Setting Up the Achievement Team
Isolation is the enemy of learning.
—National Association of Elementary School Principals
In recent years, teacher collaboration has deepened and now has a much broader influence on educational outcomes. Many schools and districts now focus on improving and expanding teacher impact, encouraging teachers to share their strategies as they accelerate student achievement. Achievement Teams do just that.
With Achievement Teams, members are responsible for a number of tasks. The most important among them are evaluating their instructional impact and identifying gaps in learning. Once a team has identified those gaps, members can begin to address them.
How Do We Create Teams?
Forming Achievement Teams is a joint responsibility of building leadership and team participants, although teams often form organically. The size of the teams and the number of teams at a single site are based on school size, faculty size, and other factors. An ideal team size would be three to six teachers, with at least two and generally no more than seven members to a team.
Based on our personal observation, there are three common models of team formation:
Specialist and elective teams
Horizontal Teams
Forming horizontal teams is probably the most common approach to bringing teachers together because these teams typically consist of teachers from the same grade level and content area (see Figure 1.1). Horizontal teams develop and administer common formative assessments and share the same goals and purpose. For example, after reviewing assessment results and other grade-level indicators, horizontal teams may consider revising their focus based on the evidence they have collected. This focus can target a subject area, an identified student population, or even micro-trend data, like data related to question rigor (easy, medium, or hard).
Figure 1.1. Horizontal Algebra I Achievement Team
Vertical Teams
Vertical teams (see Figure 1.2) can be just as effective as horizontal teams. In our experience, having worked in the roles of teacher, principal, and district superintendent, some schools simply do not have enough grade-level teachers to form a horizontal team. However, this need not be a cause for alarm, because many opportunities and configurations support vertical teaming.
Figure 1.2. Vertical ELA Achievement Team
For example, small or rural schools use vertically aligned teams to maximize collaboration while creating learning opportunities or grade-level progressions. Members of a vertical team may not be able to administer a common formative assessment, but they can use formative assessments specific to their content area.
Vertical teams can focus on vertically aligned content areas, like math and English language arts (ELA). Many curriculum guides are written in a manner that makes this possible. For example, a vertical ELA team might consist of one 4th grade teacher, one 5th grade teacher, and one 6th grade teacher. Even though team members cannot administer the same assessment, they can assess vertical skills, such as students' ability to compare and contrast, analyze text, and determine the central idea in a text. Such an assessment can provide tremendous insight into how students perform as they matriculate from one grade level to the next.
Vertical team members can
Share their individual assessment results.
Share how they teach a lesson.
Share student work samples.
Schools can design vertical teams in other ways. Some schools may have leadership teams made up of a teacher representative from each horizontal or vertical Achievement Team. In this situation, the teacher representatives meet to discuss common goals, strengths, and weaknesses trending across grade-level and curricular areas. This vertical team can develop a schoolwide focus on strengthening effective teaching strategies, creating a shared vocabulary, and providing support structures for students to successfully move from one grade level to the next. Even more compelling are vertical teams' opportunities to cross-reference horizontal work and continue to recognize and close gaps in schoolwide learning. For example, a P.E. teacher in a vertical team who is focusing on nonfiction writing may cross-reference scoring guides and success criteria from grade-level horizontal teams and use them to instill commonalities. This supports all educators working toward a schoolwide goal and gives them a common language and focus.
Specialist and Elective Teams
These teams consist of teachers who may have a single prep or content area. Following are some examples of areas that specialist teams may pull from:
Specialist teams represent the most diverse teaming. However, a common thread runs through them. Many of these team members will have taught the same students; they also have multiple opportunities to collaborate around common targets. Elective teachers who collaborate typically base that collaboration on target areas stressed by core teaching classrooms.
For example, in many of our clients' schools, elective teachers agree that writing is essential in specialist disciplines. Beyond promoting strong literacy, writing as an instructional strategy has led to increased levels of student success in just about all areas of the curriculum. If a specialist team were to address this topic, teachers in the various electives would ask their students to respond to different writing prompts, but they all would use the same scoring guide or rubric to assess the writing.
For example, physical education teachers might ask students to write about this volleyball prompt:
If you could add two rules to volleyball, what would they be and why? Include two to three reasons to support your thinking.
There is a common pushback from teachers about assigning writing in elective classes: "We don't teach writing." The fact is, you don't need to be a writing teacher to know if students can summarize a text or locate the main idea. And ferreting out this information can be exceptionally helpful, to both the student and the teacher.
What About Time?
Clients often ask us how long an Achievement Team meeting should last. The answer is, it depends. Schools and districts have dedicated a different number of collaboration minutes depending on their schedules. When teachers have a set time to meet, it's best not to saddle that time with a long agenda or other administrative duties. In one cycle, typically over the course of one month, Achievement Teams will meet twice; they'll meet first for the pre-assessment review and then, approximately two to three weeks later, for the post-assessment review.
The pre-assessment meeting should focus on increasing collaboration around the following four-step Achievement Teams protocol to improve teaching strategies and student achievement:
Step 1. Collect and chart the data.
