About the Book
Develop and sustain collective efficacy in your school to energize teachers and students alike.
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.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Module 1: Developing Individual and Collective Efficacy
Module 2: Determining the Common Challenge
Module 3: Building Knowledge and Skills
Module 4: Collaborative Planning and Safe Practice
Module 5: Collaborative Planning and Opening Up Practice
Module 6: Monitoring, Measuring, and Celebrating
Appendices: Resources for Teams
References
About the Author :
Toni Faddis joined Corwin as a full-time professional learning consultant in 2021. Before that, she was a bilingual teacher in elementary and middles schools as well as a Reading Recovery specialist before becoming a principal and principal coach in San Diego, California. In addition, Toni served as the Director of Equity, Access, and Leadership Development at the district level. Toni holds teaching and administrative services credentials in California and earned her doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University.
Toni is the co-author of Collaborating Through Collective Efficacy Cycles: Ensuring All Students and Teachers Succeed, PLC+ for Instructional Leaders, How Teams Work, and The Ethical Line, as well as numerous professional articles about adolescent literacy.
Douglas Fisher is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is a credentialed English teacher and administrator in California. In 2022, he was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame by the Literacy Research Association. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, leadership, and curriculum design, as well as books such as The Teacher Clarity Playbook (2nd ed.), Your Introduction to PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Teacher Credibility, Instructional Strategies to Move Learning Forward: 50+ Tools That Support Gradual Release of Responsibility, and Welcome to Teaching!
Nancy Frey is a professor in educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. 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. Her published titles include 50 Strategies for Activating Your PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Visible Learning, Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners, Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers, and RIGOR Unveiled: A Video-Enhanced Flipbook to Promote Teacher Expertise in Relationship Building, Instruction, Goals, Organization, and Relevance.
Review :
This book is a game changer. This step-by-step manual for establishing collective efficacy that fosters student learning is absolutely necessary in education—not just in this current environment, but always. There’s something for everyone in this book. It’s relevant for district leaders—even school boards, principals, coaches, and classroom teachers. The actionable steps in this book are not grade-level specific. They work for all grade levels, all content areas, all schools everywhere. It contains opportunities in every chapter to respond, reflect, collaborate, and set goals that will make schools better. Everyone wins when the steps outlined throughout this book are taken—administrators, teachers, students—everyone wins. This is more than a feel-good book, more than a book full of lessons—it’s a resource that makes collective efficacy attainable. Collaborating Through Collective Efficacy Cycles could just prompt an educator’s revival.
This text really advocates for authentic, meaningful professional learning experiences in-house that honor the teacher. Collaborating Through Collective Efficacy Cycles will resonate with and meet the needs of many educators. The clear process shared is powerful because it can be used across grade levels. It really works for all teams. Our teachers are our greatest source of professional development and giving them this roadmap to improve practice is essential.
For those of us working on high-quality instruction and developing teacher capacity, this text presents the PLC process as a well-framed, well-explained, and well-attained growth cycle for our teachers. Collaborating Through Collective Efficacy Cycles takes on a topic that many schools have had mixed results with. This playbook essentially guides educators with action steps. Many readers have had some experience with a version of a PLC in their district, but it is safe to say that this provides a more systematic approach in tapping into teacher leadership.
