OVERVIEW

Staff Collaboration For Improved Student Learning
As the Joint School District No. 2 continues to work to improve the learning of all students, one initiative under consideration to improve student achievement is building staff collaboration time.

What is staff collaboration?
In schools across the district, teachers work as teams to improve the learning of the students in their grade levels, between grade levels, and in their individual subject areas.  This collaboration effort is designed to develop specific strategies to improve the academic success of all students.

Why create time for collaboration? 
One of the school district’s key goals is academic growth for all students.  Achieving this goal requires that each student’s educational needs be addressed based on what level of skill he or she has achieved to date, what learning style works best, what previous teaching strategies have worked in the past, and what knew teaching strategies can be employed in the future.  In order to be successful, planning for the educational needs of each student needs to be done on a regular basis.  This planning should involve all staff members responsible for each student’s learning.  Currently, providing time for collaboration on student learning can only be done at a few schools that have a schedule or enrollment numbers that allow them to provide this time for their staff.   The need across the district is to provide time for all staff to work on plans for improved student learning across the district.

How would collaboration time work? 
Once a week, teachers would have time to work together in grade level teams or subject areas to plan for the learning needs of the students they are teaching this year.  This collaboration time would be a 45 minute block at the start of the school day one day a week.  To make sure that students do not lose instructional time, the 45 minutes used for teacher collaboration would be made up by adjusting school calendar or school days.  For example, one way that time could be made up would be to eliminate “early release” days before holidays (Thanksgiving, winter break, spring break, etc).  Other non-instructional time during the school day (passing periods, lunch breaks, recess, etc) might be modified to make up time for student learning.

How would collaboration time work for families?
One day each week the school day would start 45 minutes later than the current schedule. At the elementary level, this means school would start at 9:50.  At middle and high schools, the day would begin at 8:35.  On collaboration days, bus pick-up would occur 45 minutes later than the current stop time.  For families that could not manage the later start time, individual schools would develop plans to accommodate students who find that the later school start time creates a hardship for their family.

PARENTS, please CLICK HERE to participate in the parent survey regarding adjusted schedules for teacher collaboration time.