A Collaborative Faculty Is Worth More than a School Improvement Plan … But Principals Cannot Mandate Collaboration. The Goal Then, Is to Create the Conditions Where Teachers See the Value … and Have the Time.

The best schools are characterized by faculties that are collaborative. The teachers meet regularly to discuss students, curriculum, instruction, and assessments. More than anything, this collaboration is the best way to improve professional practice. It provides the context in which teachers motivate each other to raise the bar. There are some teachers down the hall who have awesome ideas. They need to be stolen. That is what good teachers do … they steal (they call it borrowing if they feel too guilty) awesome ideas wherever they can find them. A culture of collaboration ensures that teachers benefit from the experiences and expertise of colleagues. And learning from colleagues is often more meaningful than sitting in workshops, and 47positive peer pressure from colleagues is usually more meaningful than supervisory pressure from administrators.