Learning from Our Schools

The Northwest Initiative for Teaching and Learning:
Learning from Our Schools

What do teachers need to learn so that they can teach to Washington's new standards? How do they organize precious resources so that staff development makes a difference to students? And what effect is the state's drive for accountability really having on teachers and students?
These are just a few of the questions we're pondering as we enter our sixth year of research on effective staff development funded by the Stuart Foundation. The Northwest Initiative for Teaching and Learning(NWIFTL) was founded on the premise that infusing reflection and collaboration into building-based professional development will have a profound effect on students. NWIFTL works in partnership with the teachers and principals in our ten partner school research sites, supporting their implementation of these characteristics of effective staff development, observing their struggles, applauding their successes, and asking more questions. In short, we are Learning from Our Schools.
NWIFTL is somewhat different from other research projects on school reform. Our investigators are, in a real sense, a part of the study. Their interactions stimulate building-level dialogue and reflection and actually support implementation of certain research assumptions. Although these assumptions – characteristics of effective staff development drawn from prior research – are prescribed, each school research site designed and is implementing its own staff development plan. The schools each receive a grant of $8,000 as monetary support for these additional professional development efforts. Building portfolios are used as a structure to collect evidence and analyze the connection between teacher and student learning. We work with our district, university, and agency partner organizations [1] to determine the attributes that challenge or lead to successful implementation of collaborative reflective staff development and its ultimate effect on student achievement.
It is important to note that evaluation has never been a component of NWIFTL's research. Our participants work together to understand what needs to happen within the culture of a school to support staff in making success possible for all students and we view success as steady growth measured by a variety of tools: the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), standardized tests, other performance tasks, teacher observation . . . We have learned that there are many variables affecting student achievement, including influences of programs, resources, and demographics, and that the connection between teacher learning and increased student achievement can never be a one-to-one correlation. Our initial findings, however, point to some significant trends across our research sites that confirm our original assumptions about effective staff development and, as is true with any research study, lead to further questions.
Focus on the Student

This may be stating the obvious, but our schools have discovered that they need to use student work to direct conversation about what and how students are learning. When teachers work collaboratively to reflect on whether or not their instruction has been successful, they also realize that a single assessment is not sufficient to really measure student learning. They've learned that they need to use a multitude of measurements, such as classroom based performance tasks and portfolios that measure growth over time, along with standardized tests and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Our partner school teachers have learned the importance of analyzing these data sources to learn what is and is not working for students.

Along with focusing on student work, we've learned from our schools that they make greater gains if professional development efforts are schoolwide and concentrated on one or two content areas. Working together in a particular area and sharing ideas clarifies concepts and builds a common language throughout the community; in some schools we have even observed students accurately describing vocabulary used by staff for writing instruction. Having a schoolwide focus allows more effective use of the scarce time teachers have to collaborate and provides more collegial support networks as teachers begin to implement a broader repertoire of instructional strategies.
We've also learned, however, that transferring successful professional development practices from one content area to another is not automatic and that certain disciplines lend themselves more readily to consensus about best practices than others. For example, many of our partner schools focused initially on improving writing. Staff learned together about good writing instruction and then used student work to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching, with excellent results. They were able to collect evidence that linked changes in their instruction to increased achievement through local and state-level assessments. However, when several of these schools changed their focus to reading or math, due to district directive or because they felt they were ready to move on, staff discovered strongly held – and different – philosophies that made it difficult to agree on common instructional strategies. At least one school also found it more difficult to accurately assess progress. Writing samples serve as very concrete evidence of student learning in that area; reading and math appear to be more difficult. We will continue to investigate this finding next year.
Time to Learn
Also no surprise, time continues to be one of the biggest impediments to school improvement. Blocks of time that involve the entire staff are even more scarce, but absolutely critical for teachers to access and successfully implement new knowledge about teaching and learning. NWIFTL's partner schools struggle with this issue and have "bought" time by rearranging staffing, the school day, and the school week. They still do not have enough, however, and attempts to raise standards are without concurrent resources to support new learning for teachers, including the deep analysis of student work.
Teachers have also discovered that in order for time to positively impact student learning, it must be focused and well designed with staff input and involvement. The time is spent building common vocabulary, coming to agreement about what changes are needed, and developing essential knowledge and skills about teaching and learning in order to implement these instructional changes.
NWIFTL has observed a decline in building-level autonomy over the past five years, however, along with a parallel loss of professional development time in some districts. This has been discouraging to schools and we find that the need for ongoing support from the district, especially in allocating time, does not diminish after initial implementation of instructional changes. There also appears to be a relationship between teachers' stress and motivation levels and the degree of influence teachers feel they have on their professional lives. When teachers have adequate time and participate in the decisions that affect teaching and learning, change seems to be invigorating; when it is mandated from above, it is more stressful. In fact, both situations create stress, but in the first circumstances, teachers see themselves as choosing some of that stress. It makes a difference.
Teachers Want to be Accountable