Step 3. Create baseline evidence statements.
Step 4. Select high-yield instructional strategies.
Generally, the first two steps don't require as much time as the last two because they're preparing for the deeper discussions that occur later on. Often, teams will have already entered their assessment results into a collection form we provide (Step 1). This form uses a simple algorithm to suggest a SMART goal between the pre- and post-assessment in the specific area the teachers are targeting (Step 2). The first two steps should drive the subsequent conversation around what is and isn't working for students (Step 3) and allow plenty of time to determine which instructional strategies teachers will implement (Step 4). A good rule of thumb is the 20/80 principle: Steps 1 and 2 should take about 20 percent of the time, and Steps 3 and 4 should take about 80 percent of the time.
Figure 1.3 shows recommended timing suggestions for all four steps in meetings that last from 45 to 90 minutes. Teams should find the time allotments that work best for them depending on need.
Figure 1.3. Sample Achievement Teams Time Allotment
Steps 1 and 2, 20% of the meeting, 9 minutes
Steps 3 and 4, 80% of the meeting, 36 minutes
Steps 1 and 2, 20% of the meeting, 12 minutes
Steps 3 and 4, 80% of the meeting, 48 minutes
Steps 1 and 2, 20% of the meeting, 15 minutes
Steps 3 and 4, 80% of the meeting, 60 minutes
Steps 1 and 2, 20% of the meeting, 18 minutes
Steps 3 and 4, 80% of the meeting, 72 minutes
The post-assessment meeting is a synthesis of the whole process and provides an opportunity for educators to determine whether they attained their goals. During this session, team members assess their impact as teachers and leave with summative statements about what worked in that cycle, how many students are still struggling, and whether they need to provide additional buffer instruction. A post-assessment meeting does not require as much time as a pre-assessment meeting.
What About Roles?
To be successful in this work, teachers on an Achievement Team must believe they have the power to design engaging lessons and implement highly effective instructional strategies that will lead to student success. Everyone on the team should feel that they have a voice and can make a difference in their students' lives. According to Jim Knight (2019), team members become responsibly accountable "to students, parents, other stakeholders, and the profession of teaching. Responsible accountability entails a genuine individual commitment to learning and growth" (para. 14).
For teams to work smoothly, active member participation is a must. In addition, a number of roles should be assigned, such as facilitator, data recorder, timekeeper, and accuracy monitor. Instructional leaders will want to identify the facilitator as someone who can keep members engaged and focused. We also recommend that the person in this role has a strong understanding of instruction and assessment. Other roles can be determined within the rest of the team. Figure 1.4 lists the various roles and their responsibilities.
Figure 1.4. Achievement Team Roles
☑ Reviews norms and sets the focus
☑ Keeps the group on task
☑ Encourages everyone to participate
☑ Helps set the agenda for the next meeting
☑ Collects the data by an identified date
☑ Records ideas and input from the meeting
☑ Asks the group for feedback on accuracy
☑ Communicates and shares the final record to the group and administrators, as needed
☑ Divides the time for tasks
☑ Keeps the group moving through the four-step protocol based on the 20/80 rule
☑ Gives periodic signals as to how the time allotment is progressing
☑ Verifies instructional strategies
☑ Monitors consistent implementation
☑ Collaborate with others using a growth mindset
☑ Come to meetings prepared and on time
☑ Seek and provide data and input
☑ Actively engage in discussion
☑ Monitor self-adherence to norms
☑ Stay focused on the agenda, purpose, and goals of the meeting
A Monthly Pacing Guide
Achievement Teams work best when they take time to set up pre- and post-assessment cycles to monitor both student achievement and teacher impact. Figure 1.5 shows an Achievement Team cycle that takes place over a month, between the beginning and the end of an instructional unit.
Figure 1.5. Sample Pacing Calendar for Achievement Teams
Monday: Administer pre-assessment
Tuesday: Achievement Team pre-assessment meeting
Monday: Administer post-assessment
Tuesday: Achievement Team post-assessment meeting
In this sample cycle, the teachers will pre-teach content before administering the first assessment. After the pre-assessment, team members will analyze the results in conjunction with the Achievement Team four-step process. Teachers will then have eight days to prepare for the post-assessment. Once they administer the post-assessment, two buffer days are built into the cycle for remediation or acceleration of student learning.
Three Accelerators of Success
Three "accelerators" help teams increase their overall effectiveness: focus, clarity, and accountability. They establish a vision of excellence that encourages teams to move forward by fostering personal ownership and transparency.
Accelerator 1: Focus
Focus requires an honest assessment of where we are and then prioritizes where we need to be. When teams can identify a level of focused collaboration, with team members agreeing on what students should learn and what teachers should assess—most often, an important learning target or skill that teachers have noticed many students need development in—engagement levels increase and motivation and enthusiasm thrive.
