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Catherine Jordan Amy Averett Jerry Elder Evangelina Orozco Zena Rudo

Creating Collaborative Action Teams - Guide - SEDL

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Catherine JordanAmy AverettJerry ElderEvangelina OrozcoZena Rudo

Creating Collaborative Action TeamsWorking Together for Student Success

Guide

Catherine JordanAmy AverettJerry ElderEvangelina OrozcoZena Rudo

© Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. This publication was produced in whole or in part with funds from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department ofEducation, under contract #RJ96006801. The content herein does not necessarily reflect the viewsof the Department of Education, any other agency of the U.S. Government or any other source.

Copyright © 2000 Southwest Educational Development Laboratory All rights reserved.Not to be reproduced without permission of the publisher.

Southwest Educational Development Laboratory 211 E. Seventh Street Austin, TX 78701 voice: 512/476-6861fax: 512/476-2286www.sedl.org

Editorial services byCastle CommunicationsAustin, Texas512/346-2375

Design byJanice McLemore Graphic Design Inc.Austin, Texas512/327-7977

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

How to Use These Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Stage 1: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1

Steps: ● Introduce the Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3● Gather School Community Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5● Plan the First Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9

Stage 2: Mobilizing the Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1

Steps: ● Establish Representative Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3● Determine Communication Ground Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-7● Build Common Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11● Support Consensus Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-15● Identify Shared Leadership Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-19

Stage 3: Setting Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1

Steps: ● Agree on a Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3● Identify and Prioritize Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5● Develop a Mission Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-9● Set Team Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-11● Communicate Your Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15

Stage 4: Taking Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1

Steps: ● Develop Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3● Determine Necessary Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7● Establish Evaluation Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-11● Monitor Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-17● Expand Network Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-21

Stage 5: Reviewing and Refining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1

Steps: ● Assess Team Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3● Celebrate Your Successes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7● Increase Effectiveness and Impact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11

Appendixes:

A – Working in Youth–Adult Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1B – Engaging Business in Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2C – Working with the Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-3D – Conducting Effective Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-4E – Collaborative Action Team Project Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-7F – Issues in Collaborative Work: A Review of the Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-10

iii

v

The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) exists to challenge, support and enrich educational systems in providing quality education for all learners, enabling them to lead productive and fulfilling lives in an ever-changing, increasingly connected world.

SEDL’s mission is to find, share and sustain effective solutions for the mosturgent problems facing educational systems, practitioners and decision makersin the southwestern United States. The primary strategies are those of develop-ment, dissemination, training and technical assistance, supported by evaluationand applied research. These materials were developed by SEDL’s Program forRefining Educational Partnerships (PREP) and are a continuation of the workstarted by SEDL’s Home, School and Community Partnerships Project.

Our deepest appreciation goes to our many partners in the twenty-threedemonstration sites. Together, we learned and grew in our understanding andpractice of collaboration. The partners gave generously of their time and expertise, and demonstrated their strong commitment to students and theirfamilies throughout the project. The sites are as follows:

Albuquerque High School Cluster (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Balmorhea Independent School District (Balmorhea, Texas) P.G.T. Beauregard Middle School (St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana) Clayton Independent School District (Clayton, Oklahoma) Clinton Independent School District (Clinton, Oklahoma) Del Valle High School (Del Valle, Texas) Dollarway School District (Pine Bluff, Arkansas) Fabens Independent School District (Fabens, Texas) Highland High School Cluster (Albuquerque, New Mexico) L. R. Jackson Elementary School (West Memphis, Arkansas) Jackson Middle School (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)Barbara Jordan Elementary School (New Orleans, Louisiana) Lee County School District (Marianna, Arkansas) Little Rock School District (Little Rock, Arkansas) Marshall School District (Marshall, Arkansas) Mora Independent Schools (Mora, New Mexico) Geraldine Palmer Elementary/César Chávez Elementary Schools (Pharr, Texas) Ann Parish Elementary School (Los Lunas, New Mexico) Polk Elementary School (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) Ponca City East Middle School (Ponca City, Oklahoma) Rio Grande High School Cluster (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Rio Hondo Independent School District (Rio Hondo, Texas) Terrell Independent School District (Terrell, Texas)

Acknowledgments

vi

We especially acknowledge the SEDL staff who contributed their dedicationand expertise to the development of this project: Joan Buttram, CatherineJordan, Amy Averett, Jerry Elder, Evangelina Orozco and Zena Rudo.

Special thanks go to David L. Williams, Jr., who initially led the work on thisproject and to Grace Fleming, José Velazquez, Beverly Tucker and Patricia Deloneyfor their contributions.

Special thanks go to Artie Stockton at SEDL for her editorial and productionassistance throughout the project and to Amy Averett for coordinating the finalproduction of this publication.

1

T he gardening symbols that you’ll see throughout these materials willhelp you understand how the materials fit together to support yourefforts. The gardening metaphor is fitting for a guide on collaboration,

since collaborations “grow” gradually, much like gardens do. Gardeners mustbe patient as seeds sprout slowly and mature over an entire growing season.First, gardeners must do “groundwork”—preparing the soil and planning theirgarden. All along the way, they must decide what work needs to be done andwho will do it, to help plants thrive. Gardeners must constantly monitor andadjust their care to fit the needs of different plants. They must also deal withproblems, such as weeds and insects, that might weaken the plants. Gardenersknow that the most healthy, vibrant gardens include a rich variety of plants and flowers. Finally, gardeners enjoy seeing visible changes as their gardengrows and flourishes and when they harvest the fruits of their labor at the endof the season.

Stories about positive change in schools and communities are beginning tohave a familiar ring. People are taking brave steps to make real changes andimprovements. These steps enhance student outcomes and raise expectationsfor life-long learning. They mobilize people to reclaim their schools andneighborhoods.

In recent years, educators have recognized the need to look beyond academicsto help students succeed in school. As Thomas Payzant, superintendent of the Boston Public Schools observes, “The days are past when schools couldconcentrate simply on basic education and leave a child’s social, physical, psychological and economic needs to others.”1 However, many schools lack the resources, authority, networks and knowledge to address all relevant aspectsof students’ lives alone. A complicated system of interrelated, interdependentparts affects each student’s development. Schools are just one part of the system. Home and family life, and the community and society in which the student lives make up other parts. Yet, schools play a particularly crucial rolefor several reasons:

● The amount of time students spend at school

● The school’s explicit mission to guide student development

● The significant relationships developed between students and their peers,their teachers and other adults in the school environment

Introduction

1 Payzant, T. W. “New beginning in San Diego: Developing a strategy for interagency collaboration.” Phi Delta Kappan, October 1992: 139–146.

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G u i d e

Researchers have also come to understand that schools don’t operate in isolation.Instead, there is an entire school community made up of all the people andorganizations that either affect or are affected by the school. A school communi-ty goes beyond those who work and study inside the school. School communi-ties include families, businesses, agencies, organizations and individuals in theimmediate neighborhood. A school community might include residents whohave no children attending the school but whose property values are affected bythe quality of education the school provides. A social service or health agencythat serves students’ families may be part of a school community even if it’s notlocated near the school. The school board and district or state administratorsthat affect a school’s work could also be part of the school community.

Seeing schools as part of a larger system highlights the importance of theirinteraction with the other parts: home, family, community and society. Thisshift in thinking leads to an increased focus on schools working together withother entities in the community. Researchers, educators and service providersnow recognize that collaboration can and should be a vehicle for change in theeducation system.

You may have read stories about such collaboration efforts in newspapers andmagazines. You may have heard about them on the radio. You may have evenwatched them on the nightly news. Still, you may consider them exceptionsrather than the rule. But somewhere inside, you may wish the same things werehappening where you live.

So why don’t these things happen in every community? Why doesn’t someonetake those bold steps in your community? The answer is probably along thelines of, “We’re not real sure how to, and it’s kinda scary if we don’t get it right.”People hesitate because they’re not sure how to initiate positive change. Studentsand their families settle for less than their ideal. As a result, very little improves.

What Helps Make These Positive Shifts?

SEDL’s research supports the idea that collaboration, local control and self-reliance are keys to achieving successful results in school communities.Collaboration happens when people and organizations come together toachieve common goals. The result is that they often accomplish more togetherthan they would working separately. Local control and self-reliance occurwhen local people determine how to make things happen in their own com-munities. As people begin to work together, they realize the many strengthsand resources that exist in their own backyard. They also take responsibility for making things happen, instead of waiting for someone else to provide solutions. Building local leadership and increasing community capacity helpsustain change efforts over a long period of time.

Introduction

School Community

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.

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Introduction G u i d e

What Do We Mean By Collaboration?

Collaboration is not the same as networking, cooperation and coordination. It differs in the extent to which people share resources and use power andauthority to achieve goals they can’t achieve independently.2

Networking involves interacting with others and sharing information for mutual benefit. It doesn’t necessarily involve taking action together to achieve a shared vision. Example: Getting acquainted and sharing information aboutprograms being offered.

Cooperation is a short-term, informal relationship that exists without a clearlydefined mission or structure. Each organization keeps its own authority andresources separate. Example: Sharing materials or supplies between two organizations.

Coordination is a somewhat formal relationship that involves longer-terminteraction around a specific effort. It requires some planning and division of roles, but authority still rests with individual organizations. Resources maybe shared to a small degree. Example: Planning a joint field trip or sharingoffice space.

Collaboration describes a more formal and long-term arrangement. It bringsseparate organizations or individuals into a new relationship with a joint commitment to a common purpose. Such a relationship requires comprehen-sive planning and well-defined communication. Risk is greater because teammembers’ reputations are at stake. They pool their resources and share theproducts of their work.

Here’s another common definition of collaboration:

Collaboration is a mutually beneficial and well-defined relation-ship entered into by two or more organizations to achieve commongoals. The relationship includes a commitment to: a definition ofmutual relationships and goals, mutual authority and accounta-bility for success and sharing of resources and rewards.3

Networking

Cooperation

Coordination

Collaboration

2 Kagan, S. L. United We Stand: Collaboration for child care and early education. New York:Teachers College Press, 1991.

3 Mattesich, P. W., & Monsey, B. R. Collaboration: What makes it work: A review of research literature on factors influencing successful collaboration. St. Paul, MN: Amherst H. WilderFoundation, 1992.

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Vision The vision describes your team’s dream of what the school community can be.

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G u i d eIntroduction

Collaboration has also been called “a process by which several agencies, organi-zations, or individuals make a formal, long-term commitment to work togetherto accomplish a common mission related to critical and complex social issuesof wide concern.”4

Those in collaborative relationships view each other as partners. Each partnerenhances the other’s capacity to define excellence, set mutual goals and usetheir own personal and institutional power to achieve them.5 Collaboration alsoimplies a style of work and a sense of community in which members deliber-ately decide to do things as a whole. They see themselves as complementaryand mutually supportive contributors to the entire community.

In other words, collaboration involves the following:

● Developing win–win situations

● Creating a total greater than the sum of its parts

● Sharing responsibility

● Sharing success

SEDL’s research shows that collaboration helps school communities addresspressing issues and bring about positive change.

What is the Collaborative Action Team Process?

Recognizing the benefits and challenges of addressing school issues through collaboration, SEDL began to develop a process that school communities coulduse to build collaborations at the local level. Based on the information learnedduring its previous Home, School, and Community Partnerships Project(1990–1995), SEDL set out to accomplish the following objectives over a five-year period:

● Develop a process that school communities could use to build local partnerships.

● Implement and test the process in local school communities throughout theSouthwestern United States.

● Refine the process based on experiences and lessons learned from local teams.

● Produce materials that other school communities could use to implement the process.

4 The National Assembly of National Voluntary Health and Social Welfare Organizations. TheNew Community Collaboration Manual. Washington, DC, 1997.

5 Himmelman, A. T. Communities Working Collaboratively for a Change. Minneapolis, MN:Himmelman Consulting Group, 1992.

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.

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Introduction G u i d e

In 1995, SEDL invited five school communities to become partners in testingthe Collaborative Action Team process in local school settings. As the teamsimplemented the process, SEDL provided training, ongoing consultation andevaluation of their efforts. In 1998, ten more school sites joined as partners,and SEDL continued to refine the process. In 1999, an additional eight sitesbrought the total to 23 Collaborative Action Team sites.

Working with SEDL to test the process, these local partners formed teams ofschool, home, community and student representatives. The teams began tochange the way schools and communities worked together. They helped definea common vision for their community’s students and their families. Theyagreed to share responsibility for achieving self-defined missions. They learnedto work together as team members, sharing programs and resources. Ratherthan competing, they collaborated to improve results for their community’sschools, students and families. Over the years, SEDL’s local partners have hadextensive input in the development and refinement of the process and thisGuide. The result is:

The Collaborative Action Team Process

A set of concepts, activities and resources that individuals, school districts andother organizations can use to develop a partnership between school, home,community and students at the local level. These teams identify pressing issuesin the school community and take action to address those issues.

How Does the Collaborative Action Team Process Work?

The Collaborative Action Team process is designed to help school communitiessucceed with school improvement efforts. The process brings people togetherand helps them learn how to work collaboratively. It guides the development ofteams composed of family members, community representatives, school per-sonnel and students. These team members make plans and take action togetheras a team to address pressing issues their school community faces.

SEDL’s Collaborative Action Team process combines team building and actionplanning to mobilize local teams.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Vision The vision describes your team’s dream of what the school community can be.
Glossary
Guide The CAT Guide explains the Collaborative Action Team process and the core concepts and terms used in the process. The Guide also describes the five stages of the process and provides a quick reference to what you will do during each stage.
Glossary
Team Building focuses on how team members work together while respecting each member’s unique strengths. Mutual respect and trust grow as relationships and shared experiences develop. Teams build relationships several ways: By getting to know each other; by talking constructively from differing viewpoints; and by undertaking projects together.
Glossary
Action Planning helps a team develop its vision, mission and goals. The team prioritizes, strategizes, assigns tasks and evaluates progress. Action planning also helps produce fast visible results. The team takes easy, achievable steps that help it move forward.

6

G u i d eIntroduction

Team building focuses on how team members work together while respectingeach member’s unique strengths. Mutual respect and trust grow as relationshipsand shared experiences develop. It builds trust as you solve problems and create new opportunities. Teams build relationships several ways:

● By getting to know each other

● By talking constructively from differing viewpoints

● By undertaking projects together

Action planning helps a team develop its vision, mission and goals. The teamprioritizes, strategizes, assigns tasks and evaluates progress. Action planning alsohelps produce fast visible results. The team takes easy, achievable steps that helpit move forward.

Teams create momentum by working on manageable-size projects. Forinstance, in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, a team started by obtaining funds toremodel a much-needed sign to announce school activities. Completing thissimple project together built the team’s sense of accomplishment. Other projects, such as a family fair attended by 300 people, were more complex. Sowere efforts to increase parents’ involvement in their children’s education. Earlysuccess creates the energy and enthusiasm needed for long-term developmentand more complicated projects.

Who Can Use the Collaborative Action Team Process?

All sorts of teams can use these materials. Your team may be just beginning. Itmay be quite experienced. Or it may be anywhere in between. Because theCollaborative Action Team process can be adapted to a variety of situations,any combination of people can use the process:

● A small group that includes only a handful of people from a school andthe community

● An existing group in a school or school district that already has many representatives from different school community sectors

● A group of people who have been trying to work together for a while toimprove a school community but have not had much success

● An individual, perhaps a principal or an assistant superintendent, who wants to establish a partnership to address key issues in a school or a group of schools

You don’t have to develop an entirely new team to use this process or achieveits goals. In many school communities, existing partnerships can use theCollaborative Action Team process to strengthen their teams.

Action planning

Team building

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Vision The vision describes your team’s dream of what the school community can be.
Glossary
Task A specific step of your team’s action plan.

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Introduction G u i d e

What Results Will the Collaborative Action Team Process Produce?

A Collaborative Action Team can help school communities:

● Promote and foster student achievement,

● Increase parent and community involvement in schools,

● Use resources efficiently,

● Locate new resources to address school community issues,

● Expand the local leadership pool,

● Create a new sense of togetherness in the school community,

● Generate momentum to accomplish school and community goals,

● Support a self-reliant team of local partners with local interests and

● Build hope about the future among students and families.

SEDL has collected many examples of Collaborative Action Team successes. Insome places, successes came from carefully laid plans. In others, results weremore spontaneous. The ones described here have encouraged members to staywith the process.

Parent and Community Involvement

A more open relationship between parents, schools and the community naturally emerges as a Collaborative Action Team develops. The Rio GrandeHigh School Cluster Collaborative Action Team in Albuquerque, New Mexico,decided to hold a family conference. The theme was “Opening Doors.” Parentshelped plan the conference, attended workshops and visited information booths.Session topics included learning styles, homework tips, parenting ideas andgang prevention. The school cafeteria served as an exhibit hall where health and social service agencies provided information. Child care was provided toencourage parents to attend. Americorps volunteers arranged for a magician,games, videos, a clown and pizza. The keynote speaker, a native of the community and now a professor in another state, spoke passionately about theimportance of parents staying connected with what goes on inside classroomwalls: “We have to organize ourselves to work for the benefit of our children.”

Result: About 250 parents got involved and learned valuable parenting skills.

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G u i d eIntroduction

Community Mentoring Program

A majority of students at the Jackson Middle School in Oklahoma City weredemonstrating low academic achievement. Their low test scores were a causefor alarm among school administrators and teachers. The Collaborative ActionTeam discussed the issue and subsequently implemented a mentoring program.School, parent and community members on the team recruited employeesfrom the Federal Bureau of Investigation regional office, Lucent Technologiesand the Federal Aviation Administration. During the 1999–2000 school year, 20 mentors from these organizations provided a minimum of one houreach week to come to the school and work with low-achieving students inmathematics. A total of 1,508 mentor hours were volunteered for a total of 40 low-achieving seventh grade students (20 each semester).

Result: Students showed increases ranging from three to nine percentagepoints between the pre-test and post-test math scores with the average being six percentage points. Ninety percent of the students assigned to a mentormade an extra effort to be in class regularly.

Homework Assignment Book

The members of the Beauregard Middle School Collaborative Action Team inSt. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, were concerned about low student test scores.They determined that part of the problem was students not getting theirhomework completed. The team, composed of parents, teachers, school administrators and students discussed this problem and reached consensus on a two-dimensional approach. First, they initiated a telephone homeworkhotline so parents could call each night and listen to a recorded message to find out what homework was assigned for that day. Second, the team orderedassignment books that the students were required to carry with them at alltimes. Students wrote homework assignments in their books each day and parents then signed the book to indicate that the student had completed thehomework. Teachers also used the assignment book to write notes home toparents concerning the student’s work or behavior that the parent also had tosign. Students who had their assignment books complete and up-to-date wererewarded every nine-week grading period with a drawing for a prize. The books were also used as hall passes during school hours.

Result: Both of these ideas helped students at Beauregard Middle Schoolbecome more disciplined and improve their academic achievement. This resulted in higher test scores and improved grades. Communication betweenthe school and parents also improved.

Glossary
Pre-test/Post-test information is information collected before services begin and again after they end.

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Introduction G u i d e

What Core Concepts Guide the Process?

The Collaborative Action Team process brings the characteristics of true collaboration to the school environment by developing a partnership between a school and its community. Then it helps the team develop and follow anaction plan and use local resources to resolve problems. During this process,you develop a sense of momentum that helps your team move forward.Four core concepts form the foundation of the Collaborative Action Teamprocess:

Representative Membership—Each team contains a cross section of theschool community that is consistently represented at meetings and activelyinvolved in making decisions. This includes family members, community representatives, school personnel and students. Representative membershipenhances collaboration by helping the team develop a more comprehensiveresponse to school community needs. This concept reinforces local control and self-reliance.

Shared Leadership—Each team equally distributes leadership roles andresponsibilities among all team members. Team members see themselves as a group of leaders working to benefit students and their families. All teammembers are equally included in representing the team, making decisions, carrying responsibilities and sharing success. Shared leadership builds true collaboration because it enhances commitment and willingness to work as ateam. It also sustains individual energy, minimizes “burnout” and expands theschool community’s leadership pool.

Consensus Decision Making—Each team makes decisions that best reflectthe viewpoints of all involved and that all members agree to support. Thisrequires that team members develop the ability to discuss issues, listen to eachother, address their differences, work to resolve them and reach decisions basedon general agreement. Consensus decision making might take more time andeffort than other forms of group decision making, such as voting. However, itminimizes conflict and maximizes commitment and willingness to take actiontogether in the long run.

Action Focus—The underlying purpose of a Collaborative Action Team is totake action to improve the school community, in the short run and in the longrun. Describing a team vision and mission, setting goals and forming strategiesprepares a team for action. As members take on roles and responsibilities andfollow up on mutual decisions, they generate momentum for action, whichleads to success.

Glossary
Collaboration brings separate organizations or individuals into a new relationship with a joint commitment to a common purpose. They pool their resources and share the products of their work.
Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Vision The vision describes your team’s dream of what the school community can be.
Glossary
Local Control occurs when local people determine how to make things happen in their own communities.
Glossary
Self-reliance occurs when local people determine how to make things happen in their own communities.
Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.

How to Use These MaterialsThe Collaborative Action Team process materials include this Guide, a “Toolkit”and a CD-ROM. These materials will guide you through the entire process.Although the process has a suggested order, you need not always follow it. Thematerials are designed for flexibility, so follow the order that meets your needs.

The materials are meant to be used by local team members. Stage 1: GettingStarted helps you plan more specifically how to facilitate and coordinate yourteam. As your team goes through the process, many different team memberswill help lead the team by coordinating work, facilitating meetings and discus-sions and recording information. Although all team members should have accessto these materials, the people who are coordinating, facilitating and recordingwill be the ones who use them the most.

What’s In the Guide?

The introduction to this Guide explains the Collaborative Action Teamprocess, as well as the core concepts and terms used in the process. Your facili-tator, or even your whole team, should read the introduction to get a sense ofthe entire process. The remainder of the Guide is organized into five parts.Each part corresponds to one of the five stages in the process and provides aquick reference to what you will do during that stage. The following figureillustrates the Collaborative Action Team process.

10

G u i d eHow to Use These Materials

Glossary
Core Concepts The collaborative action team process is based on the core concepts of representative membership, shared leadership, consensus decision making, and action focus.
Glossary
Facilitating Responsibilities support the Collaborative Action Team process when the team is in meetings or in other group settings.
Glossary
Coordinating Responsibilities are the responsibilities of handling logistics and organizational aspects of a Collaborative Action Team.
Glossary
Recording Responsibilities ensure that Collaborative Action Team decisions and activities are documented and that all members remain well informed.

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How to Use These MaterialsG u i d e

The gardening icon for each stage will help you keep track of where you are inthe Collaborative Action Team process.

➢ Introduce the Process

➢ Gather School Community Information

➢ Plan the First Steps

➢ Establish Representative Membership

➢ Determine Communication Ground Rules

➢ Build Common Understanding

➢ Support Consensus Decision Making

➢ Identify Shared LeadershipOpportunities

➢ Agree on a Vision

➢ Identify and Prioritize Issues

➢ Develop a Mission Statement

➢ Set Team Goals

➢ Communicate Your Message

➢ Develop Strategies

➢ Determine Necessary Tasks

➢ Establish Evaluation Methods

➢ Monitor Progress

➢ Expand Network Opportunities

➢ Assess Team Effectiveness

➢ Celebrate Your Successes

➢ Increase Effectiveness and Impact

SETT ING DIRECT ION

REVIEWING & REF IN ING

TAKING ACT ION

GETT ING STARTED

MOBIL IZ ING THE TEAM

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Stages and Steps in the Process

Each stage of the Collaborative Action Team process includes a series of steps.Some steps focus more on team building. Others focus more on action plan-ning. However, successful teams do both throughout the entire process.

The information for each stage includes the following:

● Background information about the stage

● A brief description of the steps that the stage includes

● An explanation about how the steps relate to one another

Each step begins with a “quick-reference” page that addresses the following:

● A brief definition of the step

● A checklist with the action components and team-building components the step requires

● References to relevant Toolkit items

Background information about the topic follows. Examples from variousCollaborative Action Teams are also supplied.

Stage 1: Getting Started

A Collaborative Action Team must take time to do some “groundwork” to getthe team started on the right foot. Assessing the school community environ-ment to ensure that conditions are right to start a team is one preliminary step.Another is to make certain all the right elements are present to support ahealthy collaboration.

This stage involves learning about the Collaborative Action Team process, getting your team organized and building a working team. Sometimes the people on your team will be meeting for the first time. Other times, you mayalready be working together and want to learn the process before taking action.Stage 1 steps include the following:

● Introduce the Process● Gather School Community Information● Plan the First Steps

This stage provides the foundation for success. Complete this stage before youmove on to any other.

Glossary
Collaboration brings separate organizations or individuals into a new relationship with a joint commitment to a common purpose. They pool their resources and share the products of their work.
Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Team Building focuses on how team members work together while respecting each member’s unique strengths. Mutual respect and trust grow as relationships and shared experiences develop. Teams build relationships several ways: By getting to know each other; by talking constructively from differing viewpoints; and by undertaking projects together.

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Stage 2: Mobilizing the Team

Your Collaborative Action Team must now decide how to operate—includinghow the team will communicate and make decisions. You must begin to thinkabout individual people to include on the team to ensure that the team is repre-sentative and diverse.

This stage involves deciding who should be part of the team and how the teamwill operate. Stage 2 steps include the following:

● Establish Representative Membership● Determine Communication Ground Rules● Build Common Understanding● Support Consensus Decision Making● Identify Shared Leadership Opportunities

Stage 3: Setting Direction

A Collaborative Action Team must have a vision for what the team wants toproduce. This vision will guide team members as they move into action. Asyour team develops a team mission and goals, the members begin getting aclearer picture of the potential results they might achieve.

This stage involves creating a team identity and purpose, and agreeing on goals.Stage 3 steps include the following:

● Agree on a Vision● Identify and Prioritize Issues● Develop a Mission Statement● Set Team Goals● Communicate Your Message

Stage 4: Taking Action

As your Collaborative Action Team implements the action plan, the team willalso require monitoring and maintenance. Team members will find that someprojects fall into place easily, while others require hard work and constant attention. The team may also find barriers that need to be addressed in order to continue to flourish. At the same time, however, team members will begin to see positive results as the team progresses and change starts to happen.

