Principal David Krakoff is a collaborative leader and current Director of Education at a Title 1 school, who has promoted differentiated instruction, restorative justice, and school improvement throughout his career. In the following article, Principal David Krakoff, who previously served as a principal with the School District of Lancaster and Martin County School District in Florida, discusses how collaborative learning has a positive impact on students, teachers, and the entire educational community.
Principal David Krakoff says that collaborative learning is an educational approach, utilizing groups to empower individuals and enhance learning by working together. Groups of at least two learners collaborate to understand new concepts, solve problems, and conduct tasks, engaging them with the process and aiding information synthesis.
According to the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) and the National Institute for School Leaders (NISL), America’s highest-performing educational institutions share a common theme — teacher-led professional development (i.e., collaborative learning teams or CLTs). When teachers are empowered to become experts on their subjects and pedagogy in general, it increases students’ outcomes and achievements.
During CLT sessions, David Krakoff, former principal of the School District of Lancaster, reports that teachers work in grade- or subject-specific groups to evaluate students’ outputs, integrate planning, craft assessments, ensure pupil equity, and analyze aggregated student data. Thus, allowing teachers to grow professionally while forming a support network for positive student change.
Collaborative Learning Teams Are Commonly Seen in For-Profit Businesses
Historically, collaborative learning has been seen in commercial, for-profit entities for developing self-management, increasing employee skills, improving relationships, and enhancing knowledge acquisition.
But why isn’t the same applied in all schools across the US? After all, educators are professionals. In fact, they’re the professionals that essentially create the future of other professions and industries, making the creation of in-school CLTs even more pressing says Principal David Krakoff.
The Cycle of Collaborative Learning Team Meetings
With a collaborative learning team system, teachers are able to develop strong bonds with their colleagues while establishing expertise on all CLT factors, ensuring exceptional professional growth.
As researchers have pointed out, this approach ensures teams take ownership of every student’s progression and mastery. Principal David Krakoff says that by working together, differentiated instruction can be established to promote student equity, giving everyone a chance to master skills and meet targets.
To achieve effective CLT, David Krakoff explains that the meetings should revolve around the pre-defined workflow:
#1 Target Standards
Firstly, CLTs discuss and identify target standards, unwrapping them to develop a unit of scale based on a particular thinking taxonomy.
As research suggests, Marzano’s taxonomy is the most effective and practical solution for educators and their learners explains David Krakoff, a former principal with the School District of Lancaster and Martin County School District in Florida. This learning progression guides pupils from knowledge retrieval and comprehension to analytical thinking before arriving at the utilization of the newfound knowledge.
#2 Unit Development
Once targets have been identified, CLTs should move on to developing the unit around the standards, including:
- Daily output monitoring
- Formative assessment questions
- Intervention plans
- Enrichment activities
Principal David Krakoff says that the plans curated during this stage of collaborative learning should align with the previously discussed taxonomy of thinking and uphold instruction differentiation to account for various student learning styles.
The traditional daily lesson plan method is becoming less-than-productive as educational bodies move toward day-to-day student progress reporting, allowing the ever-changing information to guide instruction.
#3 Common Formative Assessments
Using the information compiled in the previous CLT stages, teams should begin developing aligned common formative assessments (CFAs) and guidelines outlining how to analyze the data gleaned from fulfillment. That way, creating enrichments and student interventions becomes easier explains Principal David Krakoff.
The Benefits of Teacher CLTs on Students and the Educational Community
It’s true — CLTs are teacher-focused. And while it may look like the students are left out to the untrained eye, research suggests that focusing on teachers’ professional development and relationships has a phenomenally positive effect on student outcomes and well-being.
The benefits are plentiful, but particularly include:
Enhanced School Culture
When teachers work together, they build meaningful colleague relationships, giving them a sense of community and purpose.
David Krakoff, a former principal with the School District of Lancaster and Martin County School District in Florida, reports that the belonging felt by the teachers trickles into the school culture, enhancing it. In turn, this positively impacts students’ motivation and willingness to learn.
Improved Science and Reading Grades
A 2003 study suggests CLTs improve teacher quality, which accounts for 30% of student performance.
It’s proven that CLTs transcend the teacher-only world, bleeding into students’ achievements and increasing their science and reading grades.
Boosted Student Happiness
Principal David Krakoff discusses how Christina Hinton, an HGSE lecturer, studied the interplay of happiness and success. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, her efforts concluded that increased student happiness leads to heightened academic achievement.
CLTs are known to enhance school culture, thus boosting happiness, and giving the students a sure-fire route to achieving their full potential.
