Alignment and collaboration at all levels to support new instructional practices

Alignment and constant collaboration between district teams and school leaders to support professional learning around new instructional strategies.

Challenge: New initiatives and practices cannot be implemented well without alignment and shared ownership across the board. If teachers only learn about new strategies from district leaders without reinforcement and support from school-based leaders, the practices feel top-down and are forgotten over time.

Details: Successful roll-out and implementation of new initiatives and practices require intentional change management. When districts innovate and shift to innovative teaching practices, such as personalized learning or project-based learning, it requires alignment and investment with all stakeholders. While district leaders may lead the design and development of the instructional vision and practices, they need leaders at all levels — other district teams, school leaders, coaches, and teachers — to reinforce the same principles.

To create shared ownership of these new practices, leaders integrate key stakeholders into all parts of the process — developing the vision, designing the practices, building the skills, coaching and iterating, reflecting and innovating, etc. With shared ownership, alignment, and investment at all levels, educators receive cohesive, comprehensive, and reinforcing supports to ensure successful implementation.

Examples:

• Distinctive Schools ensure school-based leaders are deeply aligned with network leaders. Though network teams may lead PD around personalized learning, instructional coaches and school leaders support through co-facilitation, participation, and debriefing each session, ensuring alignment and cohesiveness across leadership teams.
• Henry County Schools builds alignment in instructional vision by ensuring all teams supporting teachers — including the personalized learning team, the professional learning team, school leaders, site-based personalized learning coaches, etc. — collaborate deeply on the professional learning structures and content.
• Dallas Independent School District builds educator and leader capacity around personalized learning and innovation by running Design Studios. In these full-day sessions, run three times a year, select school leaders, personalized learning coordinators, instructional coaches, and teachers come together to apply design thinking and iterate on current instructional practices. Through this day of design, leaders at all levels collaborate and align as they innovate on the current model.
• Natick Public School District builds teacher and leader capacity for Personalized Learning through it’s strong professional Learning Community structure where teachers and leaders work together to advance new practices that solve problems in the classroom and develop professional practice skills. Leaders belong to a strong network of school districts in Massachusetts that are part of the MAPLE consortium http://learnlaunch.org/maple/ Natick is a catalyst district for this organization that works to advance personalized learning in the state. They do this via Learning Tours, PLNs, and Master Classes for School Leaders.

Teacher Actions:

• Participate in professional learning structures that reinforce the same principles, foundations, and ideas.
• Natick Public School Teachers at the Middle School Level learning how to incorporate deep project based learning to the curriculum documented it’s process by creating a website that shared the PBLs created with all of the staff. Using a Gallery Walk and Hackathon process they shared what was learned and discussed problems of practice with the entire staff at both Middle Schools Gr 5-8.
• Engage in the design and iteration process with school and district leaders, building on and supporting the vision of new practices.

Leader Actions:

• Align with other leaders across school sites and district teams around vision and implementation.
• Collaboratively co-design, reflect on, and iterate instructional practices with other leaders.