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Vision The vision describes your team’s dream of what the school community can be.

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This stage involves getting more specific about how you will achieve goals, shareresponsibilities and monitor your progress. Stage 4 steps include the following:

● Develop Strategies● Determine Necessary Tasks● Establish Evaluation Methods● Monitor Progress● Expand Network Opportunities

Stage 5: Reviewing and Refining

As the team goes through the process, members need to take time to reflect onthe team’s challenges and to consider what changes to make in the future. Thishelps the team become stronger and more effective over time. Your CollaborativeAction Team will also have many successes to celebrate. Team members shouldbe recognized for their contributions.

This stage involves celebrating achievements, reviewing what has worked andwhat has not and making adjustments for the next steps. Stage 5 steps includethe following:

● Assess Team Effectiveness● Celebrate Your Successes● Increase Effectiveness and Impact

Guide Appendixes

The Guide also includes five appendixes that give more information about particular topics, which are as follows:

● Appendix A: Youth–Adult Partnerships● Appendix B: Engaging Business in Collaboration● Appendix C: Working with the Media● Appendix D: Conducting Effective Meetings● Appendix E: Collaborative Action Team Project Sites● Appendix F: Issues in Collaborative Work: A Review of the Literature

What’s in the Toolkit?

The Toolkit serves as a companion to the Guide. It provides a variety of“tools”—activities, resources and information—that you can use during eachstage of the process. The Guide references those Toolkit items that can help ateach point in the process. You may not need everything in the Toolkit to devel-op a Collaborative Action Team and reach your goals. You can pick and choose

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Guide The CAT Guide explains the Collaborative Action Team process and the core concepts and terms used in the process. The Guide also describes the five stages of the process and provides a quick reference to what you will do during each stage.

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Toolkit items depending on your needs and situation. You will, however, mostlikely find the Toolkit items very useful. Many of the items will help local teammembers organize and facilitate team meetings and plan the work that needs tohappen between meetings. They are also helpful for retreats, educational andfamily events, and/or conferences. You can also use the Toolkit items withsmaller groups or committees, instead of the whole team.

Every step in the Collaborative Action Team process has at least one correspon-ding Toolkit Activity. A Toolkit Activity is a suggested group activity that willhelp your team build specific skills. Each Toolkit Activity contains ready-to-useinstructions and materials the facilitator can use. It identifies goals for meetingsand suggests timeframes and formats for activities. Facilitators may tailor theactivity to meet the team’s needs. The facilitator can decide whether to copy theappropriate background information from the Guide to use along with aToolkit Activity.

Specifically, each Toolkit Activity includes the following:

● Preparation and room set-up instructions

● Goals and key introductory points for the session

● Step-by-step instructions and estimated time

● Wrap-up points

● Follow-up reminders

Most of the materials in the Toolkit follow the same order as the Guide. The last part of the Toolkit includes additional resources that are not specific to any particular stage or activity. You can use the materials in this part throughout theprocess or at specific times of need:

● Troubleshooting Guide

● Team Icebreakers and Energizers

The Troubleshooting Guide will help you select the most appropriate ToolkitActivity to address a specific problem. The Team Icebreakers and Energizershelp team members get to know each other better and encourage active participation in team meetings.

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Guide The CAT Guide explains the Collaborative Action Team process and the core concepts and terms used in the process. The Guide also describes the five stages of the process and provides a quick reference to what you will do during each stage.

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The Toolkit Masters consist of transparency and/or handout masters for eachToolkit Activity. They also include a set of Action Planning masters you willuse throughout the Collaborative Action Team process.

What’s on the CD-ROM?

All materials included in the Guide and Toolkit are also available in electronicform on the enclosed CD-ROM. You will find transparency and handout mas-ters that you can print directly. You will also find an electronic TroubleshootingGuide that will link you to the resources you need most. Finally, you will findresources such as an Action Planning Packet that you can customize with yourown information.

SEDL’s research and field experience suggest that true collaboration to bring positive change requires investing time and effort to develop team skills and relationships. These materials are designed to guide the process of building collaborative teams that work, have solid plans for action and can implementtheir plans.

Glossary
Guide The CAT Guide explains the Collaborative Action Team process and the core concepts and terms used in the process. The Guide also describes the five stages of the process and provides a quick reference to what you will do during each stage.
Glossary
Handout Masters Toolkit documents you can use to create handouts.
Glossary
Transparency Masters Toolkit documents you can use to create overhead transparencies.

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Stage 1: GETTING STARTED

As gardeners begin planting, they must do some preliminary work toprepare the soil. They must loosen hard-packed dirt and add fertilizeror compost to ensure that plants have the rich nutrients they need to

grow. They must make certain the soil is well drained, so plants receive theright amount of water to grow. Taking time to prepare the soil helps ensure theright conditions for plants to thrive.

Definition and Background Information

Now that you’ve decided to implement the Collaborative Action Team process,it’s time for Getting Started. During this first stage, you will do the following:

● Get familiar with the Collaborative Action Team process.● Define your school community.● Identify factors that may affect the development of your team.● Start to get your team organized.

At this point, you may be working alone, with only a few other people or withan existing team. If you are just starting out, you can start gathering potentialteam members and involving them in this initial stage. Or, you may decide tokeep the group small as you do the preliminary work of getting organized. Theteam will focus specifically on building membership in Stage 2.

Steps in this Stage

● Introduce the Process● Gather School Community Information● Plan the First Steps

The first step in Stage 1: Getting Started is to Introduce the Process. This stepwill overview the Collaborative Action Team process and its core concepts,stages and activities. If you’re using the process with an existing collaborativegroup, this step will also help you see whether or not your team has alreadyaccomplished some parts of the process.

Glossary
Core Concepts The collaborative action team process is based on the core concepts of representative membership, shared leadership, consensus decision making, and action focus.

Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

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The next step is to Gather School Community Information. We defined the term school community in the Guide Introduction as “all the people andorganizations that either affect or are affected by the school.” However, different teams work at different levels. They may involve just one school campus or be district-wide, depending on the issues in the particular schoolcommunity. This step will help you focus your team’s work at a particular level(campus, cluster or district-wide) and begin to gather information about theschool community. It also provides an opportunity to identify some of the factors in the school community that will affect the development of your collaborative team, either positively or negatively.

The last step in this stage, Plan the First Steps, helps you get organized tostart building a Collaborative Action Team. This step describes the logistics ofbuilding and sustaining such a team. You’ll plan specifically how to coordinateyour own team. You’ll also choose specific team members to take lead responsi-bility for facilitating, coordinating and recording information for the team.Finally, you’ll develop a format for your team meetings and continue theCollaborative Action Team process.

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Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

Step: Introduce the Process

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Stage 1: GETTING STARTED

Step: Introduce the Process

Definition

As you start to develop a Collaborative Action Team, you need a clear under-standing of the process and its core concepts, stages and steps. By firstoverviewing the process, you can determine whether or not your team hasalready completed some of these steps. This helps you use your time wisely andfocus on the most useful activities.

Action Components

■■ Introduce your team or team organizers to the core concepts, stages and stepsof the Collaborative Action Team process.

■■ Determine which steps you have already completed.

■■ Introduce and build your understanding of the core concept of action focus,which helps the team take action.

Team-Building Component

■■ Introduce and build your understanding of core concepts that relate to teambuilding: representative membership, shared leadership and consensus decision making.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Introduce the Process, p. 1-1

G u i d e

Glossary
Core Concepts The collaborative action team process is based on the core concepts of representative membership, shared leadership, consensus decision making, and action focus.
Glossary
Stages The five stages of the Collaborative Action Team process are Getting Started, Mobilizing the Team, Setting Direction, Taking Action, and Reviewing and Refining. Each stage of the Collaborative Action Team process includes a series of steps.
Glossary
Steps Each stage of the Collaborative Action Team process includes a series of steps. Some steps focus more on team building, others focus more on action planning.

Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

Step: Introduce the Process

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Background Information

To get started, team organizers (or your whole team, if you already have one)need a clear understanding of the overall Collaborative Action Team process.This step overviews the core concepts, stages and steps your team will deal withas the team moves through the process. The Toolkit Activity: Introduce theProcess, p. 1-1 contains a presentation that you can use to walk your teamthrough an overview of the process.

The Core Concepts of the Collaborative Action Team process are:

● Representative Membership

● Shared Leadership

● Consensus Decision Making

● Action Focus

The Stages of the Collaborative Action Team process are:

Stage 1: Getting Started

Stage 2: Mobilizing the Team

Stage 3: Setting Direction

Stage 4: Taking Action

Stage 5: Reviewing and Refining

The Steps of the Collaborative Action Team process appear on a checklist in the Toolkit Activity: Introduce the Process, p.1-1. If you’re using theCollaborative Action Team process with an existing team, this checklist canhelp you identify any steps you’ve already completed. If you’re starting a brandnew team, the checklist can help you track your progress as you go.

As a team develops over time, it’s common for membership to change. Somepeople will leave the team and new people will join. Make certain you orientnewcomers to the overall process so they’ll understand how your team operates.You can also use the materials for this step to introduce other school communi-ty members (such as PTA members or a new superintendent) to your team.

Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

Step: Gather School Community Information

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Step: Gather School CommunityInformation

DefinitionSchool community is generally defined as all the people and organizations thateither affect or are affected by the school. To be effective, Collaborative ActionTeams must define their own school community. Team members must deter-mine who in their community they hope to include on their team. Then theymust decide who they want to impact as a result of their work. They must alsogather information about the school community. This information will helpthem decide how to build the team and what action to take.

Action Components

■■ Define your local school community. This helps clarify who you shouldinclude on your Collaborative Action Team and who the team’s effortsshould impact.

■■ Assess factors in your school community that will affect the team’s development.

■■ Gather information about the school community to help make future decisions.

Team-Building Component

■■ Gather information to better understand your school community. This willhelp your team be aware of local assets and be responsive to local needs.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Define Your School Community, p. 1-9

Toolkit Activity: Examine Your School Community, p. 1-13

Stage 1: GETTING STARTED

Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

Step: Gather School Community Information

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Background Information

A school community goes beyond people who work and study inside theschool. School communities include families, businesses, agencies, organizationsand individuals in the immediate neighborhood. People who pay taxes to support the schools are members of the school community. So are social serviceagencies that provide services to students and their families.

For the purposes of your Collaborative Action Team, however, it’s important to define what school community means for your team (see Toolkit Activity:Define Your School Community, p. 1-9). Your definition of school communitywill affect who you include on your team and what action you decide to take.Some teams have defined their school community as one school campus andits stakeholders. Others have targeted a “cluster” or feeder pattern of schools—a high school and all of the middle and elementary schools that feed into it.Still others have developed a district-wide collaboration to meet the needs ofstudents throughout the school district.

How you define your school community will depend on your particular circumstances. Here are some factors to consider:

● History—How have schools in your community related to each other in thepast? Do the schools share a common history or have they each had unique experiences?

Example: In Pharr, Texas, two elementary schools received a grant andstarted a joint Collaborative Action Team. However, they quickly decided toform two teams (one for each school) instead of one because of the schools’different histories. One school is brand new and is still defining itself. Theother school has a long history of parent involvement and existing programsthat they would like to maintain.

● Geography—How is the community organized physically? Are there naturalor man-made boundaries that people recognize (rivers, hills, highways, etc.)?Are certain neighborhoods closely affiliated with certain schools?

Example: In Los Lunas, New Mexico, one elementary school is locatedseveral miles away from the town center. This elementary school serves twocolonias—low income, unincorporated communities that are also physicallyisolated from the rest of the community. The Collaborative Action Teamdecided to focus efforts on this school because these students’ needs differedfrom those of the overall community.

Glossary
Glossary
Collaboration brings separate organizations or individuals into a new relationship with a joint commitment to a common purpose. They pool their resources and share the products of their work.

Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

Step: Gather School Community Information

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● Administrative Organization—How is the school administration organized?Is there one administrative structure for the whole district, or is it brokendown into smaller parts?

Example: In Albuquerque, New Mexico, there is an assistant superintend-ent for each cluster of elementary and middle schools that feed into a highschool. All district programs and funding are administered by cluster. TheCollaborative Action Team decided it made sense to align the team with theoverall district structure. The team defined the school community as all ofthe schools within the feeder pattern.

● Needs—Does some group within the school district need more services orperform less well than others?

Example: In Del Valle, Texas, a team decided to define the school commu-nity as the local high school and its stakeholders. There were many activitiesalready in place for elementary and middle school students, but not as muchfor high school students. By limiting its school community to the highschool, the team could focus on meeting the specific needs of high schoolstudents and their families.

● Opportunities—Are there opportunities the team could pursue that wouldbe affected by the team’s definition of school community? Are there fundingcriteria to be met?

Example: In Rio Hondo, Texas, the school district received funding toestablish an after-school learning center. One of the requirements of the grantwas a collaborative advisory committee. The school district developed aCollaborative Action Team to serve as an advisory committee for the project.

● Common Interests—Do several schools have issues in common? Do peoplefrom different schools have overlapping interests?

Example: In Mora, New Mexico, the elementary, middle and high schoolsare all located on the same campus. Most parents have students at more thanone school, and teachers at the different schools work closely together. Theadministrative staff is somewhat small, and most school staff take responsibilityfor numerous projects. It was clear to team organizers that a district-wideCollaborative Action Team would work well in their community.

Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

Step: Gather School Community Information

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Once you’ve defined your school community, you’ll be ready to gather infor-mation about it (see Toolkit Activity: Examine Your School Community, p 1-13 ).As you begin to develop your Collaborative Action Team, you’ll assess itsstrengths and needs. This includes gathering the following information:

● Issues in the school community that need to be addressed

● Resources in the community—people and organizations that might be ableto help you address issues

● Factors in the community that might affect the development of yourCollaborative Action Team

Depending on what your team hopes to accomplish, you also might want tocollect information on:

● Student enrollment (gender, ethnicity, etc.)

● Student behavior (drug use, juvenile crime, etc.)

● Student achievement (grades, test scores, graduation rates, etc.)

● School district policies and plans (school improvement plan, student handbook, etc.)

● Services available to students and their families in the school and community

● General community information (businesses in the community, colleges anduniversities, etc.)

The information you gather at this point will help you understand what kindsof opportunities exist in your school community. It will also help you under-stand some of the challenges that you’ll need to address as you build your team.You’ll use this information in Stage 3 of the Collaborative Action Team process,in the Toolkit Activity: Identify School Community Issues, p. 3-9.

Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

Step: Plan the First Steps

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Stage 1: GETTING STARTED

Step: Plan the First Steps

Definition

Before you start building a Collaborative Action Team, take time to plan andorganize how you will coordinate the team. Taking time to deal with logisticshelps teams operate more effectively and keeps key members from “burningout.” Your team’s meetings also require careful planning, to ensure that theteam starts on the right foot. Advance preparation will make team meetingsproductive and welcoming to all participants.

Action Components

■■ Choose people to take lead responsibility for facilitating the team, coordinat-ing the team and recording team business.

■■ Address logistics like meeting preparation and communications to ensurethat your team runs smoothly and effectively.

■■ Plan a team meeting.

Team-Building Components

■■ Promote shared leadership by sharing responsibility for keeping the teamorganized.

■■ Develop meeting procedures that create a welcoming, productive environ-ment that encourages active participation by team members.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Plan the First Steps, p. 1-17

Toolkit: Team Icebreakers and Energizers, p. 7-1

Also see Guide Appendix D: Conducting Effective Meetings.

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Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

Step: Plan the First Steps

Background Information

Collaborative work requires a lot of coordination to ensure that things runsmoothly. Team members usually see each other infrequently, work in differentorganizations and have different schedules. It takes extra effort to ensure thatpeople follow through on decisions and that everybody stays informed. Dealingwith team logistics may not be the most glamorous part of collaboration, but itcan make the difference between a team that makes progress and one withgood intentions that never gets going.

Good organization can also keep key people from “burning out” from trying to take on more responsibility than they can reasonably handle. By carefullyplanning and dividing responsibility among several team members, you createopportunities for people to share leadership for the team. The more people take responsibility for keeping the team on track, the more they take ownershipand stay committed to the team.

While overall shared leadership is one of the goals of the Collaborative ActionTeam process, it’s helpful to designate a small number of people to take leadresponsibility for getting the team organized in the beginning. You need to askat least one person to take on each key responsibility:

Team Coordinator—takes care of logistics and organizational aspects of aCollaborative Action Team.

● Makes logistical arrangements for meetings, events and activities.

● Organizes team communications and information sharing.

● Distributes necessary documents before meetings (agenda, minutes, etc.).

● Ensures follow-up on team decisions.

● Monitors the team’s progress through the Collaborative Action Team process.

● Monitors the development and use of the team’s action plan.

● Makes team materials and resources available to other team members as necessary.

Team Facilitator—supports the Collaborative Action Team process duringteam meetings and in other group settings.

● Leads meetings and helps the team stick to the agenda (keeping time, stayingfocused on agenda topics).

● Facilitates team discussions and activities.

● Ensures that all team members have the opportunity to be heard.

● Helps the team build consensus.

Glossary
Collaboration brings separate organizations or individuals into a new relationship with a joint commitment to a common purpose. They pool their resources and share the products of their work.
Glossary
Shared Leadership occurs when the team equally distributes leadership roles and responsibilities among all team members. All team members are equally included in representing the team, making decisions, carrying responsibilities and sharing success.
Glossary
Coordination is a somewhat formal relationship that involves long-term interaction around a specific effort. It requires some planning and division of roles, but authority still rests with individual organizations. Example: Planning a joint field trip or sharing office space.

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Stage 1 GETTING STARTED

Step: Plan the First Steps

● Suggests alternative procedures and methods when the team gets stuck.

● Summarizes decisions made in meetings.

● Deals with conflicts constructively.

● Evaluates how well the team functions collaboratively.

● Remains neutral during team discussions.

Team Recorder—makes sure the decisions and activities of the team are docu-mented and all members remain well informed.

● Creates a record of team activities and decisions.

● Checks with members for accuracy of those records.

● Communicates ideas and information using a variety of techniques (video,audio, written).

● Prepares meeting minutes.

● Takes notes of team discussions on a flipchart.

The volunteers who agree to take lead responsibility for these key areas don’tnecessarily do all of the work. They simply take responsibility for making surethe team stays organized and on track in that area. Each volunteer should beasked for a commitment of at least six months. Your team will take a closerlook at each of these key responsibilities in Stage 2, during Toolkit Activity:Share Leadership Responsibilities, p. 2-29. For now, you can refer to ToolkitActivity: Plan the First Steps, p. 1-17.

Planning Team Meetings

Your team can build momentum by carefully planning team meetings. Mostteam members are very busy. They may quickly lose interest if meetings ram-ble, run late and are disorganized. By contrast, meetings that have a welcomingatmosphere, encourage participation and produce results keep team memberscoming back. For information on how to plan successful meetings, see Toolkit:Team Icebreakers and Energizers, p. 7-1 and Guide Appendix D: ConductingEffective Meetings.

As you start your team, take the time to plan how you will stay organized andhow you will run team meetings. You’ll probably need to make adjustments as your team develops, but having an initial plan will get you started on the right foot.

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Stage 2: MOBILIZING THE TEAM

Once gardeners have prepared the soil, they’re ready to make some decisions about their garden. They must think about what kinds ofseeds to plant to produce a garden rich in variety. The types of seeds

they choose depend on many factors, including the amount of light and wateravailable in the garden. Gardeners must also plan how the garden will be main-tained—how often to water and fertilize, and when to prune. Finally, everyonemust understand their role in making the garden a success.

Definition and Background Information

Mobilizing the Team is the next stage in building a successful CollaborativeAction Team. During this stage, your team will define who this team is andhow the team will operate. This stage focuses on three core concepts of theCollaborative Action Team process—representative membership, consensusdecision making and shared leadership. These core concepts help hold the teamtogether over time. Stressing them early in your team’s development builds astrong foundation for long-term success.

You may be anxious for your team to accomplish some action right away.However, remember that the Collaborative Action Team process balances teambuilding with taking action. Teams that focus only on results (action) andignore the process for achieving them (team building) end up making age-oldmistakes. While they may accomplish many tasks at first, they probably won’tsurvive in the long term. They won’t have built support for their efforts,because they tend to “steamroll” people instead of listening to their input. Theyoften rely on a small group of team members who “burn out” over time.

Making conscious decisions about how your team will operate provides anopportunity to make real, systemic change. Systemic changes affect an entiresystem or organization. By concentrating on team building early in the process,you gain a chance to involve stakeholders who have historically been leftbehind and to build connections with others in your school community.

Steps in This Stage

● Establish Representative Membership

● Determine Communication Ground Rules

● Build Common Understanding

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Team Building focuses on how team members work together while respecting each member’s unique strengths. Mutual respect and trust grow as relationships and shared experiences develop. Teams build relationships several ways: By getting to know each other; by talking constructively from differing viewpoints; and by undertaking projects together.
Glossary
Task A specific step of your team’s action plan.

Stage 2 MOBILIZING THE TEAM

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● Support Consensus Decision Making

● Identify Shared Leadership Opportunities

The first step after your team has completed Stage 1 is to EstablishRepresentative Membership. Your team will begin to identify who should be on the team to ensure that it’s representative of all the different people and organizations connected to your school community. Your team will alsodevelop strategies for recruiting new members to join the team. During thisprocess, you have a real opportunity to involve new people in your school community in meaningful ways.

After you have begun to establish team membership, it’s time to DetermineCommunication Ground Rules. With participation of all the members, yourteam will set guidelines for communicating and interacting, both during andoutside of meetings. Establishing these rules helps set a tone of respect andconsideration for all voices and opinions. It also helps team members to beginto take ownership of the team. It helps your team operate more effectively toachieve team goals as well.

Your team will then be ready to discuss issues facing the school community and to begin Building Common Understanding. Exploring why people holddifferent beliefs and viewpoints is the first step to understanding that teammembers share common interests and have similar priorities for the schoolcommunity. Discussing issues with respect for everyone’s perspective also beginsto develop an atmosphere of trust and respect. This provides an importantfoundation for all future team activities.

After your team has begun to develop an atmosphere of respect, team memberswill be ready to Support Consensus Decision Making. Consensus decisionmaking gives all team members an opportunity to voice their opinions on atopic. It also helps ensure that individuals are committed to support team deci-sions. Consensus decision making encourages a team to keep its action focus,as team members look for solutions everyone can live with instead of arguingfor their own position.

Finally, your team will Identify Shared Leadership Opportunities and learnmore about team members’ skills and strengths. As a Collaborative ActionTeam, it’s important to take advantage of your team’s most important resource—the team’s members. Team members must be prepared to actively help accom-plish the team’s goals. Individuals often don’t recognize their own potential orthe important contributions others on the team can make. Identifying sharedleadership opportunities helps your team understand that everyone can andmust contribute to improve results for students and their families.

G u i d e

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.
Glossary
Action Focus The underlying purpose of a Collaborative Action Team is to take action to improve the school community, in the short run and in the long run. Describing a team vision and mission, setting goals and forming strategies prepares a team for action.
Glossary
Consensus Decision Making occurs when each team makes decisions that best reflect the viewpoints of all involved and that all members agree to support. Consensus decision making is based on the following three principles: each person has a piece of the truth, but no one has it all; all persons are equal and everyone’s contributions are important; willingness to compromise comes from incorporating various pieces of the truth.

Stage 2 MOBILIZING THE TEAM

Step: Establish Representative Membership

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Step: Establish RepresentativeMembership

Definition

You achieve representative membership when a diverse cross section of all thedifferent people and organizations in your school community are active mem-bers of your team. Team members should be representative of school, home,community and students. They should also vary in age, ethnicity, languageand income level. Your Collaborative Action Team must establish and main-tain a broad, well-balanced membership to ensure a far-reaching response toschool and community needs.

Action Components

■■ As a team, define representative membership for your school community.Then find the current gaps in team membership. Create a well-defined list ofpeople to recruit for your Collaborative Action Team.

■■ Develop a strategy for recruiting new members during the following month.

■■ Continue to review progress in building a representative membership at each meeting.

Team-Building Components

■■ Use consensus decision making when defining representative membershipand finding a strategy for recruiting new members.

■■ Welcome new members as they join the team and recognize those who haverecruited them.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Define Your Representative Membership, p. 2-1

Toolkit Activity: Build Your Representative Membership, p. 2-7

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Stage 2 MOBILIZING THE TEAM

Step: Establish Representative Membership

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Background Information

Achieving and maintaining representative team membership helps you build teameffectiveness. A representative team brings together a diversity of school, home,community and student representatives to communicate and share knowledgeand experience in a personal, constructive manner. Such a team reflects the widerange of strengths, abilities, experience and resources found within your school community.

Representative membership means diversity in each of four areas:

● School—principals, teachers, counselors, support staff, district staff administrators

● Home—parents, grandparents, legal guardians

● Community—health and social service providers, colleges and universities, community/civic organizations, businesses, faith-based organizations, senior citizens, concerned citizens/taxpayers

● Student—class officers, community service club, nontraditional leaders

But it also includes other kinds of diversity:● Age

● Ethnicity

● Language

● Income level

A key feature of the Collaborative Action Team process is the inclusion of students as active team members. By planning and working on school community projects, students on the team acquire leadership skills. Adults learn to listen productively while students voice opinions and share ideas formeeting school community needs. The whole community benefits as the emerging collaboration of all community organizations solves problems, fostersunderstanding and builds trust.

Representative membership is important in several ways:● It helps identify community-wide concerns,

● It increases creative and comprehensive approaches to school community issues and

● It provides a pool of leaders to share responsibility for action.

To establish representative membership, your team must define what it means foryour school community. Your team must identify the gaps in team membership.

Glossary
Collaboration brings separate organizations or individuals into a new relationship with a joint commitment to a common purpose. They pool their resources and share the products of their work.
Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.

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Then you must recruit new members to become active in the CollaborativeAction Team. During Stage 1 your team began to define what people andorganizations are part of your school community. This information will helpyou find the gaps in your current membership. It will also help you decide whoyour team needs to make it truly representative of your school community. You should develop a campaign to recruit new members, with input from your whole team. Use team members’ connections to involve home, school,community and student representatives. Refer to Toolkit Activities: DefineRepresentative Membership, p. 2-1 and Build Your Representative Membership, p. 2-7 for activities that will help your team develop recruitment strategies.

