Assessing Unstoppable Learning. Tom Hierck
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this is the right plan for the team. With her data exposed, she feels as though people will pass judgment on her skill set as a teacher.
Susan, who has stayed quiet thus far, speaks up and echoes Jordan’s concerns. “I agree with Jordan. I just don’t understand why we have to put all our data out for everyone to see. Some of us did better than others. Emily, this whole data review thing was your idea, and your students got the best scores of any of us. Why did you really want us to share our data and compare us to each other?”
Emily sits in silence. She can’t figure out what has gone wrong. Here she is, with her teammates who have become both colleagues and friends, and they are divided. Emily realizes that, although they have strong congenial relationships, they have not prepared themselves for the collaborative opportunity that this data conversation presents. In the face of this dissonance, Emily wonders, “Where do we go from here?”
Ponder Box
Have you ever felt like Emily in this team’s story—you’ve designed great structures and been intentional in your planning, but all of a sudden, everything derails? Or have you felt like Jordan—vulnerable and exposed and fearful of what people might think about you and your teaching? How did you respond in these situations? What impact did your response have on your team? What next step should this team take?
This chapter will examine the importance of connecting all members of a school community so they produce the kind of effort that is needed to help all students succeed. As Fisher and Frey (2015) point out, “None of the relationships in the classroom is wholly separate from another” (p. 3). In this chapter, we examine relationships and the following aspects of building a collaborative culture: building the foundation of trust, defining collaboration, establishing norms and guidelines, valuing collective analysis, moving from positional hierarchy to collective commitment, and fostering healthy professional relationships.
• Zoom in: How do my behaviors and words show others that I am worthy of their trust?
• Zoom out: What strategies can we utilize to build trust among our colleagues? How will we intentionally plan opportunities within our organization to grow connections and develop relationships among members of teams?
• Panoramic: How might we seek, gather, discuss, and respond to evidence from our stakeholders that we are building trust and that positive adult relationships are strengthening the intended outcomes of our work as an organization?
Building the Foundation of Trust
Trust is the key when we ask educators to take risks, alter longstanding practices, and respond to assessment data in ways previously unseen. In cases where trust is lost, we see educators resort to doing their best in their own classrooms, and we get pockets of excellence instead of schools or districts of excellence. Educators spend their energy on self-protection and overcompliance—especially with those who have the power to discipline them—and this takes energy away from the collective purpose of the school.
Stephen Covey (2006) addresses the myths about trust in The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything. Table 1.1 provides a summary of these myths and the corresponding realities.
Table 1.1: Myths About Trust Versus Corresponding Realities
| Myth | Reality |
| Trust is soft. | Trust is hard, real, and quantifiable. |
| Trust is slow. | Nothing is as fast as the speed of trust. |
| Trust is built solely on integrity. | Trust is a function of character (which includes integrity) and competence. |
| Either you have trust or you don’t. | Trust can be both created and destroyed. |
| Once lost, trust cannot be restored. | Though difficult, in most cases lost trust can be restored. |
| You can’t teach trust. | Trust can be effectively taught and learned. |
| Trusting people is too risky. | Not trusting people is a greater risk. |
| Trust is established one person at a time. | Establishing trust with one establishes trust with many. |
Source: Covey, 2006, p. 25.
Ponder Box
Reflect on table 1.1 by answering the following questions.
• How do we build trust among our colleagues?
• How do my behaviors and words show others that I am worthy of their trust?
Trust influences student achievement. It is one of the factors that researchers Megan Tschannen-Moran and Wayne Hoy (2000) have found has greater impact than socioeconomic status as a predictor of future student achievement. Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2000) state, “Trust is one party’s willingness to be vulnerable to another party based on the confidence that the latter party is benevolent, reliable, competent, honest, and open” (p. 556). Let’s look at each of these five facets: (1) benevolence, (2) reliability, (3) competency, (4) honesty, and (5) openness.
Benevolence
Hoy and Tschannen-Moran (2003) describe benevolence as the “confidence that one’s well-being will be protected by the trusted party” (p. 186). In other words, as educators look to add to their successful practice while addressing the needs of a current group of students, does the leader exhibit the caring and compassion required when a difference of opinion on a staff occurs? When schools operate on the notion of presuming positive intention, team members embrace every struggle as an opportunity to provide more information and to bring colleagues along. Rather than condemning a person for asking a question or assuming he or she opposes the work, the team directs its effort at embracing another perspective on the challenges it collectively faces.
Reliability
Reliability is “the extent to which one can count on another person or group” (Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 2003, p. 186). If colleagues feel they can work with each other through the highs and lows of their profession, and if individuals feel support when at their lowest ebb, then a team has established trust. If, instead, individuals feel as if everyone wants to vote them off the island, they become more reticent about engaging in a trusted relationship and pull back on any authentic engagement. They might simply defer to the team leader and become compliant.
Competency
Faith in the work ahead begins with faith in the person asking educators to embrace the work. If an individual does not possess the requisite skill to adopt a new practice, whom can he or she turn to? It could be the team or school leader, and it depends on his or her competency, or “the extent to which the trusted party has knowledge and skill” (Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 2003, p. 186). If the work is also born of the collective commitment a team establishes, it feels much less as if it’s being done to educators and more as if it’s being done by educators and for educators. When leaders view their role as enabling educators, everyone owns the work collectively, leading to greater competency for all involved. This is in stark contrast to models that expect blind faith and compliance from educators.