Collaborating Through Collective Efficacy Cycles: Ensuring All Students and Teachers Succeed
About this ebook
In today’s schools, working together and learning together go hand in hand. Collective efficacy is educators’ beliefs, fueled by evidence, that by working together—as a collective, rather than as individuals—they will positively impact student and teacher learning. So how can teachers put collective efficacy into action?
Collaborating Through Collective Efficacy Cycles: A Playbook for Ensuring all Students and Teachers Succeed demystifies the concept of collective efficacy and empowers teacher teams with the necessary tools to ignite collaborative processes, pool energy and resources, determine their impact, and foster mutual accountability at a schoolwide level. Step by step, the authors guide readers through six modules, leading them through a full cycle and helping set a foundation to systematically cultivate collective efficacy.
The playbook offers background information, evidence-based research, and practical strategies and tools to help educators:
- Establish detailed conditions for creating collective teacher efficacy, using data to identify student learning needs and determine a common challenge
- Plan collectively, implement strategy, and observe colleagues in deliberate classroom practices that deepen expertise and facilitate increased student and teacher learning
- Select learning opportunities to bolster knowledge and enhance professional skills surrounding evidence-based practices that address needs and accelerate learning
- Define how teacher teams can cultivate and increase motivation and energy as individuals and, equally importantly, with one other.
While content changes, this established process can be used repeatedly, offering teacher teams a clear and defined pathway towards personal and professional fulfillment while simultaneously elevating student motivation, well-being, and academic success.
About the author
Toni Faddis, EdD, is a Corwin author and full-time professional learning consultant. Toni was previously a bilingual teacher and Reading Recovery specialist in elementary and middle schools, as well as a principal in San Diego. In addition, Toni served as a district central office leader responsible for equity, access, and leadership development throughout the largest elementary school district in California. She holds teaching and administrative services credentials in California and earned her doctoral degree in educational leadership from San Diego State University. Toni also mentors and coaches current and aspiring school leaders in the Educational Leadership Department at San Diego State University. Toni is the co-author of PLC+: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders, Collaborating Through Collective Efficacy Cycles, and The Ethical Line.
Douglas Fisher is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is a credentialed teacher and leader in California. In 2022, he was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame by the Literacy Research Association. He has published widely on literacy, quality instruction, and assessment, as well as books such as Welcome to Teaching, PLC+, Teaching Students to Drive their Learning, and Student Assessment: Better Evidence, Better Decisions, Better Learning.
Nancy Frey is professor of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Nancy was a teacher, academic coach, and central office resource coordinator in Florida. She is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California. She is a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. She has published widely on literacy, quality instruction, and assessment, as well as books such as The Artificial Intelligences Playbook, How Scaffolding Works, How Teams Work, and The Vocabulary Playbook.