You can approach recruitment efforts in a variety of ways. Some strategies aregeneral, while some are targeted. General strategies attempt to recruit membersby reaching a broad audience that probably includes all or many of the differ-ent membership categories. These strategies don’t target any specific person ororganization. Some examples of general recruitment strategies follow:

● Getting news media coverage of team activities to increase visibility in the community

● Sending press releases to community newspapers or newsletters, such as electric utility newsletters

● Sponsoring or participating as a team in cultural, social and other activities in the community to increase visibility and identity

● Talking to people at local restaurants, bakeries and cafes and other places people gather

● Posting flyers or setting up information booths at local shopping centers, grocery stores, churches, schools and other organizations

● Giving quick presentations on your Collaborative Action Team and the team’spurpose at community and school events

Targeted strategies are directed to specific individuals or to specific membershipcategories or organizations your team wants to involve. Often, targeted strategies are more successful when you’re trying to achieve representative membership quickly. Some examples of targeted recruitment strategies follow:

● Making personalized invitations, phone calls or home visits

● Tapping into individual team members’ existing networks

● Recruiting parents, students and school staff at school events

● Recruiting parents by going places they tend to gather, such as grocery stores,laundromats, shopping centers, etc.

● Offering rides to team meetings

Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.
Glossary
Representative Membership means that each team contains a cross section of the school community that is consistently represented at meetings and actively involved in making decisions. This includes family members, community representatives, school personnel and students.

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● Addressing letters to target organizations

● Using a phone list to invite a group of people to a team meeting

● Working out agreements between school parent-involvement programs orstudent programs so parent volunteers and students can attend team meetings

● Working in partnership with local chapters of organizations such as NAACPor La Raza to develop culturally appropriate strategies to reach members ofspecific racial or ethnic groups

In both general and targeted strategies, it matters who makes the invitation.Particularly with targeted strategies, involving recognized leaders or people withsimilar backgrounds increases a team’s success.

Building representative membership is an ongoing process because teams naturally lose people periodically. Once you’ve conducted an initial recruitingcampaign and filled gaps on your team, you’ll still need to keep an eye on representative membership. Your team should also review this activity afterdeveloping an action plan. This ensures that representative membershipremains a priority as your team begins to implement the action plan.

Finally, remember that the physical presence of representatives from differentgroups doesn’t always mean a team is truly representative. All members mustequally share leadership, make decisions and carry out responsibilities if theteam is to become truly representative of your school community.

Example

To recruit new members and to gain visibility and community support, theDollarway, Arkansas, Collaborative Action Team sponsored a “Meet YourSuperintendent” event. The team used letters and flyers to invite parents and many community members across the district. During the event, thesuperintendent, who is also an active member of the Collaborative ActionTeam, discussed his goals for school district improvement. He also mentionedhis support for the Collaborative Action Team. As a result, the team is supporting many of the superintendent’s goals and he is supporting theirs.Subcommittees were created to work on achieving their shared goals. The people who were present and volunteered to be part of subcommittees havecontinued to be active members of the Collaborative Action Team.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.
Glossary
Representative Membership means that each team contains a cross section of the school community that is consistently represented at meetings and actively involved in making decisions. This includes family members, community representatives, school personnel and students.

Stage 2 MOBILIZING THE TEAM

Step: Determine Communication Ground Rules

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Step: Determine Communication Ground Rules

Definition

Communication ground rules help guide team members’ interactions andbehavior when they work together during and outside of team meetings.Setting these ground rules early on makes it possible for team members to worktogether productively. You should use your ground rules to conduct meetings,manage discussions, share ideas and reach consensus.

Action Components

■■ Develop ground rules for communication among team members by usingconsensus decision making.

■■ Ensure that all members are aware of the ground rules by making a master list and giving copies to members or displaying them on a poster at team meetings.

■■ Review the communications ground rules in the future as needed.

Team-Building Components

■■ Create a comfortable environment for building team relationships and trustby agreeing on communication and behavior ground rules.

■■ Set up positive ways to handle problems or differing opinions among teammembers.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Determine Communication Ground Rules, p. 2-11

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Step: Determine Communication Ground Rules

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Background Information

Special ways of communicating emerge naturally in teams that have workedtogether for a while. For example, consider how athletes interact in the dressingroom after a big game. How do these interactions differ from what happensamong teachers in the staff lounge? Both cases have a long history of established behavior. New team members quickly learn and adapt to theseestablished communication styles. However, in new teams with members fromdiverse backgrounds, no established rules for communication and behaviorexist. They must be created. Such is the case with a typical CollaborativeAction Team.

Agreeing to communication and behavior ground rules creates a comfortableclimate for building team relationships and trust. Ground rules forCollaborative Action Team communications help encourage a positive atmos-phere that welcomes dialogue and debate. Ground rules also foster respect fordiverse viewpoints and opinions. However, problems and differing opinions arenormal for teams that aren’t used to working together. How a team handlescontroversies and disagreements can make or break the team. Teams that acceptdiffering viewpoints as a healthy part of the process use these opportunities tolearn and grow. Communication ground rules help establish positive ways ofhandling problems and disagreements.

Ground rules should guide interactions among team members as they worktogether during and outside of meetings. When developing these rules, every-one on your team should contribute to the discussion. This way, all members“own” the process. Remember that some members of your CollaborativeAction Team may not have had an opportunity to publicly voice their opinionor viewpoint in this type of forum before. They may therefore feel a bit intimi-dated at first. Team members who are experienced public speakers, especiallythose in positions of power or authority, can help others become comfortableby actively listening and encouraging other team members to participate.When your team has discussions, the facilitator plays a key role in ensuringthat everyone contributes to that discussion.

By working together to develop communication ground rules, your teambegins to practice the art of team negotiation with a fairly nonthreateningtopic. Having the team identify, negotiate and adopt communication groundrules provides ownership and a feeling of success. Also, team members are more likely to respect and follow their own ground rules than those from anoutside source.

Glossary
Ground Rules guide interactions among team members as they work together during and outside of meetings. Ground rules for Collaborative Action Team communications help encourage a positive atmosphere that welcomes dialogue and debate and foster respect for diverse viewpoints and opinions.

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Collaborative Action Teams often have ground rules like the following:

● Be respectful of and open to others’ ideas.

● Avoid interrupting others while they’re voicing their opinions.

● Encourage diversity of expression by not dominating the discussion.

● Share responsibilities for communicating information by alternating roles of taking minutes, reporting to the team, distributing flyers, etc.

● Don’t personalize issues and point fingers—the team is here to seek collaborative solutions.

● Provide translation whenever possible to increase opportunities for informedparticipation and decision making.

● Recognize individual and team contributions and accomplishments with positive feedback.

● Help keep discussions on track.

Toolkit Activity: Determine Communication Ground Rules, p. 2-11 helps you leadyour team through this process. If your team is struggling to identify commu-nication ground rules, it’s helpful to provide some of these examples. However,be careful not to encourage the team to depend on you for all of the ideas.Once communication ground rules have been developed and agreed to by all members, ensure that your whole team receives a copy in writing. It’s also helpful to display the rules on a poster when meetings are being held.

Example

The Polk Elementary Collaborative Action Team in East Baton Rouge,Louisiana, reached consensus at their second meeting on six ground rules thatencouraged good communication and reinforced the core concept of sharedleadership. Two of their six ground rules were “Everyone will share in the jobsand responsibilities” and “Everyone is equal on the team.”

Stage 2 MOBILIZING THE TEAM

Step: Build Common Understanding

2-11

Step: Build Common Understanding

Definition

Your Collaborative Action Team will start to build common understandingwhen team members begin to explore each others’ diverse experiences and perspectives. Building common understanding begins the process of developingan atmosphere of mutual trust and respect and developing a shared identity. It also lays a foundation for a consensus decision-making approach for team decisions.

Action Component

■■ Introduce a process for structured discussion sessions that your team can useto build common understanding of school community issues.

Team-Building Components

■■ Create an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding as a prerequisiteto consensus decision making and shared leadership.

■■ Build team members’ dialogue and listening skills.

■■ Find areas of interest and concern that different team members share.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Build Common Understanding, p. 2-15

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Glossary
Consensus Decision Making occurs when each team makes decisions that best reflect the viewpoints of all involved and that all members agree to support. Consensus decision making is based on the following three principles: each person has a piece of the truth, but no one has it all; all persons are equal and everyone’s contributions are important; willingness to compromise comes from incorporating various pieces of the truth.

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Step: Build Common Understanding

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Background Information

When you work to develop a team that is representative of your entire schoolcommunity, you may find that team members come from very different backgrounds and have diverse points of view. Exploring all of these points ofview gives the team a clearer overall picture of the assets and challenges in thecommunity. Organizing a structured team discussion of school communityissues can be a great strategy for exploring and understanding these issues.

Discussion is also a crucial part of team development because it sets the stagefor shared leadership and consensus decision making. Whether your team isjust getting to know each other or is made up of people who have workedtogether for years, structured (rather than informal) discussion is an effectiveteam builder.

This type of discussion moves your team beyond superficial opinions and helpsteam members explore why people hold the beliefs they do. In the course ofsuch discussions, team members begin to find the common ground withintheir diverse experiences and opinions. As team members begin to build trustand understand each other, a true team is born.

The Importance of Discussion

According to the Study Circles Resource Center, “the community can trulyaddress its concerns only when community members from all walks of life havereal opportunities to hear each other and to work together democratically.”1

Such dialogue benefits groups on three different levels:2

Personal

● Participants have opportunities to “take ownership” of an issue as they develop their own views and connect their experiences to public issues.

● Participants explore beliefs that others hold and learn they can disagree without being disagreeable or feeling threatened.

● Participants form new friendships and new community connections.

● Participants learn that they share common interests in addressing issues, and they often “partner up” to make a difference.

1 Planning Community-Wide Study Circle Programs., Study Circles Resource Center, TopsfieldFoundation, Inc., 1996.

2 Ibid.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Shared Leadership occurs when the team equally distributes leadership roles and responsibilities among all team members. All team members are equally included in representing the team, making decisions, carrying responsibilities and sharing success.

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Organizational

● Participating organizations develop a broader connection to the community.They thereby increase opportunities to incorporate historically underrepre-sented segments of the community as supportive links to their efforts.

● Participating organizations identify common ground on which to build collaborative efforts.

Community

● New approaches to solving community problems emerge.

● Strong, interracial networks for community problem solving are established.

● New relationships among individuals, organizations and community institutions enhance community strength and vitality.

As your team goes through the Collaborative Action Team process, team mem-bers will face many situations where structured discussion can be important.Structured discussion is especially useful when your team needs to know whereindividual members stand on controversial issues. Frequent discussions thatrespect diverse viewpoints also help address potential conflicts before they reacha boiling point. During this step in the process, you should organize a struc-tured discussion to help the team build common understanding of school community issues (see Toolkit Activity: Build Common Understanding, p. 2-15).

Later, as part of your action plan, you may want to consider organizing a seriesof discussions based on your team’s priorities (see Toolkit Activity: IdentifySchool Community Issues, p. 3-9) or topics such as:

● How to define and increase student achievement

● How to improve school safety

● How to define the role of parents in your schools

● How school performance relates to overall community improvement

● How to address issues to meet the needs of all students

● How to best distribute resources within your schools

You can also adapt the format for structured discussions for use with the gener-al community. Organizing a series of discussions about a school-related topiccould be a significant part of your team’s overall action plan. Community-widediscussions increase understanding of school community issues and are a greatstarting place to encourage others to get involved in your efforts.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.

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Example

At SEDL’s Collaborative Action Team Institute in Little Rock, Arkansas,teams used a structured discussion format to talk about shared leadership inschool communities. Over 200 Collaborative Action Team members fromcommunities across the Southwest broke into small groups to discuss theirviewpoints regarding who should be involved in making decisions that affectschools and students. Each discussion group included parents, school represen-tatives, community representatives and students. Team members left with a better understanding of how decisions are made in school districts. They alsogained new ideas about ways to include the public in school decisions.

Stage 2 MOBILIZING THE TEAM

Step: Support Consensus Decision Making

2-15

Step: Support Consensus Decision Making

Definition

Consensus decision making happens when your whole team arrives at a decision that best reflects the viewpoints of all involved. All members must bewilling to accept the decision and agree to support it. This requires that youdiscuss issues, listen to each other, address differences and conflicts, work toresolve them and reach decisions based on general agreement. Consensus decision making might take more time and effort than other forms of decisionmaking, but in the long run it minimizes conflict and maximizes members’commitment and willingness to act.

Action Components

■■ Assess how your team has been making decisions up to this point in theCollaborative Action Team process.

■■ If consensus decision making hasn’t been the norm, determine what barriersprevent its effective application.

■■ Take some concrete steps to ensure that your team uses consensus decisionmaking in the future. If necessary, ask for volunteers to monitor the use ofthese steps.

■■ Take time to do an activity at a meeting where consensus decision makingcan be practiced. See the Toolkit References below for some activities.

Team-Building Component

■■ Build team members’ listening, decision making and negotiating skills.

■■ Ensure that all team members take ownership of the team and team decisions.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Examine Team Decisions, p. 2-21

Toolkit Activity: Use Consensus Decision Making, p. 2-25

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Step: Support Consensus Decision Making

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Background Information

Consensus decision making is one of the most effective methods of group deci-sion making. It requires that all members discuss the issue and express theirpoint of view. The team’s decision should be one all team members can acceptand support, even if it’s not an individual team member’s preferred choice.

You’ll use consensus decision making throughout the Collaborative ActionTeam process. Ensure that all team members feel comfortable with it early on(see Toolkit Activity: Examine Team Decisions, p. 2-21). As your team develops,it’s important to examine the various ways decisions are being made in andoutside of meetings to assess whether your team is using consensus decisionmaking appropriately. Spend some time practicing the mechanics of consensusdecision making if your team members are having difficulty with the approach(see Toolkit Activity: Use Consensus Decision Making, p. 2-25).

Consensus decision making is based on the following three principles:● Each person has a piece of the truth, but no one has it all.

● All persons are equal and everyone’s contributions are important.

● Willingness to compromise comes from incorporating various pieces of the truth.

Consensus decision making need not be unanimous, nor does everyone needto fully agree with the decision. There may be conflict or frustration, but yourteam should discuss an issue until it reaches a decision everyone can live with.A decision should not result from any team member’s preference. Rather, itshould come from everybody’s input.

The consensus decision-making process has four key ingredients3: ● A group of people willing to work together

● A problem or issue that requires a group decision

● Trust that there is a solution

● Perseverance to find that solution

Some discussion skills are necessary to successfully practice decision makingby consensus:● Discussing issues openly

● Listening to each other

● Addressing differences and conflicts

● Working to resolve them

● Reaching decisions based on general agreement

3 Estes, C. Consensus and Community. Paper presented at the International Association ofHumanista/IAF98/estes.html.

Glossary
Consensus Decision Making occurs when each team makes decisions that best reflect the viewpoints of all involved and that all members agree to support. Consensus decision making is based on the following three principles: each person has a piece of the truth, but no one has it all; all persons are equal and everyone’s contributions are important; willingness to compromise comes from incorporating various pieces of the truth.

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These skills are very important because once people have built trust throughdiscussion, they’re more inclined to fully engage in consensus decision making.“An environment in which all can feel safe is essential to good discussion anddecision making. All need to know they will be listened to respectfully andattentively.”4 In this setting, team members establish a sense of ownership for allefforts undertaken. They take on responsibility and become accountable for theteam’s success. Focusing on a Collaborative Action Team’s primary purpose—to improve results for students and their families—supports consensus decisionmaking as well.

How Consensus Decision Making Works

1. A member of the team shares a proposed decision.

2. Someone writes the proposal on a flipchart or board so everyone can see itand check its accuracy and completeness.

3. The facilitator asks each member in turn whether he or she supports thedecision and why or why not.

4. Team members opposed to the decision can suggest modifications or alternative decisions.

5. If all team members agree to support a proposed decision, then consensusexists. No decision is made until every member indicates that they can live with it.

Some critics complain that consensus decision making takes too much timeand is too difficult. In the long run, however, team members will have moreownership in decisions they reach by consensus. They won’t need to invest asmuch time in rehashing, complaining about or failing to carry out decisions.

Example

The Collaborative Action Team in Lee County, Arkansas, wanted to selectthree goals for the team to focus on. Each team member suggested potentialgoals, based on the issues the team had identified in the school community.The facilitator led the discussion and then asked everyone to vote on their topthree choices. As the team reviewed the top choices, it became clear that twoteam members were uncomfortable with one of the goals. However, the major-ity of the team supported it. The team waited to adopt the last goal until thenext meeting, to allow more time for everyone to think about and discuss it.Team members agreed to think about ways to modify the goal so it wouldreflect everybody’s interests.

4 Working Towards Consensus. The Active Learner: A Foxfire Journal for Teachers (1998).3(2), 7.

Glossary
Consensus Decision Making occurs when each team makes decisions that best reflect the viewpoints of all involved and that all members agree to support. Consensus decision making is based on the following three principles: each person has a piece of the truth, but no one has it all; all persons are equal and everyone’s contributions are important; willingness to compromise comes from incorporating various pieces of the truth.

Stage 2 MOBILIZING THE TEAM

Step: Identify Shared Leadership Opportunities

2-19

Stage 2: MOBILIZING THE TEAM

Step: Identify Shared LeadershipOpportunities

Definition

With shared leadership, Collaborative Action Team members equally distributepower and leadership roles and responsibilities. They see themselves as a group of leaders working together to benefit students and their families. Each teammember is equally included in making decisions, representing the team, carry-ing out responsibilities and sharing in success. Shared leadership leads to truecollaboration because it enhances commitment and willingness to work as ateam. It also sustains individual energy, minimizes “burnout” and expands theschool community’s leadership pool.

Action Components

■■ Identify the personal strengths, skills, abilities and experiences team memberscan use in different leadership roles and responsibilities.

■■ Determine how your team will make shared leadership work. How will theteam distribute leadership responsibilities among team members?

■■ Consider mentoring within your Collaborative Action Team to help teammembers develop strengths for new leadership roles.

Team-Building Components

■■ Enhance team members’ commitment and willingness to work together.

■■ Sustain energy, minimize “burnout” and expand the school community’s leadership pool by sharing leadership among all members.

■■ Share leadership responsibilities to help all groups represented on the team toovercome differences, clear away “old thinking” and become open to newpoints of view.

Toolkit References

● Toolkit Activity: Share Leadership Responsibilities, p. 2-29

● Toolkit Activity: Take on Leadership Roles, p.2-33

● Toolkit Activity: Develop Leadership through Mentoring, p. 2-39

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Step: Identify Shared Leadership Opportunities

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Background Information

By using shared leadership, your team members will begin to see themselves asa group of leaders working together to benefit the students and their families.When you “balance power” among school, home, community and student representatives, you promote equal partnership among all groups.

Shared leadership teams have the following characteristics:

● Investment—Team members participate actively and are committed to theteam mission.

● Decentralized power—No one person or group holds all the power.

● Horizontal relationships—All team members have equal opportunity to participate.

● Interdependency—All team members trust that they’re all in this together.

● Democratic decision making—All voices are heard and influence decisions.

● Creativity—No one individual is as clever as the team as a whole.

● Flexibility—Team members are group oriented and sensitive to the particular situation.

Spreading the responsibility for your team’s success fosters a spirit of sharedownership by all team members. Ownership, in turn, empowers everyone.Shared leadership doesn’t mean never having a leader; it means leadershipfunctions are distributed among the whole team. Some situations call for an individual leader to act as a spokesperson or to remind members of theteam’s mission.

Shared leadership also helps dissolve traditional behavior and roles. Rolling upyour sleeves, rubbing elbows with team members from other parts of the schoolcommunity and taking concrete action are powerful ways to gain the wholeschool community’s respect. Sharing leadership responsibilities helps all groupsrepresented on the team overcome differences and avoid stereotypes.

Despite how much or how little leadership experience team members have,each of you has unique knowledge, abilities and personal strengths. Each teammember becomes a leader by assuming responsibility for his or her own contri-bution toward achieving the team’s mission. Collaborative Action Teams withshared leadership value each member’s distinctiveness. They use everyone’sunique strengths to help the team find new ways to solve the complex issuesschools face. Members whose talents, abilities and perspectives aren’t usedbecome disillusioned and stop participating.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Shared Leadership occurs when the team equally distributes leadership roles and responsibilities among all team members. All team members are equally included in representing the team, making decisions, carrying responsibilities and sharing success.

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Step: Identify Shared Leadership Opportunities

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Strengths-Based Leadership Roles

In any successful, effective, well-balanced team, members use their personalstrengths to play important and necessary roles. These roles reflect the leader-ship qualities that different members bring to your team. Some strengths-basedleadership roles we have seen in Collaborative Action Teams follow:

Communicator—Helps everyone understand the message

Consensus Builder—Helps people talk with one another so they can make adecision all members can support

Evaluator—Pays attention to detail and helps your team evaluate decisions and activities

Implementer—Follows through on decisions and gets things done

Mediator—Helps people understand each other

Mentor—Helps people lead activities and advises them how to improve

Planner—Thinks about what’s needed to make things happen

Resource Developer—Finds what’s needed to make things happen

Risk Taker—Tries new ideas and approaches

Team Builder—Helps people feel like they’re part of the team

Visionary— Shares dreams about making things better and leads people tomake these dreams come true

This is not a complete list of strengths-based leadership roles. Some people on your team may have strengths that can be used in additional roles. It’s important for your Collaborative Action Team to identify all team members’strengths and skills, so they’ll feel comfortable taking on a related leadershiprole (see Toolkit Activity: Take on Leadership Roles, p. 2-33). More than one person may assume a leadership role in the same area of strength. Likewise, a person may have strengths in more than one area. This depends on the combination of people on your team. The important point is, all membersshould use their strengths in the appropriate leadership roles.

If a role isn’t being fulfilled because no one on the team has strengths in thatarea, think of ways that somebody might be trained or mentored to assume thatrole. Mentoring is a powerful way for members to develop confidence and buildnew leadership strengths (see Toolkit Activity: Develop Leadership throughMentoring, p. 2-39).

Leadership Responsibilities

Opportunities for shared leadership also exist in sharing responsibilities thatmake the Collaborative Action Team process work. Some of these responsibili-ties happen during meetings. Others happen in between. Every leadership

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responsibility should be assigned to someone at all times to ensure that it getsdone. This doesn’t mean the same person must be responsible for the samething all the time. Nor does it mean the same person can’t fill more than oneresponsibility at once. Sometimes it makes sense for the same person to take ontwo or more responsibilities because they overlap. It doesn’t matter how yourteam shares responsibilities. Choose the process that works for you (see ToolkitActivity: Share Leadership Responsibilities, p. 2-29).

The responsibilities in a Collaborative Action Team fall under four majorcategories:

Mutual Member Responsibilities—responsibilities that all CollaborativeAction Team members have at all times

Coordinating Responsibilities—responsibilities for handling logistics andorganizational aspects of a Collaborative Action Team

Facilitating Responsibilities—responsibilities that support the CollaborativeAction Team process when the team is in meetings or in other group settings

Recording Responsibilities—responsibilities that ensure that CollaborativeAction Team decisions and activities are documented and that all membersremain well informed

All members should fulfill mutual member responsibilities at all times. Theother three responsibilities—coordinating, facilitating and recording—shouldbe shared and rotated among team members. Many successful CollaborativeAction Teams have had one person responsible for each category: a lead coordi-nator, a lead facilitator and a lead recorder. These lead people don’t do it all.They just ensure that people are assigned to each responsibility, according tothe team’s process for shared leadership. The persons taking on lead rolesshouldn’t see themselves as the team’s sole leaders. Rather, they are facilitatorsfor the process, ensuring that all members take on leadership opportunities.

Glossary
Shared Leadership occurs when the team equally distributes leadership roles and responsibilities among all team members. All team members are equally included in representing the team, making decisions, carrying responsibilities and sharing success.

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Examples

In Clayton, Oklahoma, the Collaborative Action Team operates on a first-name basis—from superintendent to students—to reinforce that all are equalpartners. When the discussion facilitator was called away during one meeting,a student volunteered to facilitate the continuing discussion. The rest of theteam followed his lead and accomplished what they needed to do. Theyshowed him the same respect as they would an adult.

In Fabens, Texas, each membership group takes turns coordinating, facilitating and recording a meeting. For instance, when it’s the community’s turn, allmembers representing the community share responsibilities for that meeting.

In Balmorhea, Texas, the Collaborative Action Team has worked hard toshare leadership. At the end of each meeting, the team asks for volunteers tocoordinate and facilitate the next meeting. Also, the team has broken workinto committees headed by different committee leaders, including one headedby a student. This team has also learned the importance of having methods ofaccountability, since responsibilities are spread among so many people.

3-1

Stage 3: SETTING DIRECTION

Gardeners are now ready to plant their seeds in the garden. They havecome together with a “vision” of the results they want and haveplanned accordingly. They understand that establishing a garden is a

slow process and that careful planning will produce good results. As everyoneplants their seeds, they start getting a picture of the overall garden that willbloom from their efforts.

Definition and Background Information

Setting Direction is the third stage in building a successful CollaborativeAction Team. Up to this point, your team has focused on defining who theteam is and how the team will operate. Now you’re ready to decide what youwant to accomplish more specifically. Your team will continue to use consensusdecision making as the team decides on a clear focus and direction in which togo. This stage also supports the core concept of action focus, as your teambegins to develop an action plan.

Steps in this Stage

● Agree on a Vision

● Identify and Prioritize Issues

● Develop a Mission Statement

● Set Team Goals

● Communicate Your Message

The first step in Stage 3 is to Agree on a Vision. Your team’s vision refers tothe ideal state for your school community—your team’s “dream.” Establishinga vision helps you stay focused on the result you want as you develop and useyour action plan.

The next step is to Identify and Prioritize Issues that your school communityneeds to address. Before you begin to take action, team members should exam-ine information about school community needs and locate available resources.Your team may see many issues that need to be addressed to achieve the team’svision for the school community. However, it’s probably unrealistic to addressall of them at once. Therefore, you must reach consensus and prioritize theissues that team members feel are most important.

