Educational Leadership

week with same-grade teachers across content areas. During these periods, teachers study student learning and use what they learn to guide their instructional planning.

If teachers have few opportunities to observe one another’s teaching, they might videotape their teaching to watch and discuss together. Asking another teacher to cover a class so a new teacher can observe a seasoned one and coordinating team teaching are other options that allow for mutual observations. Knowing that school leaders value such collaborative practices may be the incentive teachers need to take the first step.

Community building can also occur
outside school hours—during summer
faculty picnics, meetings at coffee
shops, or potlucks. Such events can be
particularly meaningful to new faculty,
who may feel more comfortable asking
questions or collaborating with peers
whom they have come to know—and
outside the time constraints of the daily
schedule.

References

Goddard, Y. L., Goddard, R. D., & Tschannen-Moran, M. (2007). A theoretical and empirical investigation of teacher collaboration for school improvement and student achievement in public elementary schools. Teachers College Record, 109( 4), 877–896.

Moolenaar, M. N., Sleegers, P. J. C., & Daly, A. J. (2012). Teaming up: Linking collaboration networks, collective efficacy, and student achievement. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 28( 2), 251–262.

Ingersoll, R. (2001). Teacher turnover and teacher shortages: An organizational analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 38( 3), 499–534.

Ingersoll, R., (2002). The teacher shortage: A case of wrong diagnosis and wrong prescription. NASSP Bulletin, 86, 631.

Ingersoll, R. (2003). Is there really a teacher shortage? Philadelphia, PA: The Consortium for Policy Research in Education.

Vescio, V., Ross, D., & Adams, A. (2008). A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24( 1), 80–91.

Deborah Bieler is assistant professor of English at the University of Delaware; deb@udel.edu.

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