"Culture eats strategy for breakfast." ~Peter Drucker

This quote summarizes the importance of culture in an organization.  On December 12, 2017, Dr. Shelly Dunaway, Executive Principal at Two Rivers Middle, and her staff used the collaborative inquiry process to analyze culture and climate data for informing culture and climate change at Two Rivers Middle.

The meeting began with a strategy called visual synectic.  In this strategy, two seemingly unalike ideas are compared.  It is  an excellent brainstorming activity and helps develop psychological safety at the beginning of the meeting.  For this meeting, staff members engaged in a conversation about "culture is like Walt Disney World because...."

After activating and engaging staff members in the conversation about culture, the staff participated in the culture and climate data dive.  During the data dive, staff members were asked to make observations of the following culture and climate data sets:

• SEL Walkthrough Data and Rubric
• Teacher Panorama Data
• Student Panorama Data

The observations were organized and integrated using the Traffic Light protocol (Lipton & Wellman, 2012) to discuss what might be some next steps to stop, continue, and start for Spring 2018.

If you'd like to learn more about their work, go here: www.mnpscollaboration.org/two-rivers-dec-2017-culture-and-climate.html

GOOD NEWS!!
A BIG SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU to everyone who has been part of the MNPS Collaborative Inquiry work as you are part of work that's being recognized nationally by others.

• Chapter 9 in the book, Data Leadership for K-12 Schools in a Time of Accountability features MNPS' Collaborative Inquiry work.  You can email me for a copy of the chapter OR access it on the MNPS Collaborative Inquiry Toolkit website on this page (scroll down a little to access it): www.mnpscollaboration.org/about.html
• Dr. Joellen Killion updated her book, Assessing Impact: Evaluating Professional Learning.  In the appendixes, you will find MNPS' Collaborative Inquiry logic models, Teacher Data Use Survey, Evaluation Plan interview protocols, and MNPS Collaborative Inquiry Innovation Configuration Map.  You can find her book here: www.amazon.com/Assessing-Impact-Evaluating-Professional-Learning-ebook/dp/B077L5VDX6

References:
Lipton, L., & Wellman, B. (2011).  Groups at work: Strategies and structures for professional learning.  Sherman, VT: MiraVia, LLC.

 You might see that acronym BHAG and be thinking......"what in the world does that mean?"  Well, Cole Elementary has brought BHAGs to their school (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) as a way of having "unrelenting focus, clarity of thought, consistent communication, alignment of resources, innovation, discipline, and teamwork" (Sparks, 2007, p. 13). 

Cole Elementary started the year with a literacy BHAG and decided to create a BHAG for math.  To create the math BHAG, they used the collaborative inquiry process during grade level team meetings to get teacher voice about the math BHAG.  Once the teachers' BHAGs were compiled, the leadership team met to finalize the math BHAG.  Then, on November 16th, grade level teams are meeting to collaboratively develop action plans for achieving their math BHAG.

To read more about their BHAG work, go here: www.mnpscollaboration.org/cole-elem-bhag-fall-2017

Cole Elementary also participated in the SEL Culture and Climate Walk-through.  On November 6th, the collaborative inquiry process was used to help them analyzed the data and discuss actions they might stop, continue, and start to continue working on the culture of the building.

To learn more about that exciting work, go here: www.mnpscollaboration.org/cole-elem-culture-and-climate--2016.html

If you have a collaborative story to share or would like to request assistance, please contact Margie Johnson at margie.johnson@mnps.org.

Reference:
Sparks, D. (2007).  Leading for results: Transforming teaching, learning, and relationships in schools.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Drs. Erin Anderson and Craig Hammond have been part of the collaborative inquiry journey since 2014.  They were part of the initial workshops with Dr. Laura Lipton and Bruce Wellman, helped inform the IC Map, and participated in the Spring 2016 and 2016-2017 Collaborative Inquiry Community of Practice.  It has been an honor having them part of our collaborative inquiry learning experience. 

Wishing you all the best in your new leadership positions.  I look forward to see how collaborative inquiry is used to inform your work.

On Friday, May 19th, I had the honor to work with Joelton Middle Prep and the Family Engagement Department.  During the meeting, representatives from Joelton Middle Prep’s leadership team used the collaborative inquiry process to analyze various sources of family engagement data.  While I facilitated the meeting, several Family Engagement staff members observed the meeting to learn about the structures, strategies, and principles that I use to facilitate the collaborative inquiry process.  After the meeting, we discussed some of the structures, strategies, and principles that I used to lead the collaborative inquiry meeting.
 
Thanks to the Joelton Middle leadership team and Family Engagement Department for allowing me to facilitate these wonderful learning conversations.
 
To learn more about this work, check out:

• Joelton Middle Prep Family Engagement Data Dive: http://www.mnpscollaboration.org/family-engagement-data-dive.html
  
• Leading Collaborative Inquiry Discussion: http://www.mnpscollaboration.org/leading-collaborative-inquiry.html
  

One theory I now see in practice often is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  The premise of Maslow's theory is we need to have basic needs met BEFORE we can be in a psychological state for learning.  Not only have I seen this theory in action at MNPS but with one of my own sons.  Hence, the reason I'm excited about the work that the MNPS SEL department is leading in our district.  Schools that are working to develop a safe, welcoming culture and climate are well on their way to increasing student success.