Glossary
Action Focus The underlying purpose of a Collaborative Action Team is to take action to improve the school community, in the short run and in the long run. Describing a team vision and mission, setting goals and forming strategies prepares a team for action.
Glossary
Consensus Decision Making occurs when each team makes decisions that best reflect the viewpoints of all involved and that all members agree to support. Consensus decision making is based on the following three principles: each person has a piece of the truth, but no one has it all; all persons are equal and everyone’s contributions are important; willingness to compromise comes from incorporating various pieces of the truth.

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Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

After identifying these issues, your team will be ready to Develop a MissionStatement. The mission statement explains who the team is and what the teamwill achieve. The mission statement also describes the team’s purpose. It helpsteam members and the overall school community understand why the teamexists and what the team hopes to achieve. The mission sets the team’s generaldirection.

The next step for developing your team’s action plan is to Set Team Goals.Goal statements identify more specifically what you hope to accomplishthrough your team’s action plan. They connect directly to priority issues yourteam has identified for the school community. Specific goals keep you focusedon the results you want to achieve.

Once you have established your team’s identity and have defined what the team wants to achieve, it’s time to plan how to Communicate Your Message.Communicating information about your team to the overall school communi-ty and to stakeholders beyond is important for the team’s long-term success.Informing others about your team helps establish the team’s credibility andgives others an opportunity to support your efforts.

As you leave Stage 3, your team will have set a clear direction and establishedan identity. You’ll be ready to address specifically how you will achieve teamgoals and sustain momentum over time. As you continue to develop youraction plan, look for opportunities to share leadership among team members.The entire team must actively participate to help achieve results in order to sustain the team over time.

Note: Your team will begin to develop an action plan during Stage 3. Pleaserefer to the Action Planning Packet in the Toolkit Masters for a sample actionplan and blank action plan. The materials are also available on the CD-ROM.You will use these materials throughout Stages 3 and 4.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.

Step: Agree on a Vision

Definition

A shared vision is a “dream” for what your school community can ideally be inthe future. A vision provides a great way for team members to develop teamcommitment. A clear vision will help team members know what actions to taketo move toward the dream.

Action Components

■■ Develop a shared vision statement about where your Collaborative ActionTeam is headed. This gives you and your team members a star to steer by—a way to know when you’ve achieved your dreams for students and their families in your school community.

■■ Present the vision to your school board, city council and other groups interested in school issues and seek their support for it.

■■ Begin to develop an action plan for your team.

Team-Building Components

■■ Create energy and motivate members by working together to write a visionstatement.

■■ Keep your team focused on why the team exists by agreeing on what youwant for students and their families.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Agree on a Vision, p. 3-1

Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Agree on a Vision

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Stage 3: SETTING DIRECTION

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Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Agree on a Vision

Background Information

To reach a specific goal, it helps to have an idea of where you’re going. If youdon’t, how will you know when you get there? In effect, you need a vision or“dream.” A clear picture of the end result helps turn your vision into reality.This is true for both individuals and communities.

Start creating your vision by imagining what you want your school or commu-nity to be like five years from now. (Some teams imagine as far out as 10 or 20years.) Think about what would be different and what would be the same.

A shared vision also enhances trust among team members. By working togetherto develop a vision statement, everyone will know where they’re headed. Thisstep enables team members to visualize the future and to agree on a commonvision for students and their families in your school community.

It’s also important to share your vision with others. The vision statementinforms everyone in your school community about what your team is doingand creates excitement about your efforts. This can strengthen the support for your team. It’s a good idea to seek such support by presenting your visionstatement to the school board for their approval. If your team feels it’s impor-tant, you might also present the vision statement to your city council for theirsupport. The more individuals and organizations that understand and agreewith your vision, the easier it will be to carry out your ideas.

Developing a vision statement marks the beginning of the action planningprocess for your team. The Action Planning Packet materials in the ToolkitMasters suggest a simple format for keeping a written action plan. You will use your action plan to record the vision statement you have developed in thisstep and will add to it as you go through Stages 3 and 4. The action plan willprovide focus and direction for your team.

Example

The Collaborative Action Team in Ponca City, Oklahoma, agreed that theirvision was to create “a safe environment where all students have access toexemplary educational opportunities and healthcare, where students are pre-pared for the 21st century with a firm sense of community.” Based on thisvision, the team collaborated with community-based service providers andbusiness leaders to tackle the issue of substance abuse among young people.They also supported a school-based mentoring program that links studentswith adult mentors to improve student outcomes.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Vision The vision describes your team’s dream of what the school community can be.
Glossary
Action Planning helps a team develop its vision, mission and goals. The team prioritizes, strategizes, assigns tasks and evaluates progress. Action planning also helps produce fast visible results. The team takes easy, achievable steps that help it move forward.

Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Identify and Prioritize Issues

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Step: Identify and Prioritize Issues

Definition

Collaborative Action Teams address issues directly related to major areas thataffect the well-being and education of students and their families. These issuesmay involve academic, economic, political, social, cultural or historical factors.Developing a common understanding of school community issues builds yourteam’s knowledge base. This knowledge captures the differences and similaritiesin your team members’ viewpoints.

Action Components

■■ Create a list of your school community’s strengths.

■■ Create a list of issues that your school community needs to address.

■■ Collect student data needed to understand your school community’s major issues.

■■ Prioritize a list of issues your team needs to address to improve results for students and their families.

Team-Building Components

■■ Develop an understanding of the issues that affect your school community.

■■ Reach consensus on the concerns and issues your team needs to address.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Assess Your School Community, p. 3-5

Toolkit Activity: Identify School Community Issues, p. 3-9

Toolkit Masters: Action Planning Packet

Stage 3: SETTING DIRECTION

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Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Identify and Prioritize Issues

Background Information

The primary focus of a Collaborative Action Team is to improve results for students and their families in school and in life. Your team’s diverse member-ship brings a broad range of abilities, experience and skills to the issues yourschool community faces. Your Collaborative Action Team can be a powerfulvoice for such issues.

An early step in planning for action and developing a team is to identify issuesthe whole school community shares. Encourage all team members to freelyvoice their ideas. Keep in mind that discussing these issues can bring frustra-tions to the surface. This is especially true if some members feel they’ve rarelyhad a voice in community decisions or if factions exist in your community.The idea that conflict may arise can be uncomfortable, but open discussionoffers a way for your team to grow together. Toolkit Activity: Identify SchoolCommunity Issues, p. 3-9 suggests a structure for discussing issues and determining which are most important.

In Stage 1, your team began gathering information about the needs andstrengths of your school community. You will now use this information tomake informed decisions about what issues are most urgent. It’s important toanalyze the information now, before you develop your action plan. This helpsensure that the team is addressing the most important issues affecting yourschool community. By examining the data now, you can establish a baseline. A baseline shows what things were like before you made any changes. It helpsyou determine the impact of your actions.

Your team may have questions that can’t be answered by the information you’ve gathered so far. If that’s the case, you may need to assess the school com-munity’s needs and strengths on your own. Toolkit Activity: Assess Your SchoolCommunity, p. 3-5 helps your team assess school community issues in order to make informed decisions. A community or school assessment provides anexcellent opportunity to actively involve team members. They can developmaterials for gathering information, go into the school community to collectinformation and analyze the results. A school community assessment helps others learn about your team and get involved in the team’s efforts.

By identifying school community issues, team members are in a position todecide what action they need to take to improve results for students and theirfamilies. Regardless of how issues are identified, it’s difficult to address every-thing at once. This is why your team should develop action plans for the topthree issues, at most. Take a focused approach and concentrate on a few man-ageable projects at a time. The development of goals and strategies to addressmany different issues at once often isn’t practical.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.

Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Identify and Prioritize Issues

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To identify which issues to address first, a priority ranking process is helpful.Several different methods can be used. Some methods are short and informal;others are more structured. Once you identify team priorities, you can begindeveloping specific action plans that describe the goals and strategies your teamwill follow to address these priority issues. After actions are underway on thefirst priority, your team can begin to take action on others. In your team’s earlylife, you should avoid taking on too many projects at once. Success on oneproject will demonstrate achievement to your school community and make iteasier for you to tackle additional priorities and further action plans.

Examples

The members of the L.R. Jackson Elementary Collaborative Action Teamin West Memphis, Arkansas, identified the need to improve student achieve-ment and parent involvement. After analyzing the results from a survey thatwas completed by over 100 parents, the team decided that these needs couldbe best met by establishing a family resource center in the school community.The team made arrangements with the city to use a vacant branch library thatwas close to the school as a resource center for students and their families.

The Collaborative Action Team in Terrell, Texas, identified and prioritized a list of school community issues during a brainstorming session at a teammeeting. The team selected two priority issues to address. The first priority was a lack of communication about healthcare issues among all segments ofthe community. The second priority was the lack of a central place whereyouth and other community members could gather after school to receivesocial, health and educational services. The team focused on these two issues asthey developed team goals and the rest of their action plan.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.

Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Develop a Mission Statement

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Step: Develop a Mission Statement

Definition

A mission statement is a clear description of who you are and what your teamis all about. It is a concise declaration of the team’s purpose or function. A mission statement explains how you will work to achieve your common purpose by answering what, for whom and how. Your mission statement will provide a basis for future direction and decision making.

Action Components

■■ Review the priority issues for your school community that will provide direction for your team.

■■ Develop a mission statement that describes your team’s purpose and providesthe team with a general sense of direction.

Team-Building Components

■■ Your Collaborative Action Team can experience a sense of accomplishmentby presenting the team’s completed mission statement to the school superin-tendent and school board. Have as many team members as possible presentto show their support.

■■ By working together to create a mission, your team will develop a sharedsense of purpose. This will help you further understand and build trust withone another.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Develop a Mission Statement, p. 3-15

Toolkit Masters: Action Planning Packet

Stage 3: SETTING DIRECTION

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Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Develop a Mission Statement

Background Information

A Collaborative Action Team’s mission statement is not the same as the team’svision. The vision describes your dream of what the school community can be.A mission brings your team out of a dream world and provides a more realisticand immediate purpose for existing. Your team’s mission statement should indicate who you are (your identity) and what you are about (your purpose).

In a Collaborative Action Team, a clear direction guided by a mission helpsfocus activities. All team members need to be involved in developing the mission statement. In the process, you and your team will reach a commonunderstanding of school community issues. This helps ensure that present andfuture team members know up front what you’re all about. A clear team mission also helps individuals and organizations decide whether to participateon the team. The mission statement explains how you will work to achieveyour common purpose by answering: what your team does, for whom, andhow. For an example of a Collaborative Action Team mission statement, go toToolkit Activity: Develop a Mission Statement, p. 3-15. This activity can helpyour team develop its own mission statement.

Examples

The Marshall Collaborative Action Team in Marshall, Arkansas, developeda mission statement that emphasized building strong connections among the various segments of their rural community. Based on this mission, theydeveloped goals in four categories: academics, vocational, extended time pro-grams and family and community. The success of many rural school districts isdirectly connected to the success of the overall community. The team’s missionstatement helped keep them focused on the important connection betweenschool improvement and community development.

In Clinton, Oklahoma, the Collaborative Action Team members developed a mission statement that focused on the need for more meaningful activities for both students and adults in the community. Their first step towardsaccomplishing their mission was to develop an extensive resource directory ofall the services that were currently available in the community. They alsohelped write a grant proposal to develop a community learning center to provide after-school and evening programs for the Clinton community.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.

Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Set Team Goals

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Step: Set Team Goals

Definition

Goals document the big things your Collaborative Action Team wants toaccomplish regarding the priority issues the team has identified. Goals statemore specifically what you will do to accomplish your team’s mission. A clearrelationship between priority issues and team goals is vital. Your team shouldwrite at least one goal for each priority issue.

Action Components

■■ Translate the top-priority issue into a goal statement.

■■ Write one or more goals that will help your team address each priority issue.

Team-Building Component

■■ Reach consensus on team goals.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Set Team Goals, p. 3-21

Toolkit Masters: Action Planning Packet

Stage 3: SETTING DIRECTION

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Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Set Team Goals

Background Information

Previously, your Collaborative Action Team established a team mission. A mission gives team members a common purpose for active involvement on theteam. The mission focuses on the team’s reason for existing and what it’s goingto do. You’ve already identified your priority issues. Now it’s time to turn yourtop priority into one or more action-oriented goals. Eventually, you’ll developgoals for all of your priority issues. If your team tries to develop goals for everyissue at once, the task might be overwhelming. The number of goals willdepend on the scope of each particular issue. Simple issues may require onlyone goal. Complex issues may require two or more.

You need goal statements to narrow your efforts to a manageable size for two reasons:

1. The underlying purpose of “improving results for students and their families” is too broad to manage effectively.

2. Your team’s mission may be too long-term for you to feel any real achievement.

Goal statements help define what you hope to accomplish for each priorityissue. It’s relatively easy to translate issues of concern into goal statements.Simply turn them around to become statements of what you will accomplish.Here’s an example:

Issue: Many students are getting into trouble after school because they don’thave things to do. These students also have low academic achievement.

Goal: Enhance and increase after-school activities for students in collaborationwith local agencies and organizations.

Such a goal provides a general direction for your team and a basis for develop-ing an action plan. It’s also helpful to write goals in terms of benefits for students and families. In this example, the obvious benefit is improved accessand availability of after-school student activities and programs. By stating thegoal in terms of how it will benefit students, you will be better able to measurethe results. You need only look at how many additional students were helpedand the impact that these activities and programs had on their academic per-formance to judge the impact of your team’s work. For more examples of goal statements, see the sample action plan in the Toolkit Masters: Action PlanningPacket. Also, see the Toolkit Activity: Set Team Goals, p. 3-21 to help you determine your team’s goals.

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.

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Activity: Set Team Goals

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Example

The Rio Grande Collaborative Action Team in Albuquerque, NewMexico, wanted to address the negative stereotypes about the school community that often ran on the local news. They developed a goal ofimproving the school community image as part of their action plan. Theteam set up a committee to build relationships with local reporters andsought media coverage of the schools and students’ positive accomplish-ments. The team also discussed plans to create and distribute bumper stickers to encourage pride and involvement in the school community.

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Step: Communicate Your Message

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Step: Communicate Your Message

DefinitionInforming people about your efforts is a key to your team’s long-term success.In many school communities, collaboration is a new way of “doing business.”You must clearly communicate who your team is and what you’re trying toaccomplish to prevent confusion and to establish credibility. To communicateeffectively, you must also identify who the team wants to reach and for whatpurpose. You will then be able to plan strategies to communicate that messageto your audience.

Action Components

■■ Identify your target audience—the people you’d like to inform about yourCollaborative Action Team.

■■ Decide what information your team needs to communicate and develop aclear message to do so.

■■ Create a plan for reaching your defined audience with your team’s message.

Team-Building Components

■■ Continue to establish team identity by creating materials and strategies thattell your team’s “story” to the school community.

■■ Support shared leadership by using team members’ diverse skills to commu-nicate your team’s message.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Define the Audience and the Message, p. 3-25

Toolkit Activity: Create a Communications Plan, p. 3-31

Also see Guide Appendix C: Working with the Media

Stage 3: SETTING DIRECTION

Glossary
Collaboration brings separate organizations or individuals into a new relationship with a joint commitment to a common purpose. They pool their resources and share the products of their work.

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Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Communicate Your Message

Background Information

As you’ve moved through Stage 3, your team has prioritized issues to address.You also defined a vision and mission, and set goals you want to accomplish.Most of the work so far has been internal. In other words, you have accom-plished results through discussion and action within your team. To accomplishyour larger goals, however, you must begin looking to the larger school community. Your team doesn’t operate in isolation—you need the support of parents, community members and your school district. Reaching out andinforming others of your efforts can make the difference between a projectthat’s here to stay and one that simply fades away.

Communicating your message effectively can help your team:

● Establish team identity through slogans and visual images,

● Gain credibility and demonstrate that it’s a legitimate team doing positive work,

● Build positive impressions about the overall school community and

● Invite others to support the team’s efforts and share in your success.

The first step in communicating your message effectively is considering your“target audience.” In other words, who do you want to inform about yourefforts? It’s important to take the time to define your audience, since strategiesthat may reach one group or individual may not reach another. For example, if you are trying to keep families informed about the team’s efforts, using awebsite alone may not be successful. Many families may not have computers in their homes.

After you’ve defined your audience, you must develop the message your teamwants to communicate. Since many people have limited time and may nothave a high level of interest (yet!), it’s crucial to decide what information ismost important. Also, your message may vary depending on what your team istrying to accomplish through these communications. For instance, you mighthave a different message if you’re trying to recruit volunteers for a particularproject than if you’re asking the school board for support to start a new pro-gram. Toolkit Activity: Define the Audience and the Message, p. 3-25 provides anopportunity for your team to create a “Report Card” that you can use to tellothers about your team. In any communications materials or strategy, yourteam might want to include the following:

● Vision and mission

● Goals

● Accomplishments

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Vision The vision describes your team’s dream of what the school community can be.
Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.

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Step: Communicate Your Message

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● Team logo or slogan

● Team membership

● Specific volunteer opportunities or team events

● History of the team and how it was formed

● Contact information, so people can get involved

Once you’ve defined your audience and decided what you want to communi-cate, you’re ready to develop your strategy for getting the word out. Again, it’simportant to remember who you want to reach, why you want to reach themand what you want to say. You can get your message out to your target audi-ence in many different ways:

● Press releases

● Brochures

● Video

● Website

● Articles or op-ed pieces in the newspaper

● Announcements in church bulletins

● Restaurant placemats

● Bumper stickers

● School newspaper

● School marquee sign

● Direct mail to school community residents

● Inserts in utility bills

● Banners and signs

● T-shirts

● Radio and TV public service announcements

Toolkit Activity: Create a Communications Plan, p. 3-31 will help your team planstrategies for communicating your message to others.

A Note on Shared Leadership

Communications provide a great opportunity for encouraging shared leader-ship within your team. The story of Dora Martínez (see Toolkit Activity: Take on Leadership Roles, p. 2-33) illustrates how different team members can beincluded in your team’s communications strategy. Communications is also anarea where students can often serve as a resource. Many students are interestedin using technology and artistic skills to create websites, T-shirts, posters andother materials.

Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.

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Stage 3 SETTING DIRECTION

Step: Communicate Your Message

Example

One of the team members on the Ann Parish Collaborative Action Team inLos Lunas, New Mexico, created a video presentation. The video explainedhow and why the team was formed, highlighted some of the team’s early successes and described the team’s goals and their plans to accomplish them. It also included information about the Los Lunas community. The team firstdeveloped the video to give the school board a progress report, but they’ve alsoused it to orient new team members and to approach potential funders.

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Once the seeds are planted, the hard work of maintaining the gardenbegins. Gardeners must pay careful attention to ensure that plantsgrow up healthy and hardy. Gardeners must deal with weeds and

insects that threaten the health of plants. They must also pay close attention togrowing conditions and adjust the amount of water and fertilizer accordingly.Gardeners usually find that some plant varieties grow easily, with very littlecare, while others require constant attention. This careful monitoring andmaintenance will be worth the effort, though, as the gardeners begin seeing theresults of their efforts.

Definition and Background Information

Taking Action is the fourth stage in the Collaborative Action Team process.During this stage, your team will define the specific actions it will take toachieve its goals. After teams have set their goals, they’re often eager to quit planning and “do something.” It’s important to take short-term actions to keepteam momentum strong, but it’s also crucial to take time to plan your next steps.Your team is more likely to accomplish its goals and build long-term successwhen tasks and responsibilities are clearly defined. The team needs to set upmechanisms to monitor progress and evaluate how well it’s meeting team goals.

Clearly defining tasks and responsibilities also supports consensus decisionmaking and shared leadership. Every team member is responsible for the action plan’s success. All team members should therefore take an active role in accomplishing the tasks the team defines. It’s also important to continuecommunicating with others outside the team. Your contacts can provide astrong network of support for your team’s efforts and help you acquire theresources your team needs.

Steps in this Stage

● Develop Strategies

● Determine Necessary Tasks

● Establish Evaluation Methods

● Monitor Progress

● Expand Network Opportunities

The first step in this stage is to Develop Strategies—to define how you willaccomplish team goals. Many problems can be solved in more than one way.Therefore, it’s important to reach consensus on the approaches you will take toget the results you want. Moving from general ideas to specific strategies makesa team’s work much more concrete.

Stage 4: TAKING ACTION

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Steps Each stage of the Collaborative Action Team process includes a series of steps. Some steps focus more on team building, others focus more on action planning.
Glossary
Shared Leadership occurs when the team equally distributes leadership roles and responsibilities among all team members. All team members are equally included in representing the team, making decisions, carrying responsibilities and sharing success.
Glossary
Task A specific step of your team’s action plan.

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Stage 4 TAKING ACTION G u i d e

The next step is also the final step in completing your team’s action plan. Youmust Determine Necessary Tasks in order to break your team’s action plandown into manageable steps. For instance, one of the team’s strategies may beto start a service learning program that links classroom curriculum with real-lifeexperiences in the community. Many steps are involved in such a program. Ateam must define each step and decide who will be responsible for it. Clearlydefining specific tasks and responsibilities also helps individual team membersaccept responsibility and leadership more easily. Individuals will be moreaccountable for following through on commitments they make themselves. Inthis step you determine who will be responsible for doing what and when.

After your team has defined its goals and strategies, and the tasks and timelinesfor carrying out action plans, it must Establish Evaluation Methods.Evaluations help your team monitor progress and see the impact of results. You must establish evaluation methods up front so you can take appropriatemeasures as you carry out your plan. Stakeholders and leaders in the schoolcommunity must have evidence of the team’s accomplishments if they’re tocontinue supporting your efforts. Evaluations also help your team gather need-ed resources and funding, as they show the team’s capacity for achieving results.

Once you’ve established evaluation methods, you are ready to begin puttingyour strategies into action and completing agreed-upon tasks. All team mem-bers should know what they are responsible for and can begin working on toget tasks accomplished. Remember, it is not always necessary to work on allstrategies and goals in your action plan at once. Begin with one strategy at atime, and as you get something done, move on to the next.

As you implement your action plan, your team must Monitor Progress tokeep team momentum going. Team members should continually confirm thatthe action plan is being carried out the way it was planned. They must alsoensure that team members follow through on their commitments. It’s impor-tant to review and refine your action plan regularly once you’ve put it in action.

Finally, you should Expand Network Opportunities to build support for yourteam’s efforts. You should build connections with people and organizations inthe school community and beyond. This can help your team obtain necessaryresources for taking action and build long-term support. A strong, broad-based network of support will help your team become a fixture in the schoolcommunity. The team will then be better able to weather changes in schooladministration, funding and so on.

In Stage 4, your team moves strongly into action to make positive changes forstudents and their families. The time spent in planning and team building willpay off as all team members take responsibility for a successful action plan.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Team Building focuses on how team members work together while respecting each member’s unique strengths. Mutual respect and trust grow as relationships and shared experiences develop. Teams build relationships several ways: By getting to know each other; by talking constructively from differing viewpoints; and by undertaking projects together.
Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.
Glossary
Timeline A schedule of what will be completed when.
Glossary
Evaluation A process that helps you see how well you are achieving your team’s mission and meeting team goals.

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Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Develop StrategiesG u i d e

Step: Develop Strategies

Definition

Strategies identify specifically how your Collaborative Action Team will successfully achieve team goals. Strategies spell out who will do what, for whatpurpose and when. It’s important to write down your strategies as you work onyour team’s action plan.

Action Components

■■ Write specific strategies that address how your team will accomplish each goal.

■■ Include a target date for completing each strategy.

Team-Building Components

■■ Reach consensus on the strategies your Collaborative Action Team will use toachieve team goals.

■■ Develop an understanding of the issues involved in achieving team strategies.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Develop Strategies, p. 4-1

Toolkit Masters: Action Planning Packet

Stage 4: TAKING ACTION

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Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Develop StrategiesG u i d e

Background Information

After your Collaborative Action Team has written a team vision, mission andgoals, it’s time to develop specific strategies to meet those goals. Strategies helpchange ideas into actions. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there. Strategies should be realistic and achievablewith the resources you already have available or can easily obtain. It does littlegood to adopt a strategy that requires resources not available to you.

There are usually many ways to reach a goal. Some goals may require the development and implementation of a longer-term project or a program.Other times a one-time event can address a need. Sometimes it will be mostproductive to cooperate with what other groups and organizations in theschool community are already doing. You will need to consider your team’soptions and decide which strategies are most effective, keeping in mind thepeople, resources and time that you have. The number of strategies you havefor each goal will depend on that goal’s level of complexity and on how muchwork your team can do in the allotted time period.

Once you’ve decided on your strategies, you should clearly state each one sothat everyone in your team and in your school community can understand it.Some people don’t see the value of developing an action plan with writtenstrategies, or see it as boring. However, it’s been demonstrated over and overthat teams that take time to write down strategies find it much easier to achievetheir goals. Without clear, specific strategies, team members won’t know wherethey are headed or if they’ve reached their destination. Your strategies shouldprovide a clear direction for achieving the goal they support. The ToolkitActivity: Develop Strategies, p. 4-1 will help your team write clear and focusedstrategy statements. The Toolkit Masters: Action Planning Packet provides examples of strategies for Collaborative Action Team goals.

It’s important to keep your team focused at this point in the process, since thisstep is often more difficult to complete than others. Sometimes it’s harder toreach consensus when you’re moving from the general to the specific. It’s agood idea to keep your team vision posted to remind team members whythey’re there. It will also help to give team members copies of the team’s actionplan with the information it includes up to this point—the vision, mission, priority issues and goals.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Vision The vision describes your team’s dream of what the school community can be.

4-5

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Develop StrategiesG u i d e

ExampleThe Collaborative Action Team in Mora, New Mexico wanted to increaseparent and community involvement in the schools. They developed two strate-gies—one short-term and the other long-term. As a short-term strategy, theyhelped host a parent involvement training with parents and teachers, so thateveryone could better understand the challenges of parent involvement fromboth perspectives. They followed this up with a parent/teacher potluck lunchduring the teachers’ in-service days at the beginning of the school year. Theirlong-term strategy was to develop a parent resource center. When space on theschool campus fell through because of construction taking place, the teamimmediately started looking for community space to house the resource centertemporarily. Having both a short and long-term goal helped keep the teammoving forward, despite setbacks.

