precisely because teams have little or no coaching. Teams may be doing the best they can with what they know at the time, but simply lack the knowledge and leadership needed to move forward in a productive way. One of the key responsibilities of those in coaching roles is to help teams become more productive.

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