Use cross-sector collaborative tasks (classroom observation, operations alignment, curriculum development) as vehicles for educator professional development¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

This strategy organizes educator professional development around joint work between district and charter school staff on concrete shared tasks. In the evaluated grants, educators "cited their collaborative work on tasks such as classroom observation, operations alignment, and curriculum development as particularly helpful to their professional development," suggesting that embedding professional learning in practical collaborative tasks was perceived as valuable by participating educators.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Structures that bring district and charter educators together to work on shared tasks such as classroom observation or curriculum development

Constraints¶

• Perceived helpfulness reported by grantees in seven cities under one foundation-funded initiative; measured learning outcomes are not reported in the brief

Target Learners¶

• Educators in district and charter schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• Professional development of educators through collaboration across sectors

Related Strategies¶

• Schedule collaboration during summer months or existing professional development days to overcome staff time constraints
• Design future cross-sector collaboration efforts with clear goals and sufficient time period and scope, and include teacher-level activities
• Improve transmedia-curriculum professional development with classroom observation, Q&A-only webinars, and later scheduling

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Alyson Burnett, Moira McCullough, Christina Clark Tuttle. (2016). Understanding District-Charter Collaboration (Issue Brief). Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/gates-district-charter-collaboration-issue-brief