4-7

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Determine Necessary TasksG u i d e

Step: Determine Necessary Tasks

Definition

The next step of action planning consists of determining the tasks involved to carry out your strategies. For each task, you’ll also determine the resourcesneeded, who will be responsible and a timeline for completion. It’s importantthat you write down the tasks that team members will do to meet each goaland carry out each strategy. In this step you determine who on the team will be responsible for doing what and when.

Action Components

■■ Determine the specific tasks you must complete for each written strategy.Record a date for completing each task.

■■ Identify the resources required to implement each strategy as you list each task.

■■ Identify the individuals responsible for completing each task.

■■ Document the tasks, timelines, resources and responsibilities in a writtenaction plan.

Team-Building Component

■■ Support shared leadership by encouraging team members to take on specificresponsibilities to achieve team goals.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Define Tasks and Resources, p. 4-5

Toolkit Activity: Determine Responsibilities and Timelines, p. 4-9

Toolkit Masters: Action Planning Packet

Stage 4: TAKING ACTION

Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.

4-8

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Determine Necessary TasksG u i d e

Background Information

As you continue through the action planning process, you are ready to takethree additional steps to complete action planning for each strategy:

1. Determine tasks and resources needed to achieve each strategy.

2. Identify the person or persons responsible for carrying out each task.

3. Determine the date by which each task will be completed.

These action planning steps provide your team a detailed plan and a list of the resources and “tools” needed to achieve your goals.

The first step is to identify and list the specific tasks required to implementeach strategy. Breaking tasks down into smaller pieces makes it easy to see whatneeds to happen to complete them. Your list of tasks should include a realisticlist of resources needed to complete each task:

● Availability of member time

● In-kind contributions

● Buildings and equipment

● Financial and other resources

If everyone involved understands what they need to do to implement eachstrategy, they’ll find it much easier to accomplish.

Next, you need to identify which members will be responsible for each task.This responsibility should not be shouldered by just a few members. It should be shared among all team members. This prevents individuals from“burning out.”

The final step to complete your action plan is to set a date for completing each task. Many factors will influence the completion date. You must be realistic about these dates and consider team members’ other responsibilities.

One technique for keeping members clear about their tasks is to use the 3Wrule. Always determine Who will do What and When. An action plan putsthis rule into practice. Use Toolkit Activities: Define Tasks and Resources, p. 4-5and Determine Responsibilities and Timelines, p. 4-9 to guide your team throughthis final step in the action planning process. Also, remember to use ToolkitMasters: Action Planning Packet to record tasks responsibilities and timelines.

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Action Planning helps a team develop its vision, mission and goals. The team prioritizes, strategizes, assigns tasks and evaluates progress. Action planning also helps produce fast visible results. The team takes easy, achievable steps that help it move forward.
Glossary
Task A specific step of your team’s action plan.
Glossary
Timeline A schedule of what will be completed when.

4-9

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Determine Necessary TasksG u i d e

Example

The Collaborative Action Team at Palmer Elementary in Pharr, Texas, haddeveloped their goals and strategies and begun to feel very overwhelmed aboutgetting them all done. One strategy was to conduct a Parent Academy to helpparents become more involved in their children’s education and in school deci-sion-making by understanding the school system and what their children werelearning in school. They wrote down two tasks for this strategy. The first taskwas to lead the team in planning and coordinating the logistics. The secondtask was to determine topics for the sessions and decide who would coordinatethem. At that point, each committee developed their own list of tasks, respon-sibilities and deadlines. This proved to be an effective way to get this strategyimplemented. The Parent Academy was a complete success, with every sessionattended by more than 35 parents and one session attended by 57 parents.

4-11

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Establish Evaluation MethodsG u i d e

Step: Establish Evaluation Methods

Definition

Evaluation is the process of collecting and analyzing information about thestrategies your team is using. Evaluation helps you find out how well you havecarried out your action plan. It also reveals the impact that your efforts havehad in the school community and what results the team has achieved.

Action Components

■■ Develop methods for evaluating team projects and strategies before youimplement your action plan.

■■ Define performance standards for strategies in your action plan. Performancestandards state what your team reasonably hopes to achieve and when.

■■ Record your evaluation methods and attach this information to your action plan.

Team-Building Components

■■ Encourage shared responsibility for developing evaluation methods and conducting evaluations. Involve team members representing all school com-munity groups to ensure that information comes from a variety of sources.

■■ Ensure that all team members fully understand the evaluation process so thewhole team can help accomplish goals and track your team’s successes.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Establish Evaluation Methods, p. 4-13

Stage 4: TAKING ACTION

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.

4-12

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Establish Evaluation MethodsG u i d e

Background Information

Evaluation is an important part of any project or program because it helps youmake changes and improvements along the way. Above all else, evaluation helpsyou answer the key question, “Are we making a difference?”

People conduct evaluations for many reasons:

● To establish the need for a new project

● To choose among possible projects

● To assist in making decisions about a project

● To learn if a project is doing what it’s designed to do

● To determine if a project is useful to the people it’s meant to serve

● To see what impact the project is having

● To record the project’s history

● To meet funding and school district requirements for documentation

There are three different types of evaluation:

● Needs Evaluation—Needs evaluations look at “what is” versus “what shouldbe” in terms of actual versus needed services. Needs evaluations help justifythe need to change existing programs or start new ones.

● Process Evaluation—Process evaluations ask, “Are we taking the steps weneed to take to meet our goals?” and “Are we following our plan?” Processevaluations help teams make adjustments and changes to carry out projectsmore effectively. Gardeners who continually monitor their plants as theygrow are conducting process evaluations. They’re checking to see if anythingneeds to be adjusted to get the desired results.

● Outcome Evaluation—Outcome evaluations measure the impact or effect of a strategy, program or project. For example, an outcome evaluation of aschool science program might measure whether or not students had moreinterest and achieved more in science as a result of participating in the pro-gram. Outcome evaluation can also show how program costs compare with program benefits.

Toolkit Activity: Assess Your School Community, p. 3-5 addressed needs evaluation.Two other Toolkit Activities: Report Progress and Review Responsibilities, p. 4-19and Assess Team Effectiveness, p. 5-1 help teams conduct process evaluations.Toolkit Activity: Establish Evaluation Methods, p. 4-13 will help your teamdevelop an outcome evaluation process for your action plan.

4-13

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Establish Evaluation MethodsG u i d e

The outcome evaluation process involves six steps:

1. Develop the questions—Decide what you want to know about the project.

2. Determine desired outcomes—Decide what results you want or what performance standards you hope to meet.

3. Choose or design evaluation instruments and set collectionprocedures—Decide how you can best measure the impact of a project.

4. Collect the data—consider:

– What information you’ll collect

– What you’ll use to collect it

– When you’ll collect it

– Who you’ll collect it from

– How you’ll collect it

5. Analyze the data—Compare actual results to desired outcomes.

6. Report your findings—Keep the school community and your fundingsources informed.

What Information You’ll Collect

The information you need will vary with each project. The following are somecommon types of information your team may need:

● Test scores, grades, academic information

● People’s satisfaction with the project

● Amount of knowledge gained as a result of the project

● Behavioral or emotional changes that resulted from the project

What to Use to Collect the Information

You can use a variety of methods or “instruments” to collect information:

● Standardized tests

● Questionnaires or surveys

● Formal or informal interviews

● School or program records (number of students attending, etc.)

● Focus groups

● Observations

4-14

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Establish Evaluation MethodsG u i d e

When to Collect Information

You need to collect information at several points along the way so you can document the results of a project. Some commonly collected information follows:

● Baseline Information—collected at the very beginning of the project so youknow where things were when you started

● Pre-test/Post-test Information—collected before services begin and againafter they end

● Data Points—collected several times throughout a project (i.e., every threemonths) so you can compare results at various points along the way

● Exit—collected when the project is completed or services have ended

Who to Collect Information From

It’s important to consider who you should collect information from. For eachproject, you may need information from a variety of people—students whoparticipated in the program, their teachers, their parents, etc. Think about waysto get a good sample. You probably don’t need information from every studentin the school district, but you’ll want to ensure that your sample group repre-sents your overall target population. Here are some factors to consider:

● Age

● Gender

● Ethnicity

● Language

● Socioeconomic status

● Geographic location (all areas of your school community, etc.)

How You Will Collect the Information

You can use a variety of methods to collect information. Think about how you can best reach your sample population. Some information-collectionmethods follow:

● Personal contact

● Telephone

● Forms to fill out

● Home visits

● Mail

● Fax

● Internet

4-15

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Establish Evaluation MethodsG u i d e

Although evaluation can seem somewhat intimidating if you haven’t done itbefore, it’s a key to developing support and getting funding for team projects. A number of people can help your team develop an evaluation plan. Considerasking someone from your school district’s data division, a researcher from alocal college or the staff at your local United Way to help you start your evaluation.

Example

The Little Rock, Arkansas, Collaborative Action Team responded to studentmembers’ concerns about the physical conditions of their schools by usingneeds evaluation. The team developed a survey to get input from all studentsat the school. They also developed a checklist that volunteers from the teamused to evaluate the physical conditions of all school campuses during site visits.The team will use the results from the student surveys and evaluations to makerecommendations to the school board about improving school conditions.

Glossary
Evaluation A process that helps you see how well you are achieving your team’s mission and meeting team goals.

4-17

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Monitor ProgressG u i d e

Step: Monitor Progress

Definition

At this point, you have started to implement your action plan. Monitoringyour progress helps team members determine how far they have come toward meeting a goal and how much farther they have to go. If your team encountersproblems, you can then make changes to make the goal easier to accomplish.

Action Components

■■ Get reports on the progress you’re making toward meeting your goals.

■■ Record the information you need to evaluate your progress.

■■ Review your action plan and adjust tasks, responsibilities and timelines, ifnecessary.

Team-Building Components

■■ Monitoring progress on the action plan empowers team members and provides a sense of accomplishment.

■■ Brainstorming about issues or stumbling blocks in the action plan strength-ens the sense of shared leadership and responsibility among team members.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Report Progress and Review Responsibilities, p. 4-19

Toolkit Activity: Recognize Member Contributions, p. 4-23

Stage 4: TAKING ACTION

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.

4-18

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Monitor ProgressG u i d e

Background Information

Carrying out an action plan is the high point of action planning. Action planning begins in general terms when you create a vision and mission. Theprocess gets more specific when you set goals, develop strategies and assignresponsibilities and timelines. Carrying out the tasks you planned moves youbeyond planning to acting to achieving results for students and their families.

The action plan is carried out by the 3W rule of Who, What and When. YourCollaborative Action Team Action Worksheets serve as a “road map” for yourteam to monitor tasks and keep them on schedule. You may need to clarifywho is doing what and when on an ongoing basis. Collaborative Action Teammeeting agendas may include a progress report from the person or task forceresponsible for a task. However, if you encounter roadblocks, you’ll need toresolve them. Monitoring your action plan should become a regular meetingagenda item until you meet your goals and you’re ready to set more.

At this point in the Collaborative Action Team process, some teams may experience frustration. You may hear complaints such as, “Nobody’s doingwhat they said they would” or “This is taking too long.” Monitoring yourprogress can help prevent some of these complaints. It can take a long time toobtain evidence that your team’s work is impacting students and their familiesin lasting, positive ways. Team members may have difficulty seeing the resultsof their efforts.

Your team facilitator needs to know that complaints often signal that it’s timeto examine the team’s progress and recognize the contributions members havemade. Individual and group commitments are the cornerstones of strong, effective partnerships. Keeping members involved and motivated is a majorconsideration for most teams. You can help maintain members’ involvement by recognizing each individual’s contributions to the team. This helps buildmomentum at the personal and team level and helps head off potential complaints. Feeling valued by peers helps everyone feel part of the team.Mutual respect and support grows as members engage in planning and working together. Each team member’s contributions help the team’s efforts.

Celebrating individual and group successes along the way encourages everyone.By contrast, ignoring individual contributions can lead to a gradual loss ofmomentum that may eventually affect the whole team. For this reason, no success is too small to celebrate. Let people know their efforts are appreciated!

Glossary
Team Facilitator The team member who supports the Collaborative Action Team process during team meetings and in other group settings.

4-19

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Monitor ProgressG u i d e

Examples

The Collaborative Action Team at Beauregard Middle School in St.Bernard Parish, Louisiana, routinely reviews progress on projects through asmall group of volunteers specifically assigned to do so. The team facilitators,principal and school district representative who serve in this group bring anyproblems or concerns to all members at the next team meeting.

The Jackson Middle School Collaborative Action Team in Oklahoma City,Oklahoma, recognizes team members who contribute their time and talentsby posting their names and accomplishments on the school’s web page.

4-21

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Expand Network OpportunitiesG u i d e

Step: Expand Network Opportunities

Definition

Networking is the ongoing process of developing contacts and relationshipswith key people and organizations, both in the school community and beyond.Networking builds a team’s effectiveness by increasing the expertise andresources available to the team. It also helps a team build support for theirefforts and avoid duplicating what already exists.

Action Components

■■ Assess the current network the team has developed.

■■ Identify key partners for the Collaborative Action Team.

■■ Develop strategies for expanding the team’s network.

Team-Building Components

■■ Build representative membership by recruiting new team members from your school community.

■■ Support shared leadership as team members draw on their individual contacts and connections to increase the team’s success.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Expand Network Opportunities, p. 4-27

Stage 4: TAKING ACTION

4-22

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Expand Network OpportunitiesG u i d e

Background Information

Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines network as “a fabric or structureof cords that cross at regular intervals and are knotted or secured at the crossings” and networking as “the exchange of information or services amongindividuals, organizations or institutions.” Both of these definitions emphasizeconnections. As you continue to carry out your team’s action plan, it’s crucialto make connections in the school community and beyond to ensure the team’s long-term success.

Increasing your team’s connection to other people and organizations helps the team:

● Recruit people to become long-term members of the team,

● Obtain assistance or support for a one-time or short-term project,

● Avoid duplicating existing programs or projects,

● Identify new opportunities and resources for the team and

● Learn from others’ experiences in order to be more effective.

While networking may support your efforts to recruit long-term team members,you should also connect with people and organizations who might not want or need to be ongoing team members. These people and organizations could be crucial partners for one-time projects. Developing a strong, broad-based network of support can help your team survive transitions in staff, school leadership and programs that school districts often experience.

As you begin to network with others, remember that people have different reasons for supporting your efforts. As you develop strategies for approachingpotential partners, try to create “win–win” situations in which you both canmeet your goals. Remember that networking is not a one-time event. Teammembers should get in the habit of constantly recruiting new partners to theteam. Toolkit Activity: Expand Network Opportunities, p. 4-27 will help youidentify and build on the connections that team members have in the schoolcommunity.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Strategies define how you will accomplish team goals. While goals provide general direction, strategies provide the means for getting there.

4-23

Stage 4 TAKING ACTION

Step: Expand Network OpportunitiesG u i d e

Examples

Representatives from the Mora Independent Schools Collaborative ActionTeam in Mora, New Mexico, joined the “Sangre de Cristo Communities andSchools Consortium.” This consortium is a group of ten small school districtsin rural New Mexico. Where these school districts once competed with eachother for resources, they now share information. They have received grants thatbenefit the students in all ten communities.

The Ann Parish Collaborative Action Team in Los Lunas, New Mexico,was concerned about the condition of roads that school buses traveled to pickup elementary school students. They recruited a county commissioner tobecome an active team member through face-to-face meetings with teammembers who lived and worked in her district.

5-1

Stage 5: REVIEWING AND REFINING

A s a result of their hard work, the gardeners have created a healthy anddiverse, fruitful garden. They can now enjoy their harvest. At the sametime, they will reflect back on the season and ask themselves, “What

plants did particularly well?” and “What plants failed to thrive, despite ourefforts?” This reflection helps gardeners learn from their experiences and planfor the next season, so that their garden grows more vibrant every year.

Definition and Background Information

Reviewing and Refining is the final stage of the Collaborative Action Teamprocess. At this point, your team has applied the core concepts of representativemembership, shared leadership and consensus decision making to build a cohe-sive team of diverse school community members. The team has made plansnecessary for taking concrete action to improve results for students and theirfamilies. You should be seeing some results from the team’s work.

However, a Collaborative Action Team is a dynamic group of people that goesthrough many changes and transitions over time. At times, the team will havelots of momentum. Everyone will be energized, they’ll see the positive results oftheir efforts, and consensus will come easily. At other times, progress may bevery slow, and team members may be frustrated or confused. These are naturalchanges that occur in any collaborative team. The steps in Stage 5 help theteam stay on track, acknowledge milestones, celebrate successes and makeadjustments to evolve and grow stronger. The steps can be helpful at manystages in the process, and can help link your team back to other steps and activities that you might want to complete.

Steps in this Stage

● Assess Team Effectiveness

● Celebrate Your Successes

● Increase Effectiveness and Impact

Glossary
Steps Each stage of the Collaborative Action Team process includes a series of steps. Some steps focus more on team building, others focus more on action planning.

5-2

G u i d eStage 5 REVIEWING AND REFINING

The first step, Assess Team Effectiveness, gives team members an opportunityto provide feedback about the team’s communications, leadership, decisionmaking, etc. This process evaluation encourages team members to take owner-ship and responsibility for the team. Team members evaluate how well theteam is functioning and how it can improve in the future.

As you implement your team’s action plan, remember to Celebrate YourSuccesses. Celebrating both short-term successes (we have a written actionplan!) and long-term successes (test scores went up because of our tutoring program!) help maintain team momentum. Also remember to recognize thecontributions of individual team members. These enhance the success of theteam as a whole. Team members are more motivated to actively participatewhen they know that the team recognizes and appreciates their help.

Finally, as your team continues to develop, re-evaluate periodically to IncreaseEffectiveness and Impact. This may include identifying key areas your teamneeds to revisit to continue functioning effectively and collaboratively. Youmight, for instance, re-address building common understanding and determin-ing communication ground rules. The team may also need to assess how it integrates new members, partners and programs into the existing team. Finally,the team should periodically assess itself in relation to the school community.This helps ensure that the team continues to meet the changing needs of students and their families.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Ground Rules guide interactions among team members as they work together during and outside of meetings. Ground rules for Collaborative Action Team communications help encourage a positive atmosphere that welcomes dialogue and debate and foster respect for diverse viewpoints and opinions.

5-3

Stage 5 REVIEWING AND REFINING

Step: Assess Team EffectivenessG u i d e

Step: Assess Team Effectiveness

Definition

As your team continues to develop, it’s important to assess your progress periodically. How well have you addressed the core concepts of representativemembership, shared leadership and consensus decision making? Regular evaluation will help you document your team’s efforts over time. Your team canuse feedback about team building to make refinements or modifications forcontinuous improvement. Such evaluations also provide an opportunity forteam members to share their opinions about how well the team is functioning.

Action Components

■■ Gather feedback from team members about how well the team is functioning.

■■ Use feedback from evaluations to adjust team policies and procedures.

Team-Building Components

■■ Encourage shared leadership by asking team members to give feedback aboutteam effectiveness.

■■ Use feedback to improve team practices and support the core concepts ofshared leadership, consensus decision making and representative membership.

Toolkit References

Toolkit Activity: Assess Team Effectiveness, p. 5-1

Stage 5: REVIEWING AND REFINING

5-4

G u i d eStage 5 REVIEWING AND REFINING

Step: Assess Team Effectiveness

Background Information

The purpose of many evaluations is to see how well you are achieving yourteam’s mission and meeting team goals. The team has done this through otheractivities along the way (see Toolkit Activities: Establish Evaluation Methods, p. 4-13 and Report Progress and Review Responsibilities, p. 4-19). However, it’simportant to remember that the Collaborative Action Team process has twomajor dimensions: team building and action planning. Many of the changesthat occur during collaboration are people-oriented rather than task-oriented.People learn to see each other in new ways and work together differently thanthey have in the past. If team members measured progress only on the goals inthe action plan, they would miss half of what makes a Collaborative ActionTeam so unique.

This type of assessment, called process evaluation, does not focus on whethergoals have been achieved. It looks at how you have attempted to achieve teamgoals. Process evaluation focuses on ongoing activities and provides feedbackyou can use to refine or modify the process to develop an effective team. It alsogives team members an opportunity to have a voice in how the team conductsbusiness—an important tool to support shared leadership.

When gathering information about people’s attitudes toward an issue, thesestrategies can help the evaluator get accurate and honest responses:

● Check for understanding—Ensure that everyone understands the purposeof the evaluation, the format of the questionnaire, how to record theiranswers, etc. This helps ensure accuracy of responses.

● Use a representative sample—Make sure that members from each representative group participate. One group’s perception of how the team is functioning may differ significantly from another’s.

● Ask for anonymous responses—This will encourage people to providemore honest and open answers, since specific responses can’t be tracked backto individual team members.

● Use the feedback—Let team members know how their feedback will beused and follow through on the responses you obtain.

There’s no set rule for how often you should conduct evaluations. The timingdepends on what type of evaluation you’re conducting and the progress theteam is making. At a minimum, you should conduct an evaluation at the endof the first year of your team’s work and once a year after that. However, youmay want to develop quicker, more informal evaluation methods to use morefrequently. Toolkit Activity: Assess Team Effectiveness, p. 5-1 provides a tool youcan use for a process evaluation of your team.

Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Team Building focuses on how team members work together while respecting each member’s unique strengths. Mutual respect and trust grow as relationships and shared experiences develop. Teams build relationships several ways: By getting to know each other; by talking constructively from differing viewpoints; and by undertaking projects together.
Glossary
Shared Leadership occurs when the team equally distributes leadership roles and responsibilities among all team members. All team members are equally included in representing the team, making decisions, carrying responsibilities and sharing success.

5-5

Stage 5 REVIEWING AND REFINING

Step: Assess Team EffectivenessG u i d e

A Note on Facilitation

Evaluation is a crucial area for your team facilitators’ leadership. While mostfacilitators recognize the importance of honest evaluation from the team, it’salso natural to be frustrated by negative feedback. It’s important to be open andreceptive to feedback from team members, while keeping conversations con-structive and focused on improvement. If the team facilitators are defensive andresist feedback, team members will feel “shut out” and shared leadership will beweakened. It’s important for at least one person to take the role of neutralfacilitator during team discussions. Some tips for setting a positive tone forevaluations follow:

● Listen to feedback without trying to respond immediately. While you mayfeel a need to correct misinformation right away, instant responses often comeacross as defensive. Try not to take negative feedback too personally.

● Understand that people sometimes need to “vent.” Many team members may have been excluded from decision making in the past. They may need to vent frustrations before they’re ready to move on. Your validation of theirconcerns is an important first step. It can be as simple as using phrases likethe following:

—I can see how concerned you are about this.

—I’m glad you let us know how you feel.

—Getting this out in the open is the first step toward improvement.

—Thanks for your honesty.

● Redirect the group if the evaluation simply becomes a “gripe” session. Usephrases like the following:

—How can we ensure that we do better in the future?

—What can we learn from this? What could we have done differently?

—How does this relate to our mission and goals?

—What do we want to accomplish or change as a result of this information?

● Ensure that everyone has an opportunity to speak. Avoid letting one perspective dominate the conversation. In most cases, a wide variety of opinions will exist. It’s important to get a balanced perspective on the issue.

Leadership from the facilitators can ensure that a team moves forward as a result of an evaluation. When handled positively, evaluation reinforces sharedleadership.

Glossary
Shared Leadership occurs when the team equally distributes leadership roles and responsibilities among all team members. All team members are equally included in representing the team, making decisions, carrying responsibilities and sharing success.
Glossary
Evaluation A process that helps you see how well you are achieving your team’s mission and meeting team goals.
Glossary
Team Facilitator The team member who supports the Collaborative Action Team process during team meetings and in other group settings.
Glossary
Validation means that all members feel that their opinions are valued and taken seriously by the team.

5-6

G u i d eStage 5 REVIEWING AND REFINING

Step: Assess Team Effectiveness

Example

At the end of their first year, the Dollarway Collaborative Action Team inPine Bluff, Arkansas, conducted a self-assessment to see how membersthought the team was progressing. The assessment results led to a very produc-tive discussion in which the team recognized the need for stronger leadership.Based on the results of this discussion, the team requested and received addi-tional leadership training. Team members also saw a need to get more inputfrom the overall school community. They organized a district-wide communi-ty forum on school issues, under the leadership of the district superintendent.

5-7

Stage 5 REVIEWING AND REFINING

Step: Celebrate Your SuccessesG u i d e

Step: Celebrate Your Successes

Definition

Collaborative Action Teams need to celebrate their successes and to recognizeindividual members’ contributions of time, talents and resources. Celebratingsuccesses and recognizing contributions helps a team develop a sense of accom-plishment, sustain members’ involvement and energy, and envision the team’snext actions.

Action Components

■■ Identify and recognize individual contributions to your team’s developmentand to the implementation of your action plan.

■■ Celebrate your team’s achievements, preferably in a public way that recog-nizes all involved, including nonmembers.

Team-Building Component

■■ Make all members feel part of the team. Sustain involvement and buildmomentum at the personal and team level by recognizing individual contributions.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Celebrate Your Successes, p. 5-5

Stage 5: REVIEWING AND REFINING

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Step: Celebrate Your Successes

Background Information

Group and individual commitments are the cornerstones of a strong, effective,sustainable team. As you continue to implement your team’s action plan, youshould recognize the team’s success and individual members’ contributions.Celebrating all types of successes—large and small, team building and action planning—is key to maintaining momentum at both the personal and team level.

We’re all familiar with the expression, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” However,many of us want to make changes and get meaningful results quickly. That’susually unrealistic because change is a process, not an event. Therefore, evidencethat your Collaborative Action Team is impacting students and their families in lasting, positive ways can take a while to obtain. Sometimes it’s difficult forteam members to see the differences their efforts make. Celebrating individualand team successes throughout the process encourages everyone to keep going.It makes people feel valued, respected, supported and appreciated. Ignoringindividual contributions can slow down the team’s momentum. ToolkitActivity: Celebrate Your Successes, p. 5-5, provides an opportunity to recognizethe successes your team has had.

