About the Book
Transform your school teams into engines of student growth
Despite significant investment, many schools struggle to translate professional learning efforts into measurable student achievement. The challenge isn′t a lack of will but a need for a new approach—one that moves beyond mandated meetings that lack impact to cultivating genuine collaborative expertise.
Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams provides a clear, research-based blueprint for school and district leaders to transform how their teams work together and align efforts and actions to desired goals and outcomes. Drawing on Visible Learning research and proven strategies from high-performing organizations, the authors introduce a framework for designing and sustaining teams that maximizes impact and growth. Are you ready to unlock the full potential of your teams
With this book, you’ll learn to:
- Determine core essential actions that unite the efforts of all the adults in your school or system
- Embrace a nine-element framework to foster authentic collaboration, psychological safety, and a shared commitment to student learning
- Utilize a variety of practical tools, including vignettes, case studies, self-assessments, instruments, and reflection logs, to effectively guide team development and track progress toward shared goals
- Align professional learning with PLC actions to ensure new knowledge is applied effectively in the classroom, bridging the "knowing doing" gap
- Strengthen your existing PLC model by integrating strategies that enhance team leadership, cohesion, and a focus on high-impact outcomes
This book offers a powerful blend of insights and strategies that leaders can implement immediately. By investing in the people and practices that matter most, you can create a system of connected classrooms, teams, and structures that lead to lasting success for all students.
Table of Contents:
Dedication
About the authors
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part 1: The Breaking Point—And the Blueprint
Chapter 1:The Need for Expertise
Chapter 2: Unlocking Potential: Dismantling Barriers to Collaborative Educational Expertise
Chapter 3: A Model for Developing Collaborative Expertise
Part 2: Collaborative Expertise Team Framework for Impact
Chapter 4: Framework 1: Relevance to Role
Chapter 5: Framework 2: High Leverage Professional Learning: Aligning PL?PLCs
Chapter 6: Framework 3 : Structuring Collaboration for Significant Outcomes
Chapter 7: Framework 4: Impactful Inquiry: Leveraging the Impact of Guiding Questions
Chapter 8: Framework 5: Cognitive Diversity, The Power of Thinking Differently—Together
Chapter 9: Framework 6: Ensuring Relational Trust and Psychological Safety
Chapter 10: Framework 7: Authentic Norms and Commitments to Drive Effective Collaboration
Chapter 11: Framework 8: Team Leadership and Cohesion: The Anchor of Impactful Collaboration
Chapter 12: Framework 9: Scaling Success: How to Expand Collaborative Expertise Across Your School
Chapter 13: A Call to Action, the Courage to Transform Schools
References
Foreword
About the Author :
Dave Nagel has been a professional developer and educational consultant both nationally and internationally since 2003 and has done so as his primary job in education since 2008. Prior was a middle and high school science teacher and administrator in a large district in Indianapolis. As a school leader at Ben Davis High School (enrollment 3000 students) Dave was instrumental in developing a focused plan for differentiated goals for students based on specific proficiency measures which supported the school in improving its graduation rate 14% in just over 4 years.
Dave’s primary areas of expertise are in the areas of effective teacher and leader collaboration, assessment and feedback, and specifically effective grading actions both at the school and classroom level. He has been working specifically with Professor John Hattie’s Visible Learning research since 2011 that is a driving force for all of his work with teachers, coaches, and administrators. He has authored 5 books previous to this one, including four within the PLC+ series of publications (Corwin).
Published multiple times in various publications such as Principal Leadership and Educational Leadership, Dave has also presented at various national conferences.
Dave has a strong moral aspect, strives to be very relatable and practical when working with people, and has a savvy sense of humor that supports him in his life and work. Dave stays very busy with his beautiful and supportive wife, Kristen, and three boys (ages 20, 15, and 13). He acknowledges every day that the Lord guides his actions and is the driving force in his life. Dave is an independent consultant for Corwin Press and is the owner of NZJ Learning LLC (named after his three boys) and the Founder of The Center for Collaborative Expertise.
