Creating Collaboration: The New Way of Working in Schools
By Rosabeth Moss Kanter
© Copyright 2005 by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, rkanter@hbs.edu.

Public school systems are increasingly discovering the power of collaboration to produce higher student achievement. Once isolated in their classrooms, teachers are increasingly made to feel part of a team whose members support one another - sharing teaching tips, managing a group of students together, or serving on task forces contributing to the life of the school.

The spread of teamwork isn't surprising. It's been proven that high-performing organizations in sports and business operate more collaboratively. But for some schools, and the teaching profession, this idea is revolutionary.

Collaboration starts with five leadership actions
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The Unfinished Work of the Standards Movement
By Michael Cohen
President, Achieve, Inc.
State governments have been the driving force in education reform for more than 20 years. State leaders accomplish the most in their own states when working in partnership with leaders from other states to create a supportive national environment, one which keeps the attention of state education leaders - governors, chief state school officers, higher education officials and business leaders - focused on the right questions at the right time. In the movement to set rigorous standards for America's students, that's Achieve's job.
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Charles A. Dana Center relies on IBM Change Toolkit
By Sam Zigrossi, Program Director, Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin

In the 2003-2004 school year, the Charles A. Dana Center initiated a Partnership for High Achievement (PHA) technical assistance intervention. The PHA was a response to a changing landscape in Texas that grew out of the introduction of higher standards and the Texas Assessment for Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). The PHA is a systemic intervention founded on evidenced-based research that focuses on raising mathematics and science student achievement.

In the PHA, both district and school leaders participate in workshop to increase their leadership capacity while, at the same time, working collaboratively with mathematics or science teachers to design model lessons and common assessment strategies that will allow for the comparison of student work across campuses.
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Change Toolkit Tool of the Month
By Sasha Dichter, Change Toolkit Project Manager and Sr. Program Manager IBM Corporate Community Relations

Enlisting Supporters: Getting Buy-in and Building Coalitions
One of the seven skills of 'Change Masters' is getting buy-in and building coalitions. Change Masters are highly skilled at 'selling' their ideas, which means not just sharing ideas but also making things tangible and actionable enough that people are both inspired and able to contribute. Change Masters don't just communicate, they overcommunicate through multiple channels (voice, documents, email, posters, press, newsletters) so a clear message gets out to people within and outside their organization. Then when it comes time to partner, objectives are clear, roles to be played can more easily be established, and everyone can pitch in to the common understood goals. What does your reality look like, and how could you shake things up to see things in a new, better, more productive way?

How do I find this tool?
1. Log in to the Change Toolkit website .
2. Move your mouse to 'Get Tools' and click on 'Change Masters.'
3. Click on 'Enlisting Supporters: Getting Buy-in and Building Coalitions.'

Leadership pulse check
A monthly poll of the readership of the Education Leadership Newsletter

This Month's Poll:

What is your biggest obstacle to successful collaboration?

• Lack of quality partners with which to collaborate
  
• Lack of common theme/shared vision makes collaboration nearly impossible
  
• My work is too individual in nature, or the broad scope of my work makes it difficult to collaborate
  
• It takes too much time to set up a successful collaboration, I get it done faster if I do it myself
  
• My environment doesn't support collaboration.
  
• Collaboration is encouraged and rewarded in my work environment
  
• Other ______________________________

	30%	An informal mention to me and my peers
	28%	An informal mention to me alone
	34%	Formal recognition to my peers and supervisor
	0%	Formal recognition to my supervisor alone
	8%	Others