There are many ways to recognize people for their contributions and let themknow they’re appreciated. Every individual should take time on their own togive feedback to others about their work and their contributions to the team.However, the team should also plan an activity to provide an opportunity forteam members to do this if they haven’t yet (see Toolkit Activity: RecognizeMember Contributions, p. 4-23). The team could give some type of a rewardto team members for their hard work. Let people know their efforts are appreciated!

It’s also important to remember the contributions of those who aren’t activeteam members but have contributed to the team’s efforts. These people shouldbe recognized publicly in some way. The team should also celebrate successes ina public way that shows pride in what the team has achieved and appreciationfor all involved.

Glossary
Team Building focuses on how team members work together while respecting each member’s unique strengths. Mutual respect and trust grow as relationships and shared experiences develop. Teams build relationships several ways: By getting to know each other; by talking constructively from differing viewpoints; and by undertaking projects together.
Glossary
Action Planning helps a team develop its vision, mission and goals. The team prioritizes, strategizes, assigns tasks and evaluates progress. Action planning also helps produce fast visible results. The team takes easy, achievable steps that help it move forward.

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Some ideas for celebrating successes and recognizing contributions follow:

● Writing an article for local and/or national newsletters, newspapers or magazines telling the story of your Collaborative Action Team and the team’s success. Mention everyone who has helped.

● Using different media, like marquees, newsletters and display boards, to tellthe team’s story to community organizations.

● Having a celebration event where all who have contributed are invited andrecognized.

● Organizing an open, visible, celebration event that will attract other people tohear of the team’s successes (this could also be a recruitment opportunity).

● Other creative ideas that display the team’s success and tell the team’s story:i.e., T-shirts, certificates or plaques, painting a mural in a school orcommunity organization.

Example

The Collaborative Action Team at Barbara Jordan Elementary in NewOrleans, Louisiana, organized a health fair on the school campus at the endof the school year. The health fair brought the neighborhood together to cele-brate the strengths of their community and to enjoy fun activities for the entire family. Participants received health screenings and information from local service providers. The team recognized the contributions of individual teammembers in organizing the event at the beginning of their next team meeting.Everyone was given the opportunity to reflect and publicly thank each other for the role each person played in planning a successful event.

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Step: Increase Effectiveness and Impact

Definition

At this point, your Collaborative Action Team is ready to make the changesand transitions necessary to become more effective as a team and have a greaterimpact in your school community. You may need to make adjustments in suchareas as representative membership, action planning and team organization to ensure that your team can continue to meet the changing needs of team members and the school community. It’s also time for the team to think andmake decisions about the future.

Action Components

■■ Gather updated data about your school community, similar to the baselinedata gathered in Stage 1. Find out what major changes and issues face yourschool community—now and within the next five years.

■■ Determine adjustments that you need to make to increase your team’s effectiveness and impact.

■■ Discuss important issues about the long-term sustainability and impact ofyour team.

Team-Building Components

■■ Build a more effective, stronger team by adjusting membership, team organization, shared leadership and your action plan to meet the school community’s changing needs.

■■ Maintain involvement and enthusiasm as you consider the team’s past andfuture impact on your school community.

Toolkit Reference

Toolkit Activity: Increase Effectiveness and Impact, p. 5-9

Stage 5: REVIEWING AND REFINING

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Step: Increase Effectiveness and Impact

Background Information

At this point in the Collaborative Action Team process, you’ve looked back onyour achievements and celebrated individual and team successes. You’ve alsoevaluated projects, assessed team effectiveness and reflected on what you’velearned so far. You’re now ready to consider what changes your team may needto make to increase your future effectiveness and impact.

Although the experience of working collaboratively has been rewarding, gettingthrough the process has probably taken lots of work! It may have taken morework than you’d expected. Your team has probably gone through internal upsand downs in many areas, such as membership or the pace of accomplishment.It’s likely that your school community has also experienced changes, such asturnover in school administration or school district rezoning. Maybe a majorbusiness or industry has moved into or out of the school community. Yourschool community continues to face pressing issues, some of which are probably different from when the team first started.

To be successful in the long run, a Collaborative Action Team must adjust to changing needs and environments. The entire Collaborative Action Teamprocess is designed to be flexible and to accommodate these changes along theway. However, this last activity specifically helps teams evaluate these changesand make the transitions needed to continue collaborating with a new sense of direction. In a way, your team will now loop back to the beginning of theCollaborative Action Team process and go through it again. You won’t need torepeat every activity in the same way as before. Now, you have enough under-standing, experience and information to customize the process to meet yourteam’s needs. This helps you continue working toward improved results for students and their families.

To understand what transitions your team must make, you need to evaluate the team’s process and outcomes. You’ve already done this through project evaluations and your team effectiveness assessment. You must also gather new information about your school community to learn what changes haveoccurred and what issues you’ll face within the next five years. The data yougather should be similar to the baseline data collected in the Toolkit Activity:Examine Your School Community, p. 1-13.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Evaluation A process that helps you see how well you are achieving your team’s mission and meeting team goals.
Glossary
Baseline Information collected at the very beginning of the project so you know where things were when you started.

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Some of the topics you should gather updated information about follow:

● Student data

● Number and type of agencies that serve students and their families

● Businesses represented in your school community

● Issues, needs

● Demographics

● Key political and economic players

Once you have new information, your team should re-evaluate the eight factorsthat impact team development discussed during Stage 1. Take a look at thechart, “Factors That Could Impact Our Team’s Development,” Toolkit Activity:Examine Your School Community, p. 1-13. Were you concerned about factorsthat are no longer an issue? Do any new factors offer promise or present diffi-culties? What do you need to do to reduce the negative impact and increase thepositive impact these factors have on the team’s work?

Based on changes in the school community and on your process and outcomeevaluations, representative membership, team organization, shared leader-ship and action planning, your team should consider at least four importanttransition areas.

Are there new gaps in team membership? Are there new businesses and community organizations you should inform about your Collaborative ActionTeam or invite to join the team? Is there a growing ethnic population fromwhich you need a team representative? Have you lost members that you needto replace? For example, keeping student members requires constant attentionbecause students graduate and often leave their communities.

You may need to make transitions in your team’s organization and operations.The team should review the decisions made about organizational and logisticalaspects during Stage 1 in the Toolkit Activity: Plan the First Steps, p. 1-17. Thisis also a good time to review how shared leadership is being implemented.You’ll want to ensure that new members are being incorporated into the teamand that responsibilities and leadership roles are being shared. Take a fresh lookat the process your team developed during the Stage 2 Toolkit Activity: ShareLeadership Responsibilities, p. 2-29. This will help you determine whether yourcurrent process is still the most effective way to encourage shared leadership.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Shared Leadership occurs when the team equally distributes leadership roles and responsibilities among all team members. All team members are equally included in representing the team, making decisions, carrying responsibilities and sharing success.
Glossary
Outcome Evaluation measures the impact or effect of a strategy, program or project.

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Finally, you’ll need to review your action plan—vision, mission, priority issues,goals, strategies and tasks—based on new data about the issues facing yourschool community. You may also need to incorporate new members’ ideas.They may not have been there for the first round of action planning. Maybeyour team vision is still right on target, but there are probably other issues andgoals you now want to address.

Looking into the Future

After your team has decided how to make these transitions, it’s ready to use the Collaborative Action Team process to develop a stronger team and a moreeffective action plan. However, you need to consider some other issues thataffect the team’s sustainability and long-term impact.

Scaling Up

Scaling up will increase the probability that your team will have more impactin the long run. You can scale up your team’s work and level of impact severalways. Most of these ways recognize that teams achieve impact through “systemic” change. Systemic changes affect an entire system or organization.Working systemically can mean any and all of the following things:

● Working with the entire school system and school community to effect change

● Working with every school in a system

● Working with every aspect of the school system

● Fundamentally changing the system

In the case of a Collaborative Action Team, systemic change refers to reform of the school system and the community for the benefit of students and theirfamilies.1

One way of “scaling up” is to go from focusing on simple, “feel good” activitiesto tackling more complex, challenging issues that lead to real change for students and their families. Many Collaborative Action Teams tend to work on obvious issues that seem urgent to the school community and ignore theunderlying issues most important for real change. Are the outcomes of yourwork as beneficial as they could be? Sometimes the solutions to the most obvious issues don’t work. They might improve the situation in the short termbut not necessarily in the long term. Sometimes they can actually make thingsworse later on! “Systems thinking”—or thinking deeply about the “big picture”—encourages small, well-focused actions that can produce significant,

1 Holzman, M. “What is Systemic Change?” Educational Leadership, September 1993, p. 18.

Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Action Planning helps a team develop its vision, mission and goals. The team prioritizes, strategizes, assigns tasks and evaluates progress. Action planning also helps produce fast visible results. The team takes easy, achievable steps that help it move forward.
Glossary
Scaling Up involves increasing the scope and influence of your Collaborative Action Team.

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enduring results. This happens when the team understands which smallchanges would lead to more lasting and substantial improvements. It’s impor-tant to see underlying “causes” rather than “symptoms” and to think in termsof “processes of change” rather than “snapshots of change.”

Another way of scaling up is to expand to other schools within your district, oreven to include the entire school district. You might include neighboring schooldistricts or even other school communities in the region. Another option is tohelp form new Collaborative Action Teams in other locations. In this case, yourteam can share the process and train the organizers of new teams. The teamscan become a network of Collaborative Action Teams that work toward thesame purpose—improving results for students and their families.

Finally, a Collaborative Action Team may scale up by introducing the processand core concepts to decision-making groups and organizations in the schoolcommunity. These might include school improvement councils, public com-missions and even school boards and city councils. These are the traditional key players in the politics and policy making of your schools and community.Although they’re not likely to become Collaborative Action Teams, their policiesand practices become much more democratic and effective when they operatewith a collaborative frame of mind. One way of doing this is to make a greatereffort to include members of these decision-making groups on your team.

FundingIt’s also important to explore how your team will sustain itself financially forlong-term impact. You should work as much as possible with existing resourcesin your district or community to build your team’s capacity to support itself.Outside grants and other direct funding can provide a boost, but they bringsome risks. Such funding can become the motivator and guide the team’s decisions. There’s also risk that some team members will participate just for themoney that might flow to their organization or school. When you accept agrant, your program accepts the funders’ requirements, which may limit someof your team’s choices.

One way to get financial support without relying too heavily on grants or direct funding is to identify in-kind contributions that the team can use. Thesemight include staff time, food, services, training materials, office space andother needs. Some Collaborative Action Teams have developed partnershipswith their school district’s community education office or parental involvementprogram. Others have developed partnerships with service organizations, likeCommunities in Schools, to provide staff time for team coordination and logistics.

Glossary
Core Concepts The collaborative action team process is based on the core concepts of representative membership, shared leadership, consensus decision making, and action focus.
Glossary
Coordination is a somewhat formal relationship that involves long-term interaction around a specific effort. It requires some planning and division of roles, but authority still rests with individual organizations. Example: Planning a joint field trip or sharing office space.
Glossary
Scaling Up involves increasing the scope and influence of your Collaborative Action Team.

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Another approach is to bring potential funders into the partnership. Many community organizations—local United Ways, chambers of commerce andcorporate foundations—contribute actively and creatively when they’re “at the table” of a collaborative partnership. Most are more inclined to support a partnership if they’re regarded as sources of time, talent and energy rather thanjust sources of money.

Institutional StructureYour team will also need to consider issues of institutionalization, structure andstaffing. The question is whether and how the team should establish itself as apermanent entity. The current informal structure of people coming together torepresent the interests of many sectors of the school community may work for a while. However, some argue that for long-term sustainability and to gainrespect and authority from the broader community, a team must have morestructure. In addition, the team may need to seek designation as a legal entityto obtain external funds.

One way to institutionalize is to conduct operations under the auspices ofschool districts, city, county or state governing bodies. This approach hasadvantages and disadvantages. It establishes legal authority, public credibilityand support of the governing administration. However, the politics of govern-ing bodies can consume your team’s energy and divert your goals.

Another option is to create a completely new legal entity—a public-privateintermediary or a nonprofit organization. A new entity has the advantage ofbeginning with a new mission independent from existing special interests. The disadvantages involve the administrative difficulty of starting any neworganization.

NetworkingA final issue your team should consider is networking. Networking with otherorganizations and collaborative groups in the school community can greatlyincrease your team’s impact and sustainability. A Collaborative Action Teamcan also network beyond the school community by joining associations, making presentations at conferences or designing a website to share the team’swork. Find out what associations are interested in topics relevant to yourCollaborative Action Team. Such topics might include collaboration, schoolcommunity improvement, community organizing, parental and communityinvolvement in schools, community education and partnership development.Some examples of networking associations are Partners in Education and theNational Center for Community Education. For more information about these organizations access their web sites:http://www.napehq.orghttp://www.nccenet.org

Glossary
Collaboration brings separate organizations or individuals into a new relationship with a joint commitment to a common purpose. They pool their resources and share the products of their work.
Glossary
School Community All the people and organizations that either affect or are affected by the school.
Glossary
Goal A specific objective you hope to accomplish.
Glossary
Networking involves interacting with others and sharing information for mutual benefit. It doesn’t necessarily involve taking action together to achieve a shared vision. Example: Getting acquainted and sharing information about programs being offered.

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There are no clear-cut formulas for sustaining a Collaborative Action Team andincreasing the team’s impact. Your team will sustain itself with insights fromyour own experience and the networks you’ve established to share experienceswith other similar groups. The Toolkit Activity: Increase Effectiveness and Impact,p. 5-9 will guide your team through a process that helps you consider your next steps.

ExamplesThe Highland High School Cluster Collaborative Action Team inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, has been operating since 1991. In 1999, anadministrative transition occurred in the Albuquerque Public Schools. Severalof the school administrators and other staff who had been heavily involved inthe team were no longer there. Initially, the team experienced a loss of direc-tion. However, team members realized that they could use this opportunity tore-evaluate what they had done so far and find new direction for the team.They proceeded to recruit new members and revisited the team’s vision, mis-sion and goals. Then team members approached the new administration andsecured support for their vision and goals. The team reorganized itself andlearned that broad-based membership and leadership can sustain a team in the midst of external changes.

The Collaborative Action Team at Del Valle High School in Del Valle,Texas, started as part of a grant initiative to increase parental involvement andstudent achievement. As the grant came to an end, the team began to thinkabout how it would sustain itself without continued funding. One of themember organizations, Communities in Schools, was approached to coordi-nate the Collaborative Action Team. (Communities in Schools places socialworkers in schools to link community services with students in need.) Anagreement was reached that allowed CIS staff and school resources (paper,copier, phones, office space, computers) to be used. This helped sustain theteam’s work.

Working in Youth–Adult Partnerships

As equal partners on the Collaborative Action Team, students are a key to team success. Having students on a teamhelps keep adults motivated and accountable. It also helps the team develop projects and programs that really meet theneeds of young people in the school community. However, involving students as equal partners on yourCollaborative Action Team requires a shift in thinking for many adults and many young people. The NationalAssembly of National Voluntary Health and Social Welfare Organizations lists ten tips for collaborating with students:

1. Share the responsibility for leadership. Provide guidance, but avoid total control.

2. Listen carefully to students and try to understand their perspective.

3. Provide meaningful roles and assignments for students.

4. Share all work activities, even the tedious ones.

5. Treat young people as equals and develop a partnership relationship.

6. Keep students informed about activities, even when problems occur.

7. Be energetic and excited about activities. Have a positive, open attitude.

8. Make activities fun and challenging.

9. Be clear about levels of authority for students and back their decisions when they fall within the agreed-upon guidelines.

10. Serve as role models and be consistent and fair in your actions.

The following organizations can provide free or low-cost resources about youth–adult partnerships:

Youth on Board58 Day Street, 3rd floorP.O. Box 440322Somerville, MA 02144(p) 617-623-9900(f) 617-623-4359www.youthonboard.org

National Youth Leadership Council1910 West County Road BSt. Paul, MN 55113(p) 651-631-3672(f) 651-631-2955www.nylc.org

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Appendix A

Youth Service America1101 15th St. Suite 200Washington, DC 20005(p) 202-296-2992(f) 202-296-4030www.servenet.org

Corporation for National ServiceLearn and Serve1201 New York Ave., NWWashington, DC 20525(p) 202-606-5000www.nationalservice.org

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Engaging Business in Collaboration

Businesses in your school community can bring important perspectives and resources to your team. Business represen-tatives can be anyone from the corner grocer to the community liaison of a major corporation. These representativescan help your team become more aware of the skills employers look for in graduates of your schools. They can alsokeep you informed about work opportunities in your community. Business representatives can offer other resources as well:

● People, including executives and employees at all levels

● Credibility

● Independence of action and the ability to act quickly

● Results orientation, to keep efforts focused on getting the job done

● Political clout

● Steadiness of purpose

● Tangible resources, including staff, communications equipment, meetings facilities, money and management expertise

(Source: The National Assembly of National Voluntary Health and Social Welfare Organizations)

The following organizations can provide free or low-cost resources about school–business collaborations:

National Association of Partners in Education901 North Pitt Street, Suite 320Alexandria, VA 22314(p) 703-836-4880(f) 703-836-6941www.napehq.org

Business Coalition for Education Reformc/o National Alliance of Business1201 New York Ave., NWSuite 700Washington, DC 20005-3917(p) 800-787-2848(f) 202-289-2875www.bcer.org

National School-to-Work Learning and Information Center400 Virginia Ave., SWWashington, DC 20024(p) 800-251-7236(f) 202-488-7395www.stw.ed.gov

Appendix B

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Working with the Media

The local newspapers, TV stations and radio stations in your school community can be powerful partners to ensureyour team’s success. A good media strategy helps a team recruit new members, publicize the team’s successes and raisepublic awareness about school community issues.

One strategy for developing a relationship with the media is to invite members of the local press to become teammembers. If no local reporters are on your team, you can still learn to work effectively with the media. At least a fewteam members should be able to:

● Develop strategies for getting media attention for the team’s activities.

● Learn how to write news releases.

● Learn how to contact reporters and develop working relationships with them.

The following organizations provide free or low-cost resources for learning how to work effectively with the media:

National School Public Relations Association15948 Derwood Rd.Rockville, MD 20855(p) 301-519-0496(f) 301-519-0494www.nspra.org

Center for Community Change1000 Wisconsin Ave. NWWashington, DC 20007(p) 202-342-0567Publication: “How to Tell and Sell Your Story”

Media Alliance814 Mission Street, #205San Francisco, CA 94103(p) 415-546-6334(f) 415-546-6218www.media-alliance.org

Community Media Workshopc/o Columbia College600 S. Michigan AvenueChicago, IL 60605-1996(p) 312-344-6400(f) 312-344-6404www.newstips.org

Appendix C

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Appendix DConducting Effective Meetings

Meetings play an essential part in the development of aCollaborative Action Team. The material in this appen-dix is designed to help Collaborative Action Teams runmore effective meetings. Regular meetings provide atime for members to:

● Communicate with each other,

● Identify and prioritize issues, challenges and opportunities and

● Make action plans to address school community needs.

This appendix provides practical suggestions for plan-ning, conducting and evaluating meetings.

Effective Collaborative Action Team Meetings

Have you ever attended meetings that had no clearlydefined agenda? Such a meeting tends to drag on forever,ramble from topic to topic and end without any cleardirection or result. Most of us have attended such meetings. They can be very frustrating and a huge waste of time.

Collaborative Action Teams that have well-run meetingstend to build their teams and take action more effective-ly. Well-run meetings equip teams to achieve their goals.This produces the following results:

● Increased trust and familiarity among team members

● The exchange of useful information

● Identification of key issues in the school community

● Creative strategies to achieve results

● The establishment of accountability for roles andresponsibilities

● Effective action

Tips on Planning Collaborative Action Team Meetings

Advance preparation is the first and most important stepfor effective team meetings. The more you prepare for ameeting, the smoother the meeting will be.

Forming Meeting Goals

Any Collaborative Action Team meeting should balanceteam building with an action focus. A first step is to pre-pare specific written goals for the meeting. In describingmeeting goals, answer the question: What outcome dowe want from this meeting? Effective meeting goals useaction verbs, such as decide, determine, create, completeand produce. Some examples of meeting goals follow:

● Form recommendations for action, based on the par-ent survey results.

● Create an action plan for the next phase of the parenttraining effort.

● Decide how to best involve students at the next meeting.

● Complete a list of strategies for building a familyresource center.

Meeting goals like these leave little doubt in team mem-bers’ minds about why they’re attending the meeting andwhat they need to do during it.

Assigning Roles

Next, assign roles to Collaborative Action Team mem-bers. Remember to promote shared leadership andresponsibility for all team activities, including teammeetings. (See Toolkit Activities: Share LeadershipResponsibilities, p. 2-29 and Take on Leadership Roles, p. 2-33.) Assigned roles help structure the meeting andallow everyone to focus on fulfilling meeting goals in the allotted time.

You should think about a number of things whenassigning members to roles. Before you send out anagenda, always confirm that people assigned a role inthat agenda will be at the meeting and prepared to fill

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Appendix D ● CONDUCTING EFFECTIVE MEETINGSG u i d e

that role. It’s unreasonable to request that someone fill a role at the meeting right before the meeting starts.Encourage Collaborative Action Team members to takeon new roles and responsibilities on a rotating basis asyour team develops and expands. You might do this byrotating hosting duties among school, home, communi-ty and even student members. Asking different individu-als from each of these areas to host and lead a meetinghelps develop leadership and creativity within the team.It also prevents individuals from “burning out” afterdoing the same thing month after month. Finally, askindividuals to fill meeting roles well in advance of themeeting so they can prepare effectively.

Making Meeting Arrangements

Another step in meeting preparation is handling meetingarrangements. Taking care of little details ahead of timegreatly enhances Collaborative Action Team meetings.Logistical arrangements include the following:

● Setting the meeting place, date and time, and notifying all members

● Distributing materials team members need to fulfilltheir roles and responsibilities

● Setting up the meeting room and seating arrangements

● Ensuring that air conditioning, heat, microphones andlights work

● Locating the rest rooms

● Bringing audiovisual equipment and supplies(flipchart, overhead projector and screen, etc.) andensuring that someone knows how to use them

● Ordering and picking up refreshments and askingsomeone to serve them

In addition, you need to consider a number of humanfactors. Someone must follow up with team membersabsent from the last meeting and tell them what hap-pened. This can be done by phone, mail, email or fax, or in small group meetings between team meetings.Someone needs to make reminder phone calls betweenmeetings to ensure a balanced representation of school,home, community and student members at each meet-ing. If, for example, no parents attended the last meeting,one or more members who did should urge those parentsto come to the next one. It’s also important to build a

way to orient new members and bring them up to speedon team meeting procedures. Collaborative ActionTeams must also be sensitive to team members with special needs, such as language translation, wheelchairaccess, signing for hearing-impaired participants, etc.

Preparing Written Agendas

Finally, prepare and provide a written agenda to all teammembers. An agenda should tell team members whatthe meeting is about, what the team needs to accomplishand the order and time allocated for each item. The agenda should also list the person or persons responsiblefor an agenda item. This encourages shared leadership ofmeeting roles. An agenda should address six points:

1. Identify the meeting goals. They should answerspecifically what team members need to accomplishat the meeting.

2. Limit the agenda to the number of items you caneasily cover during the allotted time. A reasonablelimit is three items requiring action, along with a fewinformational items that don’t. If you have a largenumber of informational items that will require a lotof time, aim for fewer than three items that requireaction. List the most important action item first, soyou can discuss it when team members’ interest andenergy levels are highest.

3. Assign the roles for the meeting. Ask separate indi-viduals to conduct the icebreaker, record minutes,lead discussion topics, summarize key ideas and conduct the meeting evaluation.

4. Keep the agenda short and action oriented. Theentire meeting should last about 60 to 90 minutes, if properly planned and scheduled.

5. List the estimated time required next to each agenda item.

6. Prepare and circulate the agenda at least one weekbefore the meeting. Having this information aheadof time is especially important for those responsiblefor conducting the meeting and those with a role onthe agenda.

You will find a suggested meeting agenda in ToolkitActivity: Plan the First Steps, p. 1-17. You can copy it oradapt it and use it for your meetings.

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G u i d eAppendix D ● CONDUCTING EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

Tips on Conducting Collaborative Action Team Meetings

Now that you’ve completed all the preparations for asuccessful meeting, it’s time to actually conduct themeeting. Here are a number of tips on doing so:

● Set a time limit and stick to it. Whatever time isagreed to, be sure to start and end on time. It’s unfairto those who show up on time to begin late, and itreinforces the behavior of latecomers. It’s important toend the meeting on time as well. Team members havebusy schedules and usually have other commitments to meet.

● Follow the agenda and monitor the time. It’s nothelpful to assign time limits to agenda items if youdon’t follow them. Assign a team member to monitorthe time allocated for each agenda item. Keep in mind,however, that sometimes it’s necessary to allow extratime to discuss key items or to make important deci-sions before a meeting ends. On such occasions, youcan exceed preset time limits if your team reaches aconsensus to do so.

● Demonstrate shared leadership. Every team memberhas different talents, knowledge and experiences. Tapinto these abilities by asking individuals to take onroles and responsibilities for which they are uniquelyequipped between meetings and at future meetings.

● Focus on one issue at a time. Avoid side conversa-tions that disrupt the speaker and annoy everyonewho’s trying to concentrate on the speaker’s message.Only one person should speak at a time.

● Encourage active involvement. Actively involve allmembers in discussions. Each Collaborative ActionTeam member has something to contribute. Use brainstorming to get everyone involved. Ask for inputand ideas especially from those who are quiet and hesitant to speak. They may just need someone to ask for their opinion.

● Reinforce group decision making. Always reinforcethe consensus decision-making process recommendedin the Collaborative Action Team process.

● Value diverse perspectives. Diverse opinions are valu-able. Don’t immediately veto unusual suggestions. Besure you understand what the person is saying. Taketime to study and investigate the validity of each idea.Such suggestions often offer something useful for the future.

● Recognize and move beyond conflict. Conflict isbound to surface during some meetings. When it

occurs, deal with it right away. Conflict should bemanaged in ways that change attitudes and behaviors.An open approach to conflict resolution can facilitatelearning. If handled constructively, differences of opinion can improve team effectiveness and increaseunderstanding and commitment.

● Record and document meetings. Always have a sign-in sheet at the door. Assign one person to take minutesand distribute copies to members. This is also a goodway to communicate what happened at the meeting tothose unable to attend.