Bruce Potter is a school administrator with over 30 years experience. Bruce began his career as a classroom teacher and has held leadership roles at the building level as a principal and at the district level as a superintendent for 11 years. In 2013 he secured special legislation which was signed into law by the Governor of New York to open a public school for at-risk and special education students who were identified by their home districts as future high school dropouts. Over a 6 year period, they achieved a graduation rate of 80%. In his current role he is leading his district’s certification as a Visible Learning school through the implementation of effective PLC’s. Over the course of his career he has shared his district’s successes at several national conferences. Bruce is an independent consultant for Corwin Press and is co-founder of the Center for Collaborative Expertise
Review :
"As an educator, I found this book to be an honest and insightful reflection on the challenges teachers face in today’s classrooms. The author skillfully highlights real issues within the U.S. education system and offers thoughtful, practical strategies to address them. A valuable contribution to the ongoing dialogue about improving teaching and learning."
"Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams is a must read for any leader who struggles with obtaining impactful results from their teams. The book provides a very specific roadmap for that leader to take their teams to higher levels of learning and effectiveness, thus positively impacting the culture of the school."
"Clear, accessible, and grounded in practice, Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams offers school leaders and teacher teams practical guidance for building authentic collaborative learning cultures. With vivid vignettes and useful tools, it is an indispensable resource for transforming school communities."
"This book offers a powerful blend of research-based insights and practical strategies that leaders can implement immediately. It delivers tremendous value with actionable examples, clear frameworks, and tools that support real collaboration. From fostering shared language of learning to addressing implementation gaps as systemic opportunities, this resource equips school and district leaders with the clarity and structure needed to strengthen teams and student outcomes."
"A timely, research-driven roadmap for building collective expertise that transforms teaching teams into engines of student growth."
"By linking PLC research and Visible Learning to authentic, data-driven strategies anchored in success criteria, this book empowers teachers, administrators, PLC team members, and Collaborative Expertise Teams with the tools to deliver high-impact results at every level of education."
"This book provides a clear, research-based roadmap for building the collaborative expertise schools need to thrive. With practical tools and compelling case studies, it bridges theory and practice in ways that educators can immediately apply."
"Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams by David Nagel and Bruce Potter is exactly the resource today’s schools need. As an experienced educator and school leader who has studied John Hattie’s research extensively and implemented both the Teacher Clarity Playbook and PLC+ Playbook, I approached this book with a critical eye, and was thoroughly impressed.
This book strikes a powerful balance between theory and application. It is rich with practical tools, rubrics, self-assessments, case studies, and clear guidance for building collaborative expertise across any school setting. What makes it especially effective is its accessibility. Even readers unfamiliar with Hattie’s work will find the concepts approachable and the structure intuitive due to the authors’ clear writing style.
I strongly recommend this book for publication. If I were in a position to purchase copies for my team, school, or district, I would do so without hesitation. It offers exactly what our leadership team needs to move forward with strategic coherence and deepen our culture of collaboration. In fact, we plan to use it as the foundation for a future book study and implementation cycle.
This book has the potential to impact not just schools, but any organization striving for collective growth. It’s a timely and valuable contribution to the field."
"You are about to enjoy the most practical handbook for developing collaborative expertise teams in your school."
"This book not only provides a reason for why school leaders should and need to consider what they are doing in terms of supporting sustained school improvement when it comes to student achievement, they have provided practical tools to support that work. Through real stories leaders can see how these are utilize in school’s context."
"Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams provides practical, realistic, and useful guidance via actionable frameworks, tabulated high-impact strategies, implementation tools such as PLC agendas and reflection logs, and realistic acknowledgments of constraints, positioning the text as a valuable resource for fostering sustainable educational transformation over a three-to-five-year horizon."
"Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams is one of the most comprehensive manuscripts that I have had the pleasure to read in quite a while! It provides practical and useful guidance and will be a resource to a wide array of educators for varying reasons and purposes."
"Improving student performance requires engagement, commitment and consistency, not only from the student but, perhaps even more importantly, from the adult stakeholders. This book provides a useable and relatable blueprint for effectively engaging staff for intentional collaboration for the betterment of the students. The authors present research-based practices, and provide vignettes, graphics and protocols to introduce those practices in any school environment."