Participation in the NWIFTL partnership requires a degree of accountability unusual in education. Each school is required to keep a school portfolio and to share reflective analysis on the data they collect along with details of their struggles and successes. We were surprised to find teachers responding very positively to accountability, provided it is offered in an environment of professional respect and acknowledgment. NWIFTL schools participate in a minimum of four structured reflective conversations each year, sharing their progress with other teachers, administrators, community members, and the NWIFTL research teams. Our partner schools look forward to these events, finding them invaluable to their growth and development. Teachers clearly want to be accountable: to themselves, to the public, and especially to their students.
At the same time, we have observed a great deal of stress in our partner schools attributed to district and state mandates, particularly related to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning and its influence on classroom instructional time. When these mandates do not fit philosophically with what teachers consider to be quality instruction, they are caught in a personal and ethical dilemma. That dilemma will ultimately have a profound effect on students; some teachers are leaving the profession. At some point we must assess the assessment and the long-term impact of a high stakes environment on Washington's education system.
A Culture of Leadership
This finding was no surprise. Leadership has long been known to be a key element in successful organizations; schools and their principals are no exceptions. Leadership by key staff is also critical, however, to maintaining direction, supporting the efforts of others, and implementing effective instructional strategies. Teacher and principal leaders at NWIFTL partner schools facilitate an environment of collaborative and reflective professional development, and we are finding that this type of culture has begun to change teachers' conception of leadership itself. Many who had not thought of themselves as leaders are realizing that facilitation and support has a significant impact on the success of their colleagues.
It also cannot be stressed enough how important the principal is to developing a healthy environment for adult and student learning. This individual provides essential resources, models cooperation and collaborative learning, develops shared leadership, and is the person who "knows where we're going and believes we can get there." We are discovering that state reform offers particular challenges to leaders, however. In an era of centralized control, there are limitations to what can be addressed through building direction – even to strong leaders who possess a high degree of entrepreneurship and creativity. These limitations are especially evident when the district and school's goals are not aligned. In these schools, professional development efforts tend to be more fragmented as staff must focus on different content areas and are scattered in too many directions. This finding suggests further study as we consider how schools can maintain the sense of ownership so essential to teacher motivation and still ensure alignment with their district's focus.

The Learning Continues

These four themes of effective staff development – focus, time, accountability/acknowledgment, and leadership – come to us as lessons from our partner schools. They emerged early on and have grown stronger in our continued study of reflective collaborative professional development. Over the years we have added a variety of tools and methodologies to our data collection. Our Review Team is conducting an in-depth study of four of our schools. The Portfolio Study looks at the link between the use of classroom portfolios and teacher growth and development. The Leadership Studies examine the characteristics and emergence of leadership qualities associated with collaborative learning cultures. Annual site visitation teams and partner school forums continue to involve our partner organization representatives and school staffs in our research and offer the unique insights to our conclusions only available through the involvement of multiple perspectives. Some of these processes propose an alternative accountability system that is at the same time authentic and motivating through its professional acknowledgment of those most fundamental to student success: the teachers.

We will continue our journey to understand the nuances of professional development more deeply in this era of standards and state mandated reform. We know that there is still much to learn from our schools. The overall struggle to help students who are not meeting the standards continues. We know that additional resources and revised procedures are required to make a genuine difference. We know that the introduction of Washington's high-stakes assessments have resulted in the proliferation of additional standardized tests and that teachers worry this emphasis may remove the joy of learning from many of their lessons. And we know that even if the standards that are now in place can be reached by all students, and even if the current school calendar, school structure and prevailing instructional strategies are the most effective ways to reach those standards, the issue of sustainability of efforts over time remains.
Our schools have ventured into unknown territory, valiantly committed to the reflective and collaboration learning efforts that will result in success for all of their students. Our job has been to follow their journeys and chart their discoveries for the benefit of others. They deserve much credit for sharing their stories so openly and we know that the next year will offer even more insight into today's challenges as we prepare Washington's students for tomorrow.

[1] NWIFTL's diverse partnership includes four Washington State school districts (Bellevue, Federal Way, Issaquah, and Tahoma), Seattle Pacific University, the University of Washington, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, New Horizons for Learning, the Washington Education Association, and the Stuart Foundation.

About NWIFTL:
The Northwest Initiative for Teaching and Learning is located in Bellevue, Washington. Questions should be directed to Jill Matties, executive director, at matthiej@pioneernet.net or (425) 456-4583. We are grateful to The Stuart Foundation for funding this six-year research project.

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