A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation of Teacher Collaboration for School Improvement and Student Achievement in Public Elementary Schools

by Yvonne L. Goddard, Roger D. Goddard & Megan Tschannen-Moran — 2007

When teachers collaborate, they share experiences and knowledge that can promote learning for instructional improvement. From the perspective of organizational theory, collaboration is a form of lateral coordination that can improve organizational performance by fostering “creativity and integration around specific problems” (Bolman & Deal, 2003, p. 55). Such learning can help teachers solve educational problems, which in turn has the potential to benefit students academically. “Of the many resources required by schools, the most vital are the contributions—of effort, commitment, and involvement—from teachers” (Rosenholtz, 1989b, p. 421). It is important to note that the results of this study indicate that teacher collaboration is associated with increased levels of student achievement. After controlling for the effects of student characteristics (race, gender, SES, and prior achievement) and school context, we found that teacher collaboration for school improvement was positively related to differences among schools in both mathematics and reading achievement. These results are important given that most prior research on teacher collaboration has considered results for the teachers involved, rather than student-level outcomes. This study thus offers original evidence of a statistically significant relationship between teacher collaboration and student achievement. Please click here to read the full article from TCRecord.

Learning Cycle Spins Individuals Into a Team by Valerie von Frank

In the article, Valerie von Frank, the writer talked about how the teachers in McConnell Middle School in Georgia developed a good rapport with each other through the schoolwide collaboration on curriculum planning which includes studying content , creating mini-lessons, observing each other's teaching, and developing common assessments.

This is the kind of environment that we have been establishing in Jefferson Middle School. We have been creating a sense of mutual accountability not only on our own doings but also on our school as a whole.

Valerie von Frank also cited Ed Tobia for saying that when teachers have opportunities to create, lead, and learn in teams, both teachers and students can benefit if the teams understand the purpose and how to focus their work. She also mentioned that the SEDL outlines a professional learning team cycle (PLTC) that is structured process involving specific phases in an ongoing cycle of learning.

Please, click here to read the whole article and other interesting items from the NSDC Journal Vol 4 No.7 April 2009.