For system leaders working to establish Collaborative Response as a district wide system, we know rolling out any new initiative across a large number of schools can be challenging. When we hope that initiative will be longstanding over time and will remain beyond the people in current leadership building. is an adaptive challenge, not a simple technical problem. When it comes to complex frameworks like Collaborative Response (CR), which fundamentally rethinks how a school supports students and teachers, leaders need to think of it as an adaptive challenge in which it will take time, effort and intentionality to shift and establish structures across the entire district. Collaborative Response is by no means a superficial engagement as it goes far beyond handing out a resource or hearing a keynote speaker on a PD day. These quick fixes will not lead to the deep, sustainable, system-wide change you’re aiming for. True success requires deep integration and time. Here are five critical considerations that we've observed in school divisions that have successfully integrated Collaborative Response into the DNA of their system: 1. Establish a System of Monitoring and Support Deep integration requires constant engagement between central office and school leaders. It’s not enough to lead a session and assume the work happens. It requires a number of intentional opportunities to engage in a cycle of learning that allows leaders to make small changes which leads to productive implementation over time. Here are a few things to consider: - Continuous Touchpoints: Divisional teams actively monitor implementation between professional learning sessions. This can involve having a standing agenda item on every admin meeting to check in on CR progress or utilizing a leadership dashboard to view each school's action plan and commitments.
- Reference Commitments: When engaging with school leaders, the senior team directly references the commitments made in their action plans, asking: "How is that going? What does that look like in practice? What support do you need?"
- Iterative Process: Learning days are designed to be part of an iterative cycle, where administrators share what they've done since the last session and receive targeted feedback and next steps.
2. Cultivate Deep District-Level Understanding Sustainability begins with the senior leadership team's commitment to fully owning and understanding the framework. It cannot be seen as an initiative handed off to the schools, this will not be sustainable. If school leaders are expected to implement this work in their school, they need support and ongoing leadership from district leaders to enhance their learning which requires district leaders to also engage in deep learning. Here are a few ideas for ensuring that deep district-level understanding: - Internal Expertise: District leaders engage with the learning (reading the books, attending sessions) to ensure the entire senior team has a solid understanding of Collaborative Response. An Assistant Superintendent should be able to describe the process as clearly as a principal living it every day. And over time, the district leaders may lead introductory sessions for incoming school leaders and staff.
- Purposeful Design: The district team consistently contacts external learning partners (leaders in Collaborative Response or other district leaders implementing) to discuss next steps, ensuring learning sessions are impactful and attend to the schools' current needs, challenges, and stage of the CR journey while aligning to the goals of the system.
- Model the Learning: District leaders show deep investment by being present, asking thoughtful questions, and actively discussing the learning alongside school leaders.
3. Engage in the Learning Together A district leader's visible engagement in the learning is crucial. In a systemic implementation, the co-construction of knowledge and meaning between the district and schools is integral to the potential sustainability of the work. We have the opportunity to establish consensus, create common language and to build a culture of collaboration that will go far beyond the work of Collaborative Response. Here are a few suggestions that may be useful when engaging in learning together: - Be Part of the Group: District leaders are right in the mix with their principals, talking, asking questions, and hearing directly what is going on. They do not sit at the back or answer emails during the learning sessions.
- Focus on District Application: If separated, the district team uses that time to focus on how they will use Collaborative Response principles to support schools. At the end of a learning day, they identify their own next steps at the district level to model the framework.
- Show Empathy: By experiencing the learning, leaders can better identify and acknowledge common struggles, reinforcing the key idea that the system is working through this together.
4. Set Up Parallel Structures at the System Level To truly embed the philosophy of Collaborative Response, the district needs to apply the same structures and processes to support its schools that the schools use to support their students. The following ideas are shared in brief here but will require time to establish: - Model Team Meetings: The district leadership team holds its own "Collaborative Team Meetings" to respond to the needs of its schools. They collect data (surveys, achievement metrics), color-code school performance against system priorities, and determine tiered support based on those needs.
- Continuum of Support for Schools: The district develops its own continuum of support for schools (e.g., in leadership, wellness, instruction). This allows them to tier their response: providing universal support (Tier 1) for all schools, targeted support (Tier 2) for a few, and intensive support (Tier 3) for those with deeper needs.
- Model the Language: When a school leader says, "We're struggling to find meeting time," a district leader who is also living the parallel structure can respond, "We understand that; we struggle with that too. Let's talk about how we’ve made it work at the district level and perhaps we’ll come up with some ideas for your school.” This shows deeper commitment and shared purpose.
5. Establish System-Wide Anchor Resources To ensure continuity and consistency across dozens of schools, the system should establish a common framework and a base of shared resources. The following suggestions are only a sampling of possibilities: - Common Language for Teams: Establish a system-wide document or poster outlining the layers of teams that should be present in every school (e.g., collaborative planning, collaborative team meeting, school support team), ensuring everyone speaks a common language, even if the "dialect" is slightly different at each site.
- Supplemental Continuum: Develop a Divisional Continuum of Supports (e.g., for Literacy, Well-being) that compiles the most common, effective strategies from schools. This supplements the school-based continuum and ensures that a high floor of common strategies is accessible everywhere.
- Common Screeners and Schedules: Align common screeners and common schedules for administering them (e.g., fall, winter, spring). This provides consistency for data collection and allows for meaningful system-wide conversations about student growth.
By paying attention to these five factors, districts move beyond superficial implementation and ensure that Collaborative Response becomes a deeply rooted, sustainable part of the system's legacy, fulfilling the belief that “Every Child Deserves a Team”. What is the single biggest barrier your system faces when trying to move an initiative from surface-level adoption to deep integration? Check out our Getting Started page on the website to support onboarding efforts for new staff and leaders. Please reach out to share your insights, challenges, and triumphs along with your questions, resources or suggestions related to this topic. Connect with us at questions(at)jigsawlearning.ca or lorna.hewson(at)jigsawlearning.ca. |
