When teachers give a group grade for discussions, students focus on collaboration--not "airtime." Alexis Wiggins, teacher and author of "The Best Class You Never Taught" (ASCD, 2017), describes how--and why--a group grade works so well for class conversations (a bonus rubric is included).

Collaborative data inquiry can help schools serve their students better and improve student outcomes--but only if equity is prioritized. Researchers from Harvard's Data Wise Project discuss the importance of using an equity lens when engaging in collaborative data inquiry and what this can mean in terms of disrupting system inequities.

When professional learning is interdependent, a teacher's individual success hinges on the efforts of the entire team. Leadership experts Jenni Donohoo and Ann Mausbach explain why that's a good thing.

An urban school principal contends that the best way to recruit, support, and retain effective teachers right now is to set up conditions that restore and reinforce interpersonal connections for teachers. She details ways leaders can restore connections between teachers and students, between teachers and colleagues, and even between teachers and…

Susan Moore Johnson, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and leading scholar on school staffing, highlights research from the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers showing the importance of inclusive leadership and team-based structures in improving teacher recruitment and retention. School context is key in determining…

To build collective teacher efficacy, teams must agree to (constructively) disagree, say assistant superintendent B.C. Preston and educator-author Jenni Donohoo. Leaders who mindfully organize team actions, alongside the team itself, empower teachers through processes and protocols to confront ineffective instruction and assessment practices--and…

Schools who hope to implement a schoolwide behavior management policy should make sure to involve teachers in the process. Sprick and Knight discuss ways that school leaders can get started on developing and executing an overall behavior strategy that gets buy-in from all staff. Forming a leadership team, giving teachers voice and choice, and…

The logic behind "continuous improvement" sounds simple--but it takes a skillful leader to make the process pay off. While the logic behind the popular "continuous improvement" process seems simple, the authors' study of schools using approaches based on continuous improvement revealed that skilled leadership is as important as…

K-12 educators often face the dilemma of how to respond to a student who makes a threatening statement. They must decide whether the threat is credible and the student poses a real danger, as well as how to respond to keep everyone safe. In such situations, a team of professionals often does a "safety assessment" to learn more about this…

Authors William H. Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge, who work with high-poverty schools and have researched their success, share key elements of such schools' "transformational journeys." Even during the pandemic and its aftermath, some high-poverty schools have kept building their staff's capacity and confidence and gradually lifted…

The author, a consultant on equity in schools, relates how she helped a high school's leadership team become aware of, and begin to overcome, patterns in their interactions that silenced certain voices and perspectives. Aguilar explores the concept of implicit bias--which was likely behind these leaders' harmful patterns and also contributed to…

Exposure to trauma--which many experts view as include ongoing life stressors like poverty, parents divorcing, death of a family member, or drug abuse in the home--is prevalent among school-aged children. Teachers know that facing trauma impedes students' ability to focus and learn, but it can be challenging to keep responding caringly to a…

Teacher-led inquiry cycles--in which small groups of teachers study and address a promise--hold promise as a method of professional development, but only if they receive enough support. In particular, they need access to outside expertise that can help them meaningfully change instructional practices--often a difficult step for teachers working on…

Over the years University of Virginia professor Carol Ann Tomlinson has had several opportunities to teach with colleagues. Most of her experiences, both in her public school teaching days and at the university, have been quite positive and have contributed to her growth as a teacher. In this article Tomlinson describes her first, longest, and…

Too often at the high school level, teachers work in isolation, without the ability to see other practitioners at work. Team teaching offers an effective antidote: It provides a comfortable environment in which to grow because it enables teachers to learn from another professional on a regular basis. "Teaming," notes the authors,…