In her book Smart Tribes (2013), Cristine Comaford explains that focus includes the ability to prioritize high-value activities and manage the low-value tasks that waste time. The psychological advantages of implementation increase when teachers and other stakeholders realize that to accomplish something significant, they will need to discontinue other tasks deemed insignificant or ineffective, such as worksheets, homework at the primary level, excessive surface-level instruction, and other regressive teaching practices that are not rigorous or engaging enough for students.
Focus is paramount as we approach those learning intentions and instructional strategies that we must address now. If you have ever observed or been a member of a highly functioning team, you probably know that focus acts as an energizer and is the driving force behind meaningful collaboration.
Accelerator 2: Clarity
Changing systems of collaboration and assessment requires a considerable degree of clarity. In fact, PLCs and other collaborative protocols often fail because of a lack of clarification about the meaning, purpose, and expectations of the team. To provide clarity for team members, it's beneficial to create criteria for meeting protocols—specifically norms. Figure 1.6 lists some sample success criteria, or norms, that do just that.
Figure 1.6. Success Criteria for Effective Collaboration
In successful collaboration, team members
Understand that assessment results reflect their instructional effort.
Understand that their primary function is to evaluate the effect of their teaching.
Bring resources to meetings, including assessment results and student work samples and evidence.
Share master and vicarious experiences focused on improving instructional success.
Create and review norms before meetings and adhere to the meeting time and purpose.
Build relational trust so collaboration can occur under the most positive conditions, where mistakes are OK and learning from others is essential.
As the figure shows, success criteria for meetings provide teams with explicit behaviors that will improve meeting conditions, thus providing opportunities for validation and new thinking.
But such clarity is not always the case in schools. One of the most frustrating issues with initiative implementation is the lack of clarity from building or system-level leadership. In this chaotic environment, teams resort to lower-level teaching and learning, with an emphasis on confusion. When teachers and leaders don't outwardly state the purpose, function, and desired outcomes of each meeting, it leads to generalized, and often incorrect, assumptions about the goal. Teams lose momentum, struggle with collaboration, and never truly get to appreciate the results of their efforts. Moreover, the promise of appropriating new knowledge about teaching and learning never reaches full potential. In fact, bad PLCs are worse than no PLCs because they perpetuate bad pedagogy.
Accelerator 3: Accountability
When we talk about accountability for Achievement Teams, we mean much more than just improving outcomes. Team accountability begins with recognizing individuals first and then creating a vibrant, energized, and passionate group of educators who understand the power of their collective impact. Without this accountability, it's much more difficult for teams to reach their desired goals.
Team members want to know what they're supposed to accomplish and what they're accountable for. Team accountability begins with the following foundational expectations:
See the value in following collaborative protocols consistently.
Monitor progress and look for opportunities to improve collaboration.
Reflect on results and accomplishments.
Celebrate success and acknowledge challenges.
Recognize success and learn how to replicate it.
Make instructional adjustments.
Share progress and best practices with one another.
But it's not just up to team members. School leaders have a crucial role to play, too. They must provide encouragement and support, and they need to understand that the degree of implementation makes the greatest difference. In high-performing schools, the leadership is more directly involved in coordinating the curriculum across grade levels than in lower-performing schools (Heck, Marcoulides, & Lang, 1991). Moreover, teachers in higher-performing schools report that their leaders are actively involved in collegial discussion of instructional matters, including how instruction affects student achievement (Heck et al., 1991).
Reflection Activity: Effective Collaborative Teams
Have you ever been a member of a highly functioning team? What helped guide the team to reach its goals? Reflect on your experience and record the behaviors and actions that contributed to the team's success.
Conditions Present When You Were a Member of an Effective Team
Now compare the conditions you and your colleagues recorded with the success criteria in Figure 1.6.
"But We Don't Have Time to Meet!"
Although having a dedicated meeting time is always a best practice, some teams struggle to find time to meet on a regular basis. When this happens, we encourage teams to be creative. Here are some suggestions:
Teams find a single professional learning day when they can spend a greater amount of time planning as a group.
Teams break meetings into smaller sessions that occur more frequently, such as meeting 10 or 15 minutes every day.
Teams accomplish meeting protocols on their own and collaborate through a community platform like Slack or Microsoft Teams to engage in conversations over the course of a week or another timeframe. This works best when teams keep consistent timelines and deadlines.
Best Practices for Virtual Achievement Teams
Virtual teams are common practice. Teachers from multiple buildings might form a virtual team to save travel time to meetings, or it might just be easier to meet virtually for other reasons. Whatever the impetus, Achievement Teams can be successful from a distance when teams follow these guidelines. Team members should
Commit to team roles, even from a distance.
Create a shareable spreadsheet to collect data and make sure all team members can see and access the sheet.
Have their cameras on so everyone sees one another and stays focused on the meeting time and goals.
Key Takeaways
Achievement Teams can take the form of horizontal teams, vertical teams, or specialized teams.
Focus, clarity, and accountability drive the success of Achievement Teams.
Setting success criteria for effective collaboration enables the team to create an environment grounded in collective efficacy.
Finding and prioritizing time to meet virtually or in person will enable Achievement Teams to have the greatest impact.
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