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Many schools are shorting the process and results. Processes exist for results and results should inform processes. A lot of time, schools focus on just the results without considering the process and what changes need to be made to improve the process in order to get the expected results.

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The author makes the point that results should be "understood as a thoughtfully established, desired end product..." and goes on to explain that good or bad these results are evidence that something worked or didn't. I'm not sure we always know or articulate what are "results" should look like or what they are. It's easy to say we want results, but we must also be sure to be clear and specific as to what results are. Small gains ARE results...sometimes I feel we forget that.

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This chapter is a no brainer to me. Over the past 27 years of teaching I know that my best work has always been a result of working collaboratively with a team. The author states very simply that "Collaboration works." He makes the valid point that implementing procedures (strategies) is a social process and effective teams not only enjoy working together but also produce positive results.

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Student performance is directly affected by the amount of collaboration between teachers. Teachers must take the time to discuss what works and what doesn't, share best practices, discuss goals, and have a common focus. In isolation, teachers have no way to develop ideas, to share information, to learn from colleagues, to reflect on challenges and successes. Collaboration helps to improve the process of teaching and with that, reach student goals effectively.

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I learned that statistically, your level of education is the single most important determinant in a person's success in the labor market.   Often, we loose sight of that when setting goals for improvement.  Improvement should not be just "raising test scores", but also encompass other cognitive and social goals that benefit the child as a whole.

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We tend to focus and monitor our efforts on teacher collaboration when there is clearly a need for administrative collaboration.  Administrators need to meet and discuss student learning, the yays and the nays and then problem solve together to develop "next steps" to moving forward.

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I found it interesting that the author talks about how changes need to be tracked and measured. We tend to make changes but slowly changes revert back to old ways. I have seen this so many times in my classroom and school. It is so important that changes are made with a plan of implementation and a mode of tracking progress. In addition to tracking the progress, the author points of the importance of adjusting and "putting the faith in the process, not the results". Changes don't happen overnight. I also loved that the author pointed out that testimonials and narrative data do not support changes as much as quantitative data. I find this so true especially in education.

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"We learn best from each other". I appreciate the author's statement and I think this is so true in education. We all have our ways and ideas but without collaboration, our ideas are stuck on an island. I also appreciate the author discussing the importance of following up after collaboration. Without being intrusive, its very important to discuss after something has been implemented. We learn best from each other but we also learn best from our experiences. These discussions can help others learn.

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I agree Stephanie!  The process is extremely important.  When we are true to processes, we see great results!  Quantify as much as you can.  I call it evidence over time!  Thanks for doing your homework!

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I agree Stephanie!  The process is extremely important.  When we are true to processes, we see great results!  Quantify as much as you can.  I call it evidence over time!  Thanks for doing your homework!

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Lesley
Yes Sara Jane!  We forget about the growth!  That is why we must celebrate our small gains, wins and successes with teachers and staff.  Thanks for your comments!

Thanks Katherine!  Let's not lose sight of the whole child!  Thanks so much for sharing!

Shawna, well said!  I am a firm believer in systems and processes.  I often see that a process or system is needed right smack dab in the middle of what you are doing sometimes.  STOP, Put a system in place and then put it into action.  In the long run, the school will be better because it was put in place.  Thanks for your comments!

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Well said ladies! Silos never improved the whole school!

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As I was reading this chapter, I kept thinking about the use of assessments as the only proof of how effective a process is. In education, we have 'assessed' students so much that the word now carries a negative tone. A side effect of this negative connotation is that teachers do not want to assess, to the detriment of measuring student learning. We should also be using ongoing, informal observations of students work as forms assessments. Too often are these results only used for data without it informing our teaching practices. Also, school systems spend so much money on the processes (text books, reading programs, etc..) and then the assessments are unrelated to the process. The results must measure the process in order to be valid.

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The Thomas Edison example and 'multiplier effect' phrase really spoke to me. My very first day of teaching, my principal at the time told me to 'shut the door and do what you need to do.' So often in teaching, we just shut the door and do what we do. With so many teachers out there, it can be such an isolating profession! We don't make the time to collaborate with our colleagues past the general housekeeping meetings. During true Professional Learning Community meetings, we should be taking those results mentioned in Chapter 1, and having effective collaborative discussion about our student work. The biggest challenge, as always, is TIME! Teachers in our school would like to observe each other and collaborate, so we have to be deliberate in our scheduling. How nice would it be to have those "late start times" mentioned in the chapter :-)  It really does seem to be a no-brainer that collaboration yields better results for people in general. What about those  teachers who do not work well with others? Or those teachers who stifle productivity even when clear expectations are in place? As we move toward restructuring our PLC's, I would like to implement the structure outlined in the chapter  (open with a question, identify the next problem, exploring alternatives/strategies/solutions, and committing to experiment).

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Most educators begin a process for school improvement with a general idea of the desired results they wish to achieve.  We look at numerous sources of data, research-based strategies, and best practices to guide the process, and very often, the process may need to be revisited to establish other priorities to put in place in order to work toward the desired results.  A process is a continuous "work in progress" that is continuously analyzed along the way which will most likely require tweaking to better attain the desired results.  Simply stated, processes are a means to achieving a desired outcome and very rarely do they follow a straight and narrow path to the end result.  When results are evaluated, then the "process" usually begins again but in a different perspective for the purpose of continuous school improvement.

