Collaborative Inquiry: Program Evaluation and Design

Intent of Program:

Instituting a collaborative inquiry based professional development program at my school.

Introduction:

This year I am working as the head teacher at a BC international school in Nanning, China. We are a very young school and many important programs are not yet implemented, or still very much in their infancy. One such program would be PD. Last year we had officially, one day of PD, and it was unguided and relatively unstructured.

As head teacher I am very much interested in beginning to develop a meaningful PD program. During GDPI 801 – Collaborative Inquiry, we were given “Collaborative Inquiry: A Facilitator’s Guide” to read. This looked to be an exceptionally valuable resource that would help to establish meaningful PD at my school.

Our school has been very lucky as we have found ourselves with a staff of nine Canadian teachers, all very focused on the personal, academic and social development of each student. Every teacher has taken on extra tasks and initiatives to fulfill some need of our student body, and offer more support.

This has been a great experience, but it has not always been coordinated amongst the teaches or student body, and as a result has been narrow in focus. It is my hope that this collaborative inquiry will lead to meaningful program development that can be broadly implemented across the school, with teacher support. As well, I hope to develop a progress-based mindset in which we as teachers reflect on the efficaciousness of our program, celebration of our successes, a re-evaluation of the design and a re-implementation (with modification) the following semester.

I realize that the above description is somewhat obtuse, as it does not clearly outline the program our Collaborative Inquiry project would focus upon. This is purposeful as the program is specifically designed to be built collaboratively amongst educators. Our first meeting will not be until this coming Tuesday (September 27th), and so it clearly has not been developed as of yet.

As a facilitator, I will encourage a focus more on the social/personal spectrum of our students’ lives, as we deal with (like any high school) a lot of issues common in the teenage years, including angst, depression, social conflict and bullying. Our school has rigorous academic standards and policies already implemented, and so I see that as being a less necessary focus.

All that said and done, I plan to remain open with other collaborators, and if a focus on academic needs is seen as more valuable, I will undoubtedly support it.

Tentative Timetable/Outline:

September 27th: Identifying Student Needs

  • Teachers will come to the PD session already prepared to discuss existing student needs
  • Write student needs on a sticky note which will be posted to the board, rearrange them into different spheres/identify common issues
  • Highlight and prioritize certain elements, using the following questions to aid reflection
    • Which of the priorities is most important to us? Why?
    • Which of the priorities is broad enough to involve most of the staff (including Chinese staff members)?
    • Which of the priorities has the potential for wide impact?
  • Participants will take time over the October National Week Holiday (October 1st-7th) to reflect upon these different details.
    • What kind of change would you like to see?
    • In an ideal world, what would our school (CISGG) look like?
    • What kind of structures need to be implemented in order for this change to take place?
    • Which of the aspects discussed can be identified as a “top priority”?

October 12th: Sphere of Concern vs. Influence/Framing the problem

  • Identifying our different concerns, how we may go about influencing them, and considering the amount of effort it would take to make this possible.
  • Discussing various needs and concerns, and considering how realistic their implementation would be, given the timeframe and work required.
  • Identifying a realistic problem to focus on by framing the problem and writing a purpose statement.
  • Working to develop a specific “inquiry question” – participants will think about it over the course of the week and come to the next meeting with a focused inquiry within the umbrella of the problem identified.

October 19th: Formulating a Theory of Action

  • Mapping out and analyzing the problems:
    • Considering if-then statements to map out a chart of progress and development
    • Creating a theory of action T-Chart
    • Making sure that all participants are involved
    • Are the results quantifiable, how will we gauge success?
  • Reflecting upon our outline and identifying any underlying assumptions
  • Ensuring that we meet the “Theory of Action Checklist” from the Ontario document
    • Is/does your team's theory:
      • Committed to in writing?
      • Contain Statements of causal relationship?
      • Contain statements that can be disproven?

This concludes the “Framing the Problem” stage of the process, judging by its success, I will continue to expand the following timetable.

October 26th - December 7th: Collecting Evidence

December 7th - December 21st: Analyzing Evidence

December 28th - January 18th: Celebrating and Sharing

This would conclude the first semester. My hope is that in second semester, we can reevaluate our successes and continue to develop our program based on our observations.

Contributors:

As mentioned above, we have a staff of nine Canadian teachers as well as three EAs, and about ten Chinese administrative support staff.

It is my expectation that at least five of the nine Canadian teachers will be enthusiastic participants, while the Chinese staff will offer support when required or necessary.

All members will be invited to the meetings, and it is my hope that participants will be active and enthusiastic contributors.

Short-Term Goals:

  • To implement meaningful professional development with a collaborative inquiry focus towards school growth
  • To engage as much of the teaching, support and administrative staff as possible
  • To identify problems and potential solutions to issues affecting the student body
  • To reflect and modify our actions based on the evidence collected
  • To collaborate and share our results in a paper that is then sent on for publishing

Long-Term Goals:

  • To develop a culture of collaborative inquiry and professional development within the school that expands into a regular program
  • To encourage meaningful and active desire for change and development among all staff members
  • To create a collaborative and friendly community among staff members with a progress-mindset towards student development

Resources:

This program will be undertaken with the support and encouragement of administrative staff. Our program will be guided by the Collaborative Inquiry: A Facilitator’s Guide Ontario handbook and Developing our PLC Process, published by the BC initiative, Today’s Learning, Tomorrow’s World.

Evaluation Questions:

  • Are staff meaningfully involved in the process?
  • Is the program seen as an opportunity of a responsibility?
  • Are student needs being brought to the forefront/are they the primary concern?
  • Are participants losing interest?
  • Are participants able to act as a cohesive group, or are different parties conflicting with each other?
  • Is the task meaningful and are participants able to view the inquiry (and time spent) as a valuable use of their limited time/resources?
  • Are we reflecting on our progress and adjusting accordingly?
  • Have we established realistic goals and causative relationships between actions and expectations?
  • What is the collective view of the PD activity? Do people look forward to it and engage meaningfully, or is it viewed as a hassle/another responsibility?
  • Has this program positively contributed to the school environment?