● Summarize key decisions and actions. The facilitatorshould close the meeting by clarifying with team mem-bers their understanding of what occurred. Include allkey decisions in the meeting minutes.

● Identify items for next meeting agenda. At the endof the meeting, identify important items for your nextteam meeting. Also identify the individual responsiblefor each agenda item. This ensures that everyoneknows who will be doing what and assigns responsibil-ity to individuals for completing actions by the nextmeeting.

Tips on Evaluating Collaborative Action Team Meetings

Your team should view evaluation as constructive feedback to increase the effectiveness of team meetings.An important part of every meeting is to ask team members for feedback and suggestions for improvement.Evaluation offers another way to share leadership bysharing responsibility.

When evaluating meetings, use the KISS principle:“Keep It Straightforward and Simple.” One way toobtain feedback any time during a meeting or at its endis to ask team members to draw a picture. Have themdraw either a smiling face or frowning face to show howthey felt the meeting was run—effectively or ineffective-ly—and leave it at a designated place. If team membershave established a high level of trust, you can also ask forverbal feedback on specific questions about the meeting.

A more formal method for evaluating meetings is to useevaluation forms. Such forms often provide moredetailed insights. Two sample evaluation forms can befound in Toolkit Activity: Plan the First Steps, p. 1-17. You can copy either one and distribute it to team members at the end of the meeting.

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Appendix D ● COLLABORATIVE ACTION TEAM PROJECT SITESG u i d e

Appendix ECollaborative Action Team Project Sites

These materials were developed and refined in partnership with schools and school districts throughout the Southwest.We appreciate their participation and commitment to the Collaborative Action Team project. The first fiveCollaborative Action Teams were established in 1995–1996. They are:

L. R. Jackson Elementary School (West Memphis, Arkansas)Established August 14, 1996, the L. R. Jackson Elementary Collaborative Action Team was located in West Memphis,on the border of Arkansas and Tennessee.

P.G.T. Beauregard Middle School (St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana)Established October 19, 1996, the P.G.T. Beauregard Middle School Collaborative Action Team is located in St.Bernard Parish, a rural area along the Mississippi River. St. Bernard Parish is about 20 miles south of New Orleans,Louisiana. The school is in the St. Bernard Parish School District and serves grades 6–8. About 88% of students atP.G.T. Beauregard Middle School receive free or reduced lunch.

Rio Grande Cluster Human Services Collaborative (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Established September 5, 1996, the Rio Grande Cluster is in the south valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico, along theRio Grande River. The Rio Grande Cluster Collaborative Action Team includes 12 schools: Rio Grande High School,4 middle schools and 7 elementary schools. About 76% of students receive free or reduced lunch.

Jackson Middle School (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)Established October 4, 1996, the Jackson Middle School Collaborative Action Team is in South Central OklahomaCity. The school is in the Oklahoma City School District and serves grades 6–8. One hundred percent of the studentsreceive either free or reduced lunch.

Fabens Independent School District (Fabens, Texas) Established September 11, 1996, the Fabens Collaborative Action Team is in a rural community close to theU.S.–Mexico border, about 30 miles east of El Paso, Texas. The team serves all 5 schools in the Fabens IndependentSchool District: Fabens High School, 1 middle school, 2 elementary and 1 pre-school. About 95% of students receivefree or reduced lunch.

Ten Collaborative Action Team Project Sites were established in 1998. They are:

Dollarway School District (Pine Bluff, Arkansas) Established September 16, 1998, the Dollarway School District Collaborative Action Team is on the western edge ofPine Bluff, Arkansas. The school district is one of four in Pine Bluff, about 50 miles south of Little Rock. DollarwaySchool District Collaborative Action Team serves 5 schools: Dollarway High School, 1 junior high and 3 elementaryschools. About 66% of students in the Dollarway School District receive free or reduced lunch.

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G u i d eAppendix E ● COLLABORATIVE ACTION TEAM PROJECT SITES

Barbara Jordan Elementary School (New Orleans, Louisiana) Established August 17, 1998, the Barbara Jordan Elementary Collaborative Action Team is in an industrialized area ofeast New Orleans, Louisiana and is part of the New Orleans School District. Barbara Jordan Elementary CollaborativeAction Team serves grades K–5. One hundred percent of students at Barbara Jordan Elementary are African Americanand receive free or reduced lunch.

Albuquerque High School Cluster (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Established October 29, 1998, the Albuquerque High School Cluster Collaborative Action Team is located in SouthCentral Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Albuquerque High School Cluster consists of 13 schools: Albuquerque High,2 middle and 10 elementary schools. About 20% of the students in the Albuquerque High School Cluster receive freeor reduced lunch.

Highland High School Cluster (Albuquerque, New Mexico)Established October 29, 1998, the Highland High School Cluster Collaborative Action Team is in the southeasternpart of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Highland High School Cluster includes 11 schools: Highland High, 2 middleand 8 elementary schools. About 62% of students receive free or reduced lunch.

Ann Parish Elementary School (Los Lunas, New Mexico) Established October 21, 1998, the East Mesa Collaborative Action Team is in a rural community experiencing rapidgrowth 30 miles west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ann Parish Elementary serves colonia populations in unincorpo-rated areas. Ann Parish Elementary serves grades PK–5. One hundred percent of students receive free or reducedlunch.

Mora Independent Schools (Mora, New Mexico) Established November 14, 1998, the Mora Collaborative Action Team is in a rural mountainous valley about 50 milesnorth of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Mora Independent School District consists of 4 schools: Mora High School, 1middle school and 2 elementary schools. About 89% of students received free or reduced lunch.

Ponca City East Middle School (Ponca City, Oklahoma) Established September 12, 1998, the Ponca City East Middle School Collaborative Action Team is in a small city inrural North Central Oklahoma. The school community includes members of a nearby Indian Nation. Ponca City EastMiddle School serves grade 8. About 44% of student receive free or reduced lunch.

Balmorhea Independent School District (Balmorhea, Texas) Established June 30, 1998, the Balmorhea Collaborative Action Team is in a small rural community in the Trans-Pecos border region of West Texas. It is about 70 miles from Big Bend National Park. Balmorhea has one school thatserves grades K–12. About 71 % of students receive free or reduced lunch.

Del Valle High School (Del Valle, Texas) Established October 3, 1998, the Del Valle High School Collaborative Action Team is east of Austin, Texas, close tothe new Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. It is part of the Del Valle Independent School District. Del ValleHigh School serves grades 9–12. About 48% of students receive free or reduced lunch.

Rio Hondo Independent School District (Rio Hondo, Texas)Established November 5, 1998, the Rio Hondo Collaborative Action Team is in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas,along the U.S.–Mexico border. It is about 5 miles west of Harlingen, Texas. Rio Hondo ISD consists of 4 schools: RioHondo High School, 1 middle school and 2 elementary schools. About 81% of students receive free or reduced lunch.

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Appendix E ● COLLABORATIVE ACTION TEAM PROJECT SITESG u i d e

Eight Collaborative Action Team Project Sites were established in 1999. They are:

Little Rock School District (Little Rock, Arkansas) Established September 23, 1999, the Little Rock School District Collaborative Action Team is an urban district locat-ed in Little Rock, in Central Arkansas. Little Rock School District serves 5 high schools, 8 junior high schools and 35elementary schools. About 50 % of students receive free or reduced lunch.

Lee County School District (Marianna, Arkansas) Established September 1, 1999, the Lee County School District Collaborative Action Team is located in an isolatedfarming community in the delta region of East Arkansas. The district’s central office is located in Marianna, Arkansas.Lee County serves 4 schools: Lee High School, 1 middle school and 2 elementary schools. About 89% of studentsreceive free or reduced lunch.

Marshall School District (Marshall, Arkansas) Established August 17, 1999, the Marshall School District Collaborative Action Team is located in a rural area of theOzark Mountains in North Central Arkansas. Marshall serves 2 schools: Marshall Elementary (K–6) and MarshallJunior–Senior High School (7–12). About 60% of students receive free or reduced lunch.

Polk Elementary School (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) Established August 18, 1999, the Polk Elementary Collaborative Action Team is in an inner city urban school inBaton Rouge, Louisiana. It belongs to the East Baton Rouge Parish District. Polk Elementary serves grades K–5.About 98% of students receive free or reduced lunch.

Clayton Independent School District (Clayton, Oklahoma)Established August 30, 1999, the Clayton Collaborative Action Team is in a rural community located in PushmahataCounty in a mountain valley in southeast Oklahoma. The school community includes members of a nearby IndianNation. Clayton serves 2 schools: Crain Elementary School (K–8) and Clayton High School (9–12). About 73% ofstudents receive free or reduced lunch.

Clinton Independent School District (Clinton, Oklahoma)Established September 9, 1999, the Clinton Collaborative Action Team is located in the town of Clinton, an isolatedfarming and ranching community in western Oklahoma. Clinton serves 5 schools: Clinton High School, 1 middleschool and 3 elementary schools. About 73% of students receive free or reduced lunch.

Geraldine Palmer Elementary/César Chávez Elementary (Pharr, Texas)Established October 14, 1999, the Pharr Collaborative Action Team is in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas alongthe U.S.–Mexico border. It is about 5 miles east of McAllen, Texas. Palmer Elementary serves grades K–5, and about88% of its students receive free or reduced lunch. Chávez Elementary is a new school serving grades PK–6. About89% of students its receive free or reduced lunch.

Terrell Independent School District (Terrell, Texas)Established August 26, 1999, the Terrell Collaborative Action Team is in a rural town located in Kaufman Countyabout, 40 miles southeast of Dallas, Texas. Terrell ISD serves 7 schools: Terrell High School, 1 middle school, 4 ele-mentary schools and 1 pre-school. About 51% of students receive free or reduced lunch.

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Issues in Collaborative Work: A Review of the Literature

Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, June 1998

IntroductionRecognizing that “children’s problems are increasingly horizontal, but government is organized vertically, like the quillson a porcupine” (Kirst, 1991, p. 617), those concerned with the well-being of children and families have sought waysto overcome the compartmentalization and fragmentation that have characterized traditional delivery systems. Theresult has been a great variety of approaches to collaborative work. Models, strategies, and pilot programs–accompa-nied by an abundant literature of opinion, guidelines, theory, survey and case study research, and anecdotal experi-ence–have proliferated.

The labels for these efforts are diverse; they include “partnerships,” “service coordination,” “intergovernmental arrange-ments,” “collaboration,” “community mobilization,” and “school-linked services.” Within these terms are significantvariations in purpose, players involved and their roles, levels of shared resources and responsibilities, and approachesused to plan and implement services and other activities.

The role of public education in these efforts also has varied considerably. Herrington (1996) notes that although col-laborative arrangements have been on the increase since the 1960s, “schools have not been a major player in these newsets of intergovernmental relations until recently” (p. 204). In some circles, schools are deliberately avoided. For exam-ple, Heath and McLaughlin (1996) note that “partnership with community organizations seldom extends to educa-tion” (p. 70), because “many individuals working in youth organizations find schools the ‘most difficult’ partneramong the many social agencies with which they have contact” (p. 85). In other instances, however, schools havetaken lead roles in establishing collaborative links (Kritek, 1996; Payzant, 1992).

This report attempts to sort through the diverse literature on collaborative work, with a focus on its links to educa-tional settings. The report explores the purposes and contexts for partnerships, outlines the commonly describeddimensions of starting and maintaining collaboratives, and highlights major issues and barriers to effectiveness.

Addressing the needs of students within a community contextEducators increasingly recognize the necessity to look beyond academics to help assure that students can succeed inschool. As Payzant (1992) observes, “The days are past when schools could concentrate simply on basic education andleave a child’s social, physical, psychological, and economic needs to others” (p. 140). This trend toward focusing onthe “whole child” is based on the perception that, as Kirst and McLaughlin (1990) note, “It is the whole environmentthat creates the conditions for an adult life of satisfaction and productivity” (p. 77). Most of the collaborative initia-tives discussed in the literature have been targeted, in one way or another, to more holistic approaches to working withchildren and families.

Appendix F

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Appendix F ● ISSUES IN COLLABORATIVE WORK: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATUREG u i d e

Providing comprehensive services for children and families

A major aim of many collaborative initiatives is to address the full spectrum of assistance needs among students and their families. Linking educational, health, and other services; coordinating programs so that families can accessneeded supports through a single point of contact; and filling gaps in available services–these are the motivations for a range of programs. A recent television documentary series highlighted a number of collaborative intervention programs; a New York Times review of the series observed:

Underlying the best of these efforts–and many others the series doesn’t cover–are some commonprinciples. Most of the successful programs, for example, are comprehensive, or holistic; they don’tregard vulnerable young people as bundles of isolated problems to be “treated” by social agencies.Instead, the programs emphasize collaboration–among the schools, the justice and medical-care systems, and families–and they work to tackle a variety of real-world problems, wherever they arefound. (Currie, 1998, p. AR37)

Programs seeking to move toward comprehensive services tend to rely heavily on cooperation and coordination amongthe various public agencies and institutions that are mandated to provide specific services. Involvement by privateagencies, parents, and community representatives varies greatly.

Some authors are critical of approaches dominated by intergovernmental collaboration. Furman and Merz (1996), forexample, argue that the literature on interagency collaboration reflects “a bureaucratic approach to solving problems”(p. 340). The authors note that, in this type of collaborative work, there is often talk about community empowermentand about “a sense of personalization” in service provision. “Yet there is nothing built in to interagency collaborationper se (which essentially consists of bureaucratic arrangements) to guarantee this focus” (p. 341). Stone and Wehlage(1992) also warn that “the current widely discussed conception of collaboration, built around providing more and better health and social services, runs the danger of responding primarily to the symptoms of people’s problems and isinadequate in the long run” (p. 3). These and other authors argue that unless programs are able to address underlyingsocial, political, and economic issues, they cannot achieve long-term success.

Concern for community supports

Some collaborative efforts look beyond short-term service interventions to strategies for rebuilding “the social fabric of families and communities” (Stone & Wehlage, 1992, p. 3). Many educators have joined in the widespread concernabout the erosion, in U.S. society, of community supports for children and their families. Melaville, Blank, andAsayesh (1993) describe an ideal configuration for community supports, an ideal that is rarely matched in reality, particularly in poor rural communities and inner-city neighborhoods:

In communities where learning can happen, children and families are surrounded by three inter-connected rings of caring and support. Closest to the family is a circle of caring relationships–theextended family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are their first source of support. . . The second ring embracing the family is a wide, cushioning band of helping institutions. This ring con-tains schools, churches, community organizations, libraries, recreation centers, community colleges,hospitals and health centers, and voluntary agencies. . . A third, much narrower, ring contains specialized crisis-intervention and treatment services. (pp. 7-8)

The work of James Coleman has been perhaps the most influential in shaping the literature of concern for communitysupports. Coleman (1987) describes “a change in the locus of dominant activities in society” from the household and neighborhood to increasingly distant places (p. 32), and “a change in the locus of dependency” from private topublic sources (p. 33). Thus the “rings of caring and support” have weakened substantially. Less able to rely on caringrelationships and helping institutions, people turn increasingly to institutional services, which are poorly equipped to respond.

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G u i d eAppendix F ● ISSUES IN COLLABORATIVE WORK: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Coleman uses the term “social capital” to describe the infrastructure of family, neighborhood, and community supports that offer children a sense of safety and belongingness and that provide behavioral norms and guidelines.Much of the literature on collaboration addresses the concept of social capital, either explicitly or implicitly, reflectingthe conclusion of Hoffer and Coleman (1990) that:

The single most important problem that American society faces in its effort to educate children isthat young people become segregated from the structure of responsibilities and rewards of the pro-ductive adult society. As a result, children and adolescents face historically unprecedented challengesin finding a sense of purpose in their schooling tasks and a sense of connection with adult roles ofauthority and responsibility. The problem for policymakers is to find ways of overcoming the obsta-cles presented by the forces that have generated this segregation. (pp. 129-130)

Some researchers have begun to examine the concept of social capital in light of theories that seek to explain the waysin which social processes and structures perpetuate institutionalized imbalances in power and opportunity. Stanton-Salazar (1997), for example, notes that the social capital framework described by Coleman and others “unfortunatelytends to neglect or deemphasize those forces that make the accumulation of social capital extremely problematic” forcertain groups, particularly working class minorities (p. 9).

Stanton-Salazar refines the concept of social capital by distinguishing between social networks that function as “protective agents” for children, fostering a sense of safety, security, and belonging, and those that promote “schoolsuccess and social mobility” (p. 7). He describes protective agents in much the same terms that Coleman and othersuse in describing networks that foster social capital. Networks that promote social mobility and success, in contrast,are usually middle class and “function as pathways of privilege and power” (p. 4):

Whereas working-class community networks are organized on the basis of scarcity and conservation,the cosmopolitan networks constructed by middle-class members are oriented toward maximizingindividual (and group) access to the mainstream marketplace, where institutional resources, privi-leges, and opportunities for leisure, recreation, career mobility, social advancement, and politicalpower are abundant. (p. 4)

Stanton-Salazar also discusses the ways in which such middle-class networks–and the institutional structures withinwhich they are set–operate to exclude or isolate working-class minorities, thereby reproducing current patterns ofsocial status and mobility, or what some authors describe as “the culture of power” (Delpit, 1995). He cites the work of Phelan, et al. (1993), who describe sociocultural, socioeconomic, linguistic, and structural barriers that “problematize. . . access to social capital and institutional resources” (p. 24).

Following this analysis to its logical conclusion, programs that seek to strengthen social capital not only must seek torebuild networks of neighborhood and community support to be effective in changing patterns of power and oppor-tunity, they also must explore ways of broadening access to the “social freeways that allow people to move about thecomplex mainstream landscape quickly and efficiently” (Stanton-Salazar, 1997, p. 4).

The growing literature on student resilience also fits social capital concepts. “Resilience” is described as “the ability ofindividual children to adapt to and overcome factors that place them in jeopardy” (Lugg & Boyd, 1997, p. 98). Fineand Schwebel (1991), who reviewed a number of studies focused on dimensions of resilience, note remarkable consis-tency among the findings, even though the studies “used different research methods, studied different populations,and focused on different stressors.” These studies consistently found

that resilient children possess: (1) favorable personality characteristics (e.g., high self-esteem and selfcontrol, an internal locus of control, positive mood, social responsiveness, and flexibility); (2) a sup-portive family milieu that encourages and facilitates coping efforts; and (3) a warm, supportive socialenvironment that encourages and reinforces coping attempts. (p. 23)

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Appendix F ● ISSUES IN COLLABORATIVE WORK: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATUREG u i d e

A number of authors distinguish between collaborative strategies that are grounded in deficit perspectives and thosethat seek to identify and build on the assets of individuals and communities (see, for example, Heckman, Scull, &Conley, 1996; Kretzmann & McKnight, 1993; and Wolff, 1995b). White and Wehlage (1994) note that attention tosocial capital requires an honest assessment of both strengths and weaknesses within communities. They issue a strongwarning against focusing exclusively on problems and deficits:

Recognizing the decline of families and other organizations that formerly served as community cornerstones is essential to an honest treatment of issues. Of course, a danger in this analysis is creating stereotypes around “deficits” and a “culture of poverty” that obscure the healthy and surviv-ing aspects of the community. When this occurs, it gives permission to policy-makers to engage inpaternalism that serves neither the stated goals of policy makers themselves nor the interests of thecommunity. (p. 27)

Wolff (1995b), citing the work of Chavis and Florin, summarizes the major differences between what those authorsdescribe as “community based” as opposed to “community development” approaches. Though the labels are different,the content also reflects the distinctions between intergovernmental arrangements focused on service interventions andmore inclusive, empowering approaches oriented to building social capital:

● “The definition of a problem in a community based approach is made by agencies, government, and outside institu-tions, while in the community development approach the community defines the problem” (p. 2-17).

● “The primary vehicles for creating change in the community based approach are information, education andimproved services, whereas the community development approach involves building community control andincreasing community capacity” (p. 2-17).

● “In a community based approach, the professionals are the key and central decision makers, whereas in a community development approach, the professionals are a resource to the community’s problem solving” (p. 2-17).

● “The primary decision makers in a community based model are the agency and government representatives andother appointed leaders. In the community development model the key decisions are made by the indigenous,informal and elected leaders from the community” (p. 2-17).

Working toward systemic change

A number of sources note the pervasiveness of institutional barriers to the kinds of structural changes that enable truecollaboration (Crowson & Boyd, 1996; Kirst, 1991; Mawhinney, 1996; Smylie, M.A., Crowson, R.L., Chou, V., &Levin, R.A., 1996). There has been limited work toward promoting systemic changes–i.e., transformations in policies,roles, relationships, and funding patterns that would eliminate organizational barriers to resource sharing and jointdecisionmaking and facilitate flexible, responsive approaches. The New Futures initiatives funded by the Annie E.Casey Foundation were established with the intent of both providing direct services and working toward systemicchange. In reflecting on the successes and failures of these initiatives, Foundation staff conclude that “comprehensivesystem reform is the path of most resistance” (Annie E. Casey Foundation, n.d., p. 1). They also describe the great difficulties “of simultaneously running [direct services] programs and pursuing the system analysis, policy evaluation,public education, planning, and advocacy necessary to advance. . . comprehensive reform” (p. 2).

Grounding instruction in the local environment

Although the greatest impetus for collaboration is grounded in extracurricular concerns, there also are trends in teaching and learning that lend support to strengthened ties among schools, families, and community. Constructivistlearning theory, for example, posits that children begin school with preconceived ideas and beliefs about variousaspects of their environment, including concepts related to language, mathematics, science, and human behavior. As Powell (1994) explains:

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The ideas that the student has formed were not created in a vacuum; they have been formed by thesocial and cultural life of the student’s home and community. . . Teachers need to value students’existing community-formed knowledge not out of some abstract principle regarding valuing diverseexperiences but because of a fundamental fact of learning: “students use extant knowledge, based onculturally diverse experiences, to make sense of new experiences” (Gallard, 1993, p. 172). (p. 84)

Instructional strategies that draw from constructivist principles emphasize the need for teachers to develop a richunderstanding of their students’ lives outside the classroom. Teachers also are encouraged to design instructional activities that draw from community contexts and local traditions.

Strategies for improving academic performance among linguistically, racially, and culturally diverse student popula-tions stress the importance of strong links to family and community. Minami and Ovando (1995), in their review ofresearch on language issues in multicultural contexts, list two major factors in minority students’ success: parentalinvolvement and “a community’s active participation in school curriculum design in order to cater to the needs of a particular student population” (p. 439). They quote Winkelman (1990), who concludes that teachers’ primaryresponsibilities are to facilitate classroom dialogue that engages all students, and to perform the role of an “experiencedparticipant in the community rather than sole authority” (p. 441).

Reversing the tide of separation and mistrust

As a result of the concerns and understandings described above, more and more school systems are working tostrengthen student and family supports and to play more active roles in sustaining the overall well-being of the neighborhoods in which they exist. The New York State School Boards Association (1990) has issued a policy directive that typifies this new perspective:

Districts should develop schools as community where diverse elements of a community can meet and together reap mutual benefits such as enriched educational systems, a coordinated andmore efficient social support system and a community strengthened through cooperation and collaboration. (p. vi)

In seeking ways of building these links, however, schools must deal with the fallout from decades of movement in theopposite direction. Early in this century, as school systems began to be modeled increasingly on the organizationalprinciples of an industrialized society, educators began–consciously and unconsciously–to distance themselves from thesurrounding communities (Furman & Merz, 1996; Kretzmann & McKnight, 1993). DeYoung (1989) describes the“earlier conventional wisdom among professional educators: that parents and the community ought to be kept out ofthe way of the teaching staff” (p. 40). This perspective is illustrated in the comments of school principals interviewedby Seeley, Niemeyer, and Greenspan (1991) for their study of parent involvement. One principal stated:

When I came into my school, I inherited from the ’60s an open school where the parents and every-body were moving through the building, and I knew I couldn’t guarantee security. My first prioritywas to go “anti-community” and get the community out of there, and establish strict security proce-dures for coming into the building. I couldn’t have shopping carts and baby carriages–you couldn’twalk down the hall. Teachers were constantly interrupted by parents who wanted to speak to them.(p. 11)

Reversing this mindset is not an easy task. Schools must overcome a lack of trust among many parents and communi-ty members, communication problems, and differences in perception about the strengths and weaknesses of bothschool and community. For example, Smrekar (1996), in discussing the collaborative approaches used to establish theKentucky Family Resource Centers, notes that the centers have had to distance themselves from schools, physicallyand symbolically, because of parents’ negative associations with school–even though the centers were established specifically to more closely link parents and schools. The results of this collaborative program outline “the serious and

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negative implications of integrated services programs that ignore the social distance, conflict, and anonymity associatedwith family-school interactions” (p. 23).

Corbett, Wilson, and Webb (1996) describe the lack of communication between parents and school staffs. Reportingthe results of a case study of an inner-city elementary school, they note:

In the setting we have been studying for the last three years, there were parents and communitymembers who had more in common with some of the faculty in [their goals for students] than theteachers had with each other. However, differences in opinion among teachers and similarities ofopinion between some community members and teachers tended to be invisible–unseen because theopinions required words to bring them into focus and because the extended, productive, and directdialogue about students that was needed to evoke these words rarely occurred. (pp. 28-29)

In their case study report, Corbett, Wilson and Webb also note significant differences in perspectives among parentsand teachers: “Teachers commuted into the neighborhood in the morning, saw the artifacts of urban decay, illegaldrug dealing, and neglectful public services, and thought of what they must counter in teaching students.” Parents, onthe other hand, “saw the limited presence of the educators in the community, felt their disdain for the local environ-ment, and wondered how their children could possibly receive the caring and attention they deserved in school” (p.35). Similarly, Payzant (1992), discussing the New Beginnings collaborative in San Diego, describes findings from aneeds assessment conducted as part of the project’s feasibility study:

The families see themselves in better overall condition than the agency personnel see them, but theydo feel plagued by short-term problems. The service providers are more likely to see the families ashaving many long-term needs. Clear discrepancies exist between the perceptions of the families andthose of the agency workers. (p. 143)

Despite these and other complexities of collaboration, however, it is likely to persist as a strategy for strengtheningeducational performance. By themselves, schools simply lack the resources, authority, linkages, and expertise to addressall relevant aspects of students’ lives.

