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The process for learning teams is rigorous. Learning teams are NOT book clubs, study groups, or grade-level team meetings.
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To view and print pdf files you will need Acrobat Reader.
To view, edit, and print Word files you will need Microsoft Word.
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Learning teams are a great way to get teachers involved in improving their instruction and evidencing student learning results. The definition of learning teams is "small groups of 3-7 people who create new understandings together through the study and application of learning—all for the purpose of improving student learning."
The process for learning teams is rigorous. Learning teams are NOT book clubs, study groups, or grade-level team meetings. The process is aligned with the Walter Shewhart model made popular by W. Edwards Deming—Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA). Within the Plan step, teams are asked to determine their improvement area, connect it to their mission, align to their school improvement plan, use external and internal data, develop a hypothesis, and determine an action plan to close the gap between what they have and desired results. During the implementation steps of Do, teachers are collecting and utilizing classroom data to determine progress and identify necessary changes. In the Study step, teachers summarize data and apply their findings to the hypothesis generated. In the final step, teachers are asked to Act to improve teaching as a result of what they've learned and to share those findings with others. You will notice that the template provided at this Web site also aligns with Iowa's QIC-Decide process. Principals and superintendents will find it easier to coach teachers in the process since they have already studied this model.
Following are some lessons learned after working with learning teams:
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- This work is not for the faint of heart—it is a very different way of learning for teachers. As with any significant change, it often results in resistance during early stages of adoption.
- Provide two years for each learning team to meet. Given two years, teams can "dig deep" into improving instruction and evidencing results. Much of the time during year one is spent understanding this new way of learning together. By year two, teams begin getting some exciting results.
- Do not assume that if you provide time and a structure for learning teams that they will make progress. Professional development in effective meetings management, decision making strategies, writing goals and determining progress measures is essential to building the skills teachers need for effective and efficient collaborative work. Protocols are important.
- An important foundation for team success lies in the ability of teachers to collect and organize classroom data. Many examples and on-going support is data collection, organization, and analysis is critical to the process.
- Administrators will need to find a variety of ways to support teams and keep current on their progress. Consider placing the template online so you can provide feedback to teams on an ongoing basis and teams are also able to view others' progress. In addition, meeting summaries and contacts with team facilitators are helpful ways to keep administrators informed about progress and potential roadblocks teams may be experiencing.
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