The session began with an Activating and Engaging activity called Looking Back...Looking Ahead (Lipton & Wellman, 2011) where participants shared how family involvement in schools has changed from the past to now and then their vision for future family involvement.

We Organized and Integrated the observations using the Traffic Light protocol (Lipton & Wellman, 2011) to discuss actions to stop, continue, and start.

References:
Learning Hero. (2017, August).  Parents 2017: Unleashing their power & potential.  New York, NY: Learning Heroes.

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

Are you familiar with the MNPS Poverty Simulation?  It was developed by the Missouri Association for Community Action (http://www.communityaction.org/povertysimulations/) and brought to MNPS and led by Allison Buzard, MNPS Equity and Diversity Coordinator to help us learn about the daily circumstances some of our families face on a regular basis.
 
On August 4, 2017, I had the privilege of helping with the MNPS Poverty Simulation as a vendor while Hull Jackson Montessori School and Jones Paideia School educators participated in the simulation.  During the simulation, I was a representative for the Office of Immigration and Customs, which I selected because all of my children are immigrants, and we had to go through the process of getting them US Citizenship.  In this role, I had to deport undocumented participants either by having their name provided as part of the simulation directions or by them being in trouble with law enforcement. The critical part of the simulation is to see the behaviors that are exhibited during the simulation.  It certainly is a wonderful learning experience.

I thank Allison for bringing this professional learning experience to MNPS.  Furthermore, I thank her for the partnership of having schools take a data dive using the collaborative inquiry process as a follow-up discussion for establishing an action plan for supporting our students.
 
If you are interested in using collaborative inquiry for facilitating data conversations and leveraging collaborative expertise, please contact Margie Johnson at [email protected].

In June 2017, Mariana Merritt, MNPS Coordinator of Family and Community Engagement, Pre-K, attended the Leading Collaborative Inquiry Teams workshop.  A challenge at the end of the workshop was to use some of the structures, strategies, and principles at your next meeting.  Mrs. Merritt was up to the challenge and is willing to share with us strategies she used and how it affected her meeting.
 
On July 15, 2017, Mariana Merritt facilitated the Parent Ambassador Annual Meeting.  Since this group just formed, their first task was to develop a vision and mission statement to guide their work for the 2017-2018 school year.  During her reflection, she shared three strategies that helped her effectively lead this collaborative team.

Thanks to Mariana Merritt for allowing us to learn with her.

If you have a collaborative inquiry story and/or need support with collaborative inquiry, please email Margie Johnson at [email protected].

References:
Lipton, L. & Wellman, B. (2015).  Leading groups: Effective strategies for building professional community.  Charlotte, VT: MiraVia, LLC.
MNPS Community of Practice. (2017).  MNPS collaborative inquiry toolkit website.  Retrieved from http://www.mnpscollaboration.org/
Wellman, B. & Lipton, L. (2017).  Data-driven dialogue: A facilitator’s guide to collaborative inquiry.  Charlotte, VT: MiraVia, LLC.

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