Dimensions of collaborative workThe term “collaboration” can be used to describe a wide variety of efforts. Crowson and Boyd (1993), for example,describe collaboratives ranging from “limited, technical arrangements for resource sharing, on the one hand, to full-fledged joint enterprises in which shared languages and meanings are created through common activities, under-standings of problems and boundary-spanning roles, on the other” (cited in Driscoll, Boyd, & Crowson, 1997, p. 49).Most of the collaborative initiatives described in the literature, however, share a number of characteristics. As the following sections will describe, important commonalities can be noted in the definition of collaboration, in the broad steps involved in starting and maintaining a collaborative group, and in the activities and processes involved incollaborative work.

Distinguishing collaboration from other cooperative approaches

Most authors take pains to distinguish collaboration from more limited linkages, describing a continuum of jointeffort that moves from coordination through cooperation to collaboration. Coordination involves extremely limitedarrangements, generally for sharing information; cooperation extends to shared activities, but without any relinquish-ment of autonomy or control of resources. Collaboration, in contrast, is generally considered to involve “a commit-ment to: a definition of mutual relationships and goals; a jointly developed structure and shared responsibility; mutualauthority and accountability for success; and sharing of resources and rewards” (Mattesich & Monsey, 1992, p. 7; seealso Hord, 1986; and Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1997).

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G u i d eAppendix F ● ISSUES IN COLLABORATIVE WORK: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

An article by Hord (1986) is often cited as the first to describe the continuum from coordination to collaboration.Hord notes the importance of clarifying expectations among participants as to where the proposed effort will fall along the continuum: “One can also immediately construe what conflicts would arise when it is not clear whichmodel is in process–when some individuals are involved in cooperation, and others are expecting collaboration” (p.25). Payzant (1992), based on the experience of the New Beginnings collaborative, makes a similar point: “Our expe-rience in San Diego demonstrates that anyone considering interagency collaboration should not underestimate theimportance of reaching complete initial agreement on the meaning of collaboration. It can make the differencebetween success and failure” (p. 141).

Activities involved in establishing a collaborative

A number of models and guides have been developed that outline a suggested sequence of steps for establishing andsustaining a collaborative group. Exhibit 1, on the following page, provides an overview of the steps outlined by sixsources, including: the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory’s Collaborative Action Team Model (SEDL,1998); the U.S. Department of Education’s (1996) guide to school-linked strategies, Putting the Pieces Together; theTogether We Can initiative (Melaville, Blank, & Asayesh, 1993); the Families and Work Institute’s CommunityMobilization guide (Dombro, A.L., O’Donnell, N.S., Galinsky, E., Melcher, S.G., & Farber, A., 1996); the AmherstH. Wilder Foundation’s Collaborative Handbook (Winer & Ray, 1994); and the approach outlined by Epstein (1995),which serves as a framework for the National Network of Partnership-2000 Schools.

Though there are variations in the sequence of steps, suggested activities, and emphasis on specific aspects of theprocess, most of these sources, in some fashion or another, address seven broad categories of activity:

● Convening a group—This involves identifying, recruiting, and securing commitments from members. Some guidessuggest a specific configuration of membership.

● Assessing strengths and needs in the school or community to be addressed—This may involve a variety of formal or infor-mal needs assessments. Most guides emphasize the importance of assessing strengths as well as needs.

● Building collaborative capacity—This includes focusing on the skills and abilities of group members to engage ineffective communication, decisionmaking, conflict resolution, and other processes important to the success of collab-orative work. Two of the six models presented in Exhibit 1 do not explicitly address this step.

● Planning projects—Planning is emphasized heavily by several sources. Case study reports suggest that a lack of atten-tion to planning can cripple a collaborative (see, for example, Newman & Beck, 1996).

● Implementing projects—Although implementation is generally mentioned as a major step, information is oftensketchy. Other than listing staffing and infrastructure issues, sources seem to presume that most implementationconsiderations will be covered in the planning process.

● Evaluating the effort—The importance of evaluation is consistently emphasized.

● Sustaining the results—The emphasis here varies significantly, from attention to sustaining momentum through cele-bration of tangible accomplishments, to larger concerns for expanding and institutionalizing change. Only onesource includes provisions for bringing the collaborative to an end.

Collaborative processes and activities

Within and across the activities listed in Exhibit 1 are a number of processes and considerations common to most col-laborative efforts. These are described below.

Community readiness—Although it is not well addressed in most of the guides to collaboration, community readi-ness is a major consideration and “plays a critical role in the timing and pace” of a collaborative’s development (Annie E.Casey Foundation, n.d., p. 11). In assessing the New Futures initiatives, staff from the Casey Foundation found that:

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G u i d e Appendix F ● ISSUES IN COLLABORATIVE WORK: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Convening in Assessing Building Planning Projects Implementing Evaluating SustainingGroup Strengths and Collaborative Projects the Effort Results

Needs Capacity

Stage 1: GettingStarted

Introduce the process,plan first steps

1. BuildingCollaborativePartnerships

Identifying partners,learning about eachother, developing acommon vision

1. Getting Together

Deciding to act,involving the “right”people, committingto collaboration

1. Creating a Vision

Involving parents,business

1. Envision results byworking individ-ual-to-individual

Bringing peopletogether, buildingtrust, confirmingvision, specifyingdesired results

1. Create an actionteam

Involving teachers,parents, administra-tors, other schoolstaff, communitymembers

Stage 5: Reviewingand Refining

Celebrate success,increase effective-ness and impact

6. MaintainingMomentum inCollaboration

5. Going to Scale

Taking steps toexpand and institu-tionalize

3. Sustaining theVision

Maintainingmomentum, developing financialmechanisms, engaging the public

4. Endow continu-ity by working collaboration-to-community

Creating visibility,involving the com-munity, changingsystems, ending thecollaboration

5. Continue planning andworking

Stage 1: GettingStarted

Gather school com-munity information

2. Conducting aCommunityAssessment

2. Building Trust

Conducting community assess-ment, defining mis-sion and goals

1. Creating a Vision

Assessing needs

Not addressed

3. Identify startingpoints

Assessing strengthsand needed changes

Stage 2: Mobilizingthe Team

Establish representa-tive membership,determine groundrules, build commonunderstanding, iden-tify shared leadership

3. Finding andDevelopingResources

Includes buildinghuman as well as fiscal resources

2. Building Trust

Developing commonknowledge base,establishing commu-nity presence

Not addressed

1. Empower ourselves by work-ing individual-to-organization

Not addressed

Stage 3: SettingDirection

Agree on a vision,identify and priori-tize issues, develop amission, set teamgoals, communicateyour message

3. Finding andDevelopingResources

5. Moving fromvision to action(see next box)

3. Developing aStrategic Plan

Focusing on a neigh-borhood, setting outcomes, designingservice delivery pro-totype, formalizingrelationships

2. Implementing the Vision

Linking and coordi-nating services, moving to a systemicfocus, institution-alizing

2. Empower ourselves...

Organizing the effort

2. Obtain funds andothers’ support

4. Develop a three-year plan

Stage 4: Taking Action

Develop strategies,determine tasks,expand network

5. Moving fromVision to Action

Planning and imple-mentation activities,addressing infra-structure, staffing,operating proce-dures

4. Taking Action

Addressing staffing,outreach, diversity

2. Implementing the Vision

3. Ensure success by workingorganization-to-organization

Managing the work,creating joint sys-tems

Not addressed

Stage 4: Taking Action

Establish evaluationmethods, monitorprogress

Stage 5:Reviewingand Refining

Assess team effectiveness

4. Evaluating School-linked Strategies

4. Taking Action

Evaluating activities

3. Sustaining theVision

Assessing results

3. Ensure success...

Evaluating results,reviewing

4. Develop a three-year plan

Identifying indica-tors and evaluationstrategies

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Exhibit 1Major Steps in Collaborative Work Identified in the Literature

S T E P S

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G u i d eAppendix F ● ISSUES IN COLLABORATIVE WORK: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Not every community is ready to take on a complicated and comprehensive child and family servicesystem reform initiative. Some communities have too many of their resources (financial, political,and intellectual) committed to other efforts or other priorities. In other cities, there is a lack of lead-ership commitment, leadership stability, or management capacity needed to sustain a long-termchange process. In still other places, a systems change approach fails to excite the individuals it needsto engage. (p. 11)

The Foundation recommends a careful assessment of a community’s readiness for collaborative initiatives.

This assessment involves looking hard at local leadership and collaborative experience, the complexi-ty and risks of the initiative, the maturity of the organization[s] expected to carry it out, the presenceor absence of other related efforts, and the availability of a sufficient resolve and patience to buildeffective cross-system communication. (p. 12)

Membership—Recommendations regarding the composition of collaborative groups vary substantially. Some guides, such as the Partnership-2000 Schools materials, assume a school-based initiative and thus recommend a collaborative team with heaviest representation from teachers and other school staff (Epstein, 1995). Others assume an interagency approach, while still others present more generic considerations intended to accommodate a range ofpurposes and groups.

Melaville, Blank, and Asayesh (1993) recommend the inclusion of “people who will bring clout, commitment, anddiversity to the table” (p. 25). However, assuring both clout diversity–particularly in terms of authentic communityrepresentation–often seems an overwhelming challenge.

Without “clout,” Melaville, Blank, and Asayesh (1993) note, the collaborative will lack the necessary authority to getthings done. As Mattesich and Monsey (1992) explain, “Collaborative groups which intend to make system-widechanges or work with the wider community must be perceived as a legitimate leader by the community they intend to influence” (p. 17). White and Wehlage (1994), however, discussing the New Futures initiatives, warn against collaborative boards weighted too heavily with top management or political leaders. They report that, in New Futures sites, “collaborative boards tended to be very top-heavy with agency heads and other high level bureaucrats. By necessity these people tended to be isolated, operating at some distance from either those being served or thoseactually delivering services” (p. 10). Melaville, Blank, and Asayesh also warn of the hazards inherent in the closeinvolvement of elected officials:

In choosing when and how to involve elected officials, the collaborative should realize that commu-nity-based decisionmaking is vulnerable to political concerns. Political pressures can split partnersalong partisan lines or push them toward politically expedient, but short-term projects. An electiondefeat, decline in popularity, or priority changes may cause an elected official to turn his or herattention and influence elsewhere, leaving the collaborative stranded. (p. 27)

Regarding the need for diversity, Melaville, Blank and Asayesh (1993) note that, “though different backgrounds canstrain a collaborative, broad representation is necessary to develop policies and practices that will respond to the fullrange of community needs” (p. 25). They recommend including consumers, public-sector organizations, privateproviders and nonprofit organizations, businesses and business organizations, and elected officials. In contrast, Whiteand Wehlage argue, “While noble in purpose, mixing public agencies, private sector organizations (both for profit andnot-for-profit), as well as involving the families being served, implies a level of organizational complexity that taxes theintellectual and political skills of communities” (p. 2). Payzant, discussing San Diego’s New Beginnings initiative, takesa sort of middle ground:

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Those who come together to collaborate must know a lot about children, youth, and families. Theymust have professional training and years of experience to support their attitudes and practice.However, it is dangerous to rely on professional and political expertise alone. Our feasibility studytaught us the important lesson that the users of our services know things that we don’t know. (p. 146)

The involvement of client or consumer representatives, parents (for school-related collaboratives), or other communityrepresentatives appears to present the greatest challenge for collaborative membership. A majority of sources describethe importance of broad community representation in order to assure both responsiveness and credibility, but the real-ities of establishing a truly representative group in which all members have an authentic voice and authority seem tobe another matter altogether.

Peirce and Johnson (1997), discussing leadership issues related to collaborative community development, observe that“in all communities, there’s a problem with outreach, the efforts to expand the discussion table” (p. 15). In most cases,the authors note, the initial conveners–who tend to be traditional leaders unfamiliar with all elements of the broadercommunity–“just don’t know they exist.” However, “others may be left out because they create uneasiness in main-stream groups” (p. 15). Similarly, White and Wehlage report:

The official New Futures perspective was that the broadest possible range of people needed to beinvolved. . . [However,] no city developed a permanent mechanism for representing at-risk youth,their families or finding articulate advocates for them. Providing opportunities for those who are thefocus of collaborative policies to have their voices heard and participate in the policy making general-ly did not occur. . . While some “community” members made their way onto the collaboratives, theywere neither numerous nor influential. (p. 14)

Several authors urge school and other agency staffs to consider honestly the extent to which they are willing to movebeyond tokenism and share authority with parents and community members. Zetlin (1997), discussing a school-basedprogram in East Los Angeles, notes, “We have to ask ourselves if we are truly prepared for parents’ full participation.We must be prepared to relinquish some of our power as administrators, researchers, and program developers” (p. 90).Similarly, Samuels, Ahsan, and Garcia (1995) state:

Often key players, who can change systems and allocate resources, genuinely want to hear the viewsand opinions of community residents but reserve the right to have final say in all decisions. Beforeinviting residents to sit on the planning team, key players should agree on the extent of their com-mitment to establish a “bottom-up” process of service reform. The results of this decision should beclearly articulated to residents so that they can gauge for themselves whether the amount of decision-making power given them makes participating in the planning process worthwhile. Lack of claritywith residents about their role may create an adversarial and distrustful relationship. (pp. 8-9)

It should be noted that a decision not to include strong representation from consumers, parents, or community repre-sentatives can affect the capacity of a collaborative to achieve specific goals. For interagency collaborations that areintended primarily to improve the efficiency and comprehensiveness of existing services, the consequences may not besubstantial. But if the collaborative’s goals are to build community capacity and address long-term issues, strong com-munity representation appears to be essential (Annie E. Casey Foundation, n.d.; Stone & Wehlage, 1992; Wolff &Foster, 1995). And for schools, parent involvement and support are increasingly critical to school improvement efforts(Epstein, 1995).

Few authors specifically discuss a recommended size for the planning group or collaborative board, though the lists ofrecommended members generally suggest a sizeable group. Samuels, Ahsan, and Garcia (1995) do offer some more

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specific recommendations for their collaborative “planning team,” noting that, “all things considered. . . it is better tostart with too many, rather than too few, members” (p. 9). They suggest a group with twenty to thirty members as“sufficient to conduct a comprehensive community assessment” (p. 10). A few guides suggest a smaller core group,supplemented by additional representatives who serve on subcommittees to carry out specific aspects of the work(Epstein, 1995; U.S. Department of Education, 1996).

Leadership—As is true for a number of aspects of collaborative work, the issue of leadership presents something of adouble bind. Wolff and Foster (1995) state that collaboratives need “a clearly identified leadership structure, but alsoneed to disperse leadership as broadly as possible” (p. 3-32). Other sources discuss the need for competent and effectiveleadership while also recommending shared leadership approaches (see, for example, Melaville, Blank, & Asayesh,1993). While these two factors are not mutually exclusive, the difficulty of assuring competence increases as leadership isdispersed. On the other hand, group ownership diminishes with the concentration of leadership and decisionmakingauthority.

Zetlin (1997), among others, stresses that “quality leadership is essential” to the success of collaborative work (p. 90).The Casey Foundation emphasizes the “need for core leadership that can articulate the initiative, build the necessaryconsensus, manage the change process, weather the storms, and continually refine and redesign the effort without los-ing the community’s support” (p. 11). The Harwood Group (1998) in its assessment of learnings from PewPartnership projects, argues bluntly for the need for strong core leadership. Based on interviews with project partici-pants, the report concludes “that collaborations that are left leaderless–or are handed over to a nebulous and ill-definedgroup to lead–flounder” (p. 20):

At the start of every Pew collaboration was a small core group of leaders who sparked, and then led,the collaboration. . . Strong leadership, we were told, must be exercised throughout the life of a col-laboration. Any notions that a consensus process, or a so-called leaderless approach, can take its placewill only generate unplanned chaos. (p. 2)

Similarly, Peirce and Johnson (1997) urge collaborators not to abandon traditional leadership approaches. They note,“As more people come to accept the reality and necessity of inclusive, participatory civic processes, there has been atendency to dismiss the idea that individual leaders can make a difference. . . Sometimes, still, there’s no substitute forit” (p. 43).

Melaville and Blank (1991) suggest that, in the early stages of formation and planning, collaboratives may need a sin-gle leader whose vision can rally others to the effort, but that leadership can be more dispersed as the collaborativegains momentum. Along with other sources, they also recommend that core leaders nurture leadership capacities inother group members (Miller, 1995; Wolff & Foster, 1995).

The role of facilitators—Some sources discuss leadership primarily in terms of a facilitative role (Mattesich &Monsey, 1992; Ohio Center for Action on Coalition Development, 1992). Hord (1992), in discussing school changestrategies, describes the importance of “facilitative leaders who assume responsibility for effecting change.” These are notnecessarily “positional leaders” but rather are “people who demonstrate functional leadership,” who help to “creat[e] anatmosphere and culture for change” and to nurture both the vision and the tangible supports necessary for effective fol-low through (p. 88). Peirce and Johnson quote Bruce Adams, a co-project director of the Kellogg Leadership StudiesProject, who notes that “building relationships and crossing boundaries are the essential community leadership skills ofthe next century” (p. 33). Melaville and Blank offer a more detailed description of facilitative leadership:

Effective leaders press each side to understand their partners’ point of view and the way they perceivethe issues and problems at hand. Leaders generate alternative solutions and pursue, from the manyinterests identified, those that constitute common ground. A leader’s ability to keep participantsfocused on goals prevents individual interests from derailing the initiative during the difficult process

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of determining how shared goals will be met and encourages partners to contribute to the full extentof their abilities. (p. 25)

Most guides are silent on the question of whether to use an outside facilitator (or “convener”) rather than drawingfrom the actual membership of the collaborative group. The strongest support for using an outside facilitator comesfrom Molloy, P., Fleming, G., Rojas Rodriguez, C., Saavedra, N., Tucker, B., & Williams, Jr., D.L. (1995b), who statethat “the planning phase [of a collaborative endeavor] is a complex undertaking and is more likely to be effectivewhen. . . partnerships involve a neutral facilitator” (p. 5). The authors list three reasons for using an outside facilitator:

1) to help members deal with and ultimately welcome the partnership’s diversity, 2) to help diffusedivergent viewpoints and sometimes highly charged emotions, and 3) to help partnerships maneuversuccessfully through the. . . stages of the planning phase. (p. 4)

Samuels, Ahsan, and Garcia suggest that, “if there is little or no history of broad-based collaboration in the communi-ty, or if there is polarization or lack of trust among those who should be involved, a facilitator can be a key componentto successful planning” (p. 10). Other authors stress the need for neutrality and fairness (Mattesich & Monsey, 1992;Melaville & Blank, 1991).

Decisionmaking processes—Approaches to decisionmaking present tensions similar to those involved in leadershipissues. “Shared decisionmaking” is consistently recommended; by this, most sources appear to refer to a process ofgroup consensus. The U.S. Department of Education (1996) lists three commonly used decisionmaking approaches:group consensus, committee decisionmaking, and majority rule. That report describes the consensus approach as“ideal for partnerships because the process requires thorough discussion of alternatives, allows all voices to be heard,and fosters commitment” (p. 19). However, the report notes that consensus decisionmaking is extremely time con-suming. Winer and Ray (1994) similarly describe the tension between involving everyone, which builds ownershipbut “can limit power and productivity,” and empowering “individuals and small groups to act unilaterally or in con-sultation,” which can boost productivity but “limits group ownership” (p. 89).

The other major issue discussed in regard to decisionmaking processes relates to the involvement of school and otheragency staffs. For collaborative groups that seek to be broadly inclusive of parents and community, it is important thatthe group’s membership and decisionmaking not be dominated by institutional voices. Yet experience has shown that,without significant involvement from both upper-level management and direct service staff, schools and other agenciesoften fail to develop consistent commitment to the work of the collaborative. White and Wehlage, for example,describe the case manager approach used in Chicago’s New Futures initiatives. They report:

Interviews with case managers indicated that for the most part critical information they had as front-line workers was ignored. Their knowledge simply wasn’t recognized [by the policy level of the collab-oration] as critical to decisionmaking. . . While top-level managers were making agreements at thecollaborative level, they were not hearing from the case managers about how those agreements wereworking. Clearly, buy-in at the top often did not translate into buy-in at the front line. (pp. 7, 9)

The reverse can be true as well, in cases where upper-level managers are removed from the decisionmaking activities ofthe collaborative. As a result, Mattesich and Monsey (1992), among others, recommend that “every level (upper man-agement, middle management, operations) within each organization in the collaborative group participates in deci-sionmaking” (p. 23).

Communication and conflict—Most sources emphasize the importance of communication, discussing the processin two ways: in terms of maintaining contact and sharing all relevant information among all members of the collabo-rative, and in terms of using effective communication styles. The latter includes assuring common understandings ofthe terms used to describe the collaborative, accommodating differences in language and communication style, andworking out a process for addressing conflicts that allows open discussion without denigration or personal attack(Jordan, 1997).

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Corbett, Wilson, and Webb (1996) point out the dangers of failing to explore the beliefs and assumptions underlyingthe rhetoric of change. They note that, in the urban school site of their three-year case study, “people used the samewords but attached different meanings to them. Such language similarity can pose a danger.” They conclude that,“without paying careful attention to meaning, people might be too quick to agree at the vision-building stage and notrealize the implications of their differences until they begin to act” (p. 45). In a similar vein, McClure, Jones, andPotter (1996) warn, “A collaborative that requires or assumes a common vision cannot account for the conflictedpower relationships inherent in a participatory democracy” (p. 396).

Much of the discussion about communication focuses on ways of coping with–without ignoring or skimmingover–conflict. Melaville and Blank (1991) state:

Participants need to establish a communication process that gives them permission to disagree anduses conflict and its resolution as a constructive means of moving forward. Interagency initiativesthat circumvent issues about how, where, why, and by whom services should be delivered andresources allocated, in an effort to avoid turf issues and other conflicts, are likely to result in innocu-ous objectives that do little to improve the status quo. (p. 37)

Differences in power relationships, race, and class are often major sources of conflict. Staff from the Annie E. CaseyFoundation (n.d.), discussing the New Futures initiatives, conclude:

Power, race and ethnicity matter. . . Communication gaps created by the historical isolation of par-ticipants from one another were formidable. The sheer lack of experience that most people have indealing across racial, class, and cultural lines was as pervasive on most of the collaborative governingboards as in the communities at large. (p. 4)

White and Wehlage (1994), in their assessment of the New Futures initiatives, reach the same conclusion. They note“the neglect of political conflict lying just under the surface of the apparent shared will to collaborate” (p. 12).Surveying the broader literature on collaboration, they further observe that “policy is still treated in much of the col-laborative literature as though it were free of politics. The difficulty of building consensus is almost always underesti-mated” (p. 13).

Building collaborative capacity—Strategies for building a collaborative’s capacity to function effectively are notconsistently addressed in the literature. Two processes are sometimes mentioned: building support among key con-stituencies, and training or other development to build the leadership, communication, decisionmaking, and othercollaborative skills of group members. A third process, networking among different collaborative programs, is anexplicit element of two collaborative approaches: projects funded by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change (TheHarwood Group, 1998), and SEDL’s Collaborative Action Team process (SEDL, 1998).

Planning—Of all the processes involved in collaborative work, considerations related to program planning receiveperhaps the greatest attention in the literature. Systematic planning is described as critical to success (Molloy, P.,Fleming, G., Rojas Rodriguez, C., Saavedra, N., Tucker, B., & Williams, Jr., D.L., 1995a). Steps involved in the plan-ning process generally include needs assessment, resource planning, development of work plans and implementationschedules, and identification of indicators of success and strategies for gathering evaluation data.

For some sources, planning also includes clarification of group members’ expectations, working contexts, and con-cerns. For example, McClure, Jones, and Potter (1996) recommend, “For a collaborative to succeed, members shouldconsider spending time at the beginning examining their assumptions of common intent in order to develop ways ofaccommodating inevitable differences in these critical underpinnings” (pp. 395-396). Hord (1986) further notes:

The necessity for clarifying expectations of the participants is of paramount importance–not onlythe expectations of rewards, but expectations of goals, of commitments from each sector, and of

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procedures. These decision points frequently become the critical dilemmas that force a choice of thecooperative mode rather than the more demanding collaborative one. (p. 25)

Needs assessment is heavily emphasized by most sources. As Melaville, Blank, and Asayesh (1993) observe, “Effectiveinitiatives are data driven” (p. 16). Strategies for collecting data regarding community strengths and needs vary.Guthrie and Guthrie (1991) suggest laying out a matrix “that matches up needs. . . with various service providers” to“help reveal gaps in service and areas of overlap” (p. 20). Melaville, Blank, and Asayesh (1993) recommend moredetailed, “comprehensive community profiles” that include “baseline indicators showing how well children and fami-lies are faring, how well services are meeting family needs, and where serious gaps in services exist.” As the develop-ment process continues, “additional information and data collected in planning and implementing service deliveryprototypes identify specific changes in systemwide policies and practices” (p. 16). Sohng (1996) recommends “partici-patory research” not only as a strategy for identifying strengths and needs but also as a community organizing anddevelopment strategy:

Knowledge becomes a crucial element in enabling people to have a say in how they would like to seetheir world put together and run. . . Participatory research is a means of putting research capabilitiesin the hands of deprived and disenfranchised people so that they can identify themselves as knowingactors, defining their reality, naming their history, and transforming their lives. . . It is a means ofpreventing an elite group from exclusively determining the interests of others, in effect of transfer-ring power to those groups engaged in the production of popular knowledge. (pp. 80-81)

Samuels, Ahsan, and Garcia (1995), although they stress the importance of needs assessment, also warn of the hazardsthat can accompany the process:

Communities need good information if they are to develop strategies which can improve the well-being of their children, families, and neighborhoods. Too often, however, communities find thattheir efforts to collect information and conduct a needs assessment drain scarce energy and resources,create misunderstandings, delay action, and produce documents that shed little light on how tomove forward. Assessments which are done “at” rather than “with” communities, or that focus upondeficiencies and fail to recognize assets, disempower rather than energize. (p. v)

In discussing the time needed for the planning phase of a collaborative endeavor