The most impactful implementation of Collaborative Response occurs when an entire district is supporting their schools to establish the framework through a systematic and strategic approach.
Re-culturing occurs for leadership teams and their schools when multiple opportunities are strategically designed for professional learning, creating action plans and collaborating with other school leaders including shared accountability for growth and progress.
Establishing Expectations for Collaborative Response
Establishing expectations for the implementation of Collaborative Response provides direction to school leaders and creates alignment through common language and common understanding.
Samples
| CBE Collaborative Response Indicators This tool created by the CBE Area leaders is used to set expectations and determine the areas of growth and development for their schools. |
| Grasslands Public Schools This instructional leadership tool is a guide for district leaders when gathering information from individual schools regarding their growth and progress. A scale of 1 to 4 describes the expectations followed by questions that could be asked to determine a school’s placement. It also includes considerations for artifacts or evidence followed by a timeline. |
Layering of Team Meetings
The layering of team structures within a school ensures that every student, regardless of their needs, has a structure in place that provides an opportunity for response, which also works to intentionally build capacity across the staff team. When these layers of teams are established across a school division, the common structures and processes allow for more aligned systems.
Samples
| Lakeland Catholic School Division - overview of Collaborative Response meetings for all schools in the division Copyright 2021, P. Guilbault - Lakeland Catholic School Division, Bonnyville, AB. Shared with permission. |
 | Grasslands Public Schools Early Learning Program - overview of the meeting layers used in the early learning department of Grasslands Public Schools Copyright 2023, E. Norish - Grasslands Public Schools, Brooks, AB. Shared with permission. |
Divisional Collaborative Team Meetings
The collaborative team meeting is an impactful structure that in its process design has the potential to attend to the needs of students while at the same time building capacity with staff across the school.
Many district leaders have recognized the potential for collaboration through the process of collaborative team meetings and have established formats in which district teams identify celebrations, followed by an identified key issue which generates ideas and moving to actions for the team members.
Samples
| Northern Gateway Public Schools The Inclusive Education Facilitators meet 6 times in the year (3 in person for a full day and 3 online half days). As a team of school based learning support members they use the process of key issues in two ways. They may identify a key issue in their role or they may identify a key issue that students in their school are facing. As this is a cross-school cohort, no student names are used. They engage in celebrations and after identifying the key issue, they brainstorm ideas followed by actions that each team member commits to taking away. | |
| Grasslands Public Schools uses the process of key issues to discuss key issues that administrators are facing in their role as school leaders. The key issues are submitted from admin and/or they are designed by the district leaders. At the administrator’s monthly meeting they engage in celebrations and identify key issues followed by a brainstorm of ideas with actions that each team member commits to accomplishing. |
Divisional Case Consult Teams
As the needs of a student intensifies, the school may need to access district and/or external supports to ensure the student has wrap around services to ensure their needs are met. Using an adapted process from the collaborative team meetings the district and school leaders work in tandem to ensure access to all necessary resources. This is a natural extension from the Collaborative Response in the schools to the Collaborative Response at the district.
Samples
| Grasslands Public Schools has designed a referral form for their schools to access supports from the school division. These supports would attend to the needs of students in Tier 4 of the school’s continuum. Grasslands has incorporated the expectation that the School Support Team notes will be included for this individual student. This ensures processes are in place flowing from the school through to the district. |
| Grasslands Public Schools has designed an agenda for any Case Consult meetings that are required to support students with intensive needs. These meetings may include external partners and agencies such as therapists, RCMP, family services, mental health partners, etc. |
Data and Evidence for Divisional Priorities
As a district team engages in the process of supporting their schools through collaborative response, we begin with the collection of data so that we can examine where schools require additional support. For some district teams, this is an examination of their district wide benchmark assessments. For some, it is designing a cycle of school visits to gather lead data in relation to progress through carefully designed questions.
Samples
| Holy Spirit Catholic School Division uses these priority indicators following cycles of meetings with their schools. This allows them to identify who requires additional support and what those supports might be. Priority Indicators Overview - contributed by Holy Spirit Catholic School Division Copyright 2022, A. Skretting - Holy Spirit Catholic School Division, AB. Shared with permission. |
Continuum of Supports for Divisional Priorities
As divisions design their Collaborative Response to attend to the needs of students, it is advantageous to design a continuum of supports that clearly articulates the supports that schools might access. This ensures clarity and focus for all schools and provides the guidelines for how we support our schools.
Divisional Continuum of Supports
As a district, it is highly advantageous to develop a continuum of supports in conjunction with each of the priorities that have been established in the district improvement plan. It is important to remember that each school will design their own continuums to recognize the expertise in their building. However, some school divisions bring the continuums from each school and combine them to formulate a district continuum. This process ensures common language and an opportunity to explore classroom practice across the division.
Samples
| Grasslands Early Learning Menu of Supports - continuum of supports developed by Grasslands Public Schools Copyright 2023, E. Norish - Grasslands Public Schools, Brooks, AB. Shared with permission |
| Grasslands Early Learning Menu of Supports (11x17) - continuum of supports in 11x17 format developed by Grasslands Public Schools Copyright 2023, E. Norish - Grasslands Public Schools, Brooks, AB. Shared with permission |
| Greater St. Albert Catholic School District Collaborative Response: Literacy Assessments and Continuum of Supports Copyright 2022 Shared with permission |
| Livingstone Range School Division Relationships and Wellness Continuum of Supports Copyright 2022, L. Furukawa - Livingstone Range School Division. Shared with permission |
| Livingstone Range School Division: Universal Supports Subgroups Copyright 2022, L. Furukawa - Livingstone Range School Division. Shared with permission |
| Peace Wapiti Public School Division: Student First Framework for Learning Copyright 2019 Shared with permission |
| Peace Wapiti Public School Division: Quality Learning Environment Div 1 & Div 2 Copyright 2019 Shared with permission |
| Peace Wapiti Public School Division: Quality Learning Environment Div 3 & Div 4 Copyright 2019 Shared with permission |
| Indigenous Services Tiers of Support - developed by Indigenous Education Services at Peace Wapiti Public School Division Copyright 2024, J. Benning, Indigenous Education Services, Peace Wapiti Public School Division, AB. Shared with permission |