I share about this collaboration not only to applaud them for their work in supporting student basic needs to foster learning, but to highlight how they have embedded the collaborative inquiry in their work.  If your school chooses to have a culture and climate walkthrough using the tool that the SEL department developed through collaboration with national experts, then the collaborative inquiry process is used to analyze the data and develop next steps. 

To see an example of the collaborative inquiry process in action, please see the below minutes from Goodlettsville Elementary school's walkthrough.  Babs Freeman-Lotis, from the SEL department, facilitated the discussion.

Do you have examples or ideas for how the collaborative inquiry process might be used?  If so, please feel free to contact Margie Johnson at margie.johnson@mnps.org.

--Dr. Lyn Sharratt, Fall 2016

When I was a middle school teacher and attended professional development workshops, one of my biggest complaints was the day would focus on theory, but I would never get to “see” the theory in practice.  Needless to say, I implemented very little of what I learned from those experiences. 
 
The best technique I found for changing my practice was by experiencing the strategy and collaborating with other teachers.  Also, a theme that is surfacing as a powerful principle of supporting student success is collaborative professionalism.  However, how do we foster collaborative professionalism as a way that we do work and not an additional task added to the overflowing plates of educators?
 
With these ideas in mind, it’s the main reason why the collaborative inquiry process is taught by immersing school staff in a collaborative experience with the process.
 
On January 4, 2017, Margaret Allen Middle and Head Magnet Middle had the opportunity to experience the collaborative inquiry process while reviewing the culture and climate walkthrough data.  You can read more about their experiences by clicking on their names..

Do you have a collaborative inquiry story to share?  If so, please let me know.
 
Also, If you and/or your school are interested in learning more about collaborative inquiry and how it can support student success, please feel free to reach out to Margie Johnson at margie.johnson@mnps.org.

Reference:
Sharratt, L. (Fall 2016).  Setting the table for collaborative professionalism.  Principal Connections, 20(1), 34-37.  Retrieved from http://www.lynsharratt.com/pdf/collective_professionalism.pdf

One focus of MNPS’ Theory of Action is culture.  A tool being used with some MNPS’ middle schools to gather culture data is the Culture and Climate Walkthrough Instrument developed by MNPS’ Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) department.  According to Kyla Krengel, Director of SEL, the Culture and Climate rubric and walkthrough instrument was developed as a result of MNPS’ partnership with CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.  The rubric was created with input from MNPS educators and national experts and provides a common language of school culture and climate.  You can access the rubric HERE.
 
At Rose Park Magnet Math and Science Middle, we used the collaborative inquiry process to facilitate a discussion about the culture and climate data gathered at their school.  Common planning teams took a deep dive in identifying key observations from the data, then proposing multiple theories of causation.  Now, the leadership team is developing a survey for reaching a consensus on a theory to dive deeper into and creating a community of practice around the issue.
 
To read more about Rose Park Magnet Math and Science Middle collaborative inquiry journey, please go HERE.

If you have a collaborative inquiry story to share or need any support, please feel free to email Margie Johnson at margie.johnson@mnps.org.

During my first year of teaching 8th grade math and science, I decided to put my students into cooperative groups for a math project.  I was trying something new and even had my university supervisor coming to observe me. (In KY new teachers are observed at least 9 times a year by principal, mentor teacher, and university supervisor.)

Dr. Maya Angelou has a quote, "When you know better you do better."  Well, let's just say that when the lesson where I used cooperative groups was observed, I had ALOT to learn.  I had basically put students together and said, "cooperate".  I lacked structures, strategies, and principles for facilitating the cooperative learning process.

Today, there's research about the importance of leveraging collaboration and social capital in schools (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012; Hattie, 2015) for improving student success.  However, just like I did in my classroom, educational organizations are putting teachers together in common planning time and saying, "collaborate."  How well do you think this is working?

The collaborative inquiry process is a tool for providing structures, strategies, and group dynamic principles to help teams move from dialogue, to discussion, to decisions.  The best part is that voices are heard and ownership is fostered, so that the actions really occur.

Let me share with you an example last week, November 8th from Murrell School where the TELL survey data was used with faculty to make recommendations for improving culture and climate.  They made some excellent recommendations for supporting student success. 

Here's what Susan Siegel, Executive Principal of Murrell School, shared about the process: "It was wonderful!  I loved the process, and learned great strategies in working with staff.  I talked to several teachers and they really appreciated the steps taken, and felt all voices were heard. Many also said they were pleased that we had a plan to ensure changes.  All said you did a terrific job and thought the entire PD was exciting and energizing."

You can read more about Murrell's work at http://www.mnpscollaboration.org/murrell--culture-and-climate-2016-2017.html.

Thanks Murrell for inviting me to be part of the conversation.  I look forward to continued collaboration.

If you and/or your school is interested in learning more about the collaborative inquiry process for fostering data conversations, please feel free to contact Margie Johnson at margie.johnson@mnps.org.

References:
Hargreaves, A. & Fullan, M. (2012).  Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every school.  New York City, NY: Teachers College Press.

Hattie, J. (2015).  What works best in education: The politics of collaborative expertise.  Retrieved from https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/corporate/global/pearson-dot-com/files/hattie/150526_ExpertiseWEB_V1.pdf

The wordle represents the words used during the day to describe the staff's vision for John Early.

To access the vision and mission statement drafts, use this LINK.