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With such diverse populations of students from various backgrounds , language barriers, and family dynamics, there tends to be gaps in background knowledge and experiences as well as a wide array of grade-level skills among students in most classrooms.  Teachers cannot effectively serve their students without teamwork and collaboration from others, i.e., administrators, teachers, co-workers, and coaches. Simply stated, classrooms cannot function in isolation. In our weekly PLC's, each grade level monitors student progress through analyzing data in order to establish and put into practice goals to meet the needs of ALL students. Once new data is received, student progress is continuously tracked to establish new goals for students. In order to meet the needs of our students so that they can achieve at their highest possible level of academics, teachers must be willing to be part of their grade-level team to provide effective communication and collaboration. The desired result of teamwork on the part of educators should be increased student achievement.

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Results are what really matter but obviously the process exist to produce the result.  When the results are not meeting the mark then the process needs to change.

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I find it very interesting that teachers promote team work among their students but seem to resist doing the same.  I believe this is quickly changing with the beginning of PLCs and leadership teams.

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I loved the theme of principles and practices are simple, research based, and FEW in number. I feel like we sometimes try to "bite off more than we can chew". While results are important, Improvement in our schools will come from the process .

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Collaboration works! Success depends on inter-dependency between collaboration and goal. Of course we all know how important collaboration is, but I was moved by the list on page 12. Particularly, "more systematic assistance for beginning teachers". I would love to know hard data on how schools who focus on teacher collaboration, how does this impact teacher retention?

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The part of the introduction that resonated with me was the connection between process and results.  I think that we often forget that the process needs to produce the desired results.  We sometimes focus too much on one or the other instead of realizing that they are dependent on one another.  We also have a tendency to throw out a process quickly and try another process to get our desired results, instead of paying close attention to what processes are research based and proven to get the results we are looking for.

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The author believes that teachers perform more effectively if they collaborate.  He or she alludes to the fact that effective collaboration is not how most teachers work and states that it should become an expectation. I found this observation interesting with the shift in education to focus on differentiation. Just like our students learn and succeed in multiple ways, I believe that teachers can be effective in various ways. Although collaboration can help teachers perform effectively, we must be careful not understand and celebrate the successes of those who work better independently and in isolation of other teachers.

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Great observations and reflections coaches!  This truly a must read over the summer if you can.  This books along with Whatever it Takes changed my way of leading and coaching.  Thanks for reading everyone!

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Yvette!!!  Powerful observation!  Coaches, we must continue to push the collaborative method and work with our principals to ensure that teachers have the time to analyze student work, analyze data and work together on next steps.  Big ideas (Essential Questions) of/in PLC: 1) what should students know and be able to do?
2) How do we know when they have learned it?  3) What do we do when they have not learned?

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There are so many great nuggets captured in these chapters. The mention of follow up and strong administrative collaboration most intrigued me. The benefits of collaboration as action sums of the process of change in results. The importance of being slow to act is so relevant. Allowing time for research and evident impact on student achievement is often overlooked, but essential to impact. The follow up is also expressed as a major key component lacking. "Too often meetings begin with no reference made to commitments at the last meeting." Also, the value of the value and lack of the "precious shortage of achievement focused administrative collaboration.

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I had some things I already knew re-instated in the forefront of my thoughts about education. Teachers need to hold each other up, strengths based leadership is so important in schools, we all possess different strengths and by working together we create a mighty education system that is not possible when we are isolated. I also was reminded that NO research based program will work if you do not implement with fidelity in every classroom, and track the progress and trouble shoot. This requires teamwork each and every day.

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I could not agree more with what Nelson stated, "I find it very interesting that teachers promote team work among their students but seem to resist doing the same." So often we expect things of our students but then do not on our own follow the same expectations. We just discussed this in PLC this week.

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I appreciate how the author pointed out the specific points when there is the right kind of collegiality and improvements for both teachers and students and that we learn best from each other. So often we get caught up in our own world and think it's easier to "just do it all by myself" wherein this is not always so true. I have always found such value in going to workshops for the opportunity to discuss with others what they are doing and what is working for them.

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Monitor and adjust! Monitor and adjust regularly. Often times this component is not fully implemented. TIme and time again if the desired results are not seen quickly the program is thrown out and something new is brought in whereas desired results could have come with time if we were monitoring and adjusting regularly.

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Michelle - Process and Results are interconnected. All results are "good" because the reveal something of value.

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Michelle - Process and Results are interconnected. All results are "good" because the reveal something of value.

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Results do not diminish the significance of the process. If anything results illumintate the importance of the process -  what about the procedure worked well to what did not. The two work in tandem and must be consider continuously. If due diligence is not attended to the desired result or outcomes cannot the attained.

Schmoker suggests teachers be discriminate in how they view results. What's implicit is that they view them in the first place. Too often collected data is not mined to the degree need to see how the results and the process are entwined.

Lastly, we have all heard: "We taught it with fidelity" - however, the process still did not yield the desired results. So, then the task becomes, or the challenge is, how do we become courageous enough to deeply and candidly examine how we executed or fail to execute the process.

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Michelle - This chapter, if not the entire book, should be a must read for every educator - teachers and administrators.

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Michelle - This chapter, if not the entire book, should be a must read for every educator - teachers and administrators.

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Clear cut attainable goals that are derived from a comprehensive needs analysis for every division of the school, or district, cannot be constructed in isolation. While this is pertinent for grade levels, vertical teams, and even principals, I am thinking about how critical this is for leadership teams as people learn how to collaborate on some as fundamental yet critical as the SIP.  While collaboration is important it's "the means, not the end".  In order to gain the most from the "multiplier effect",  this collective intellect, people must get out of the silos, their individual ruts, move beyond collaborating for the sake or "exrecise" of collaborating and see it as a the vehicle by which we reach our purpose - achieveing data-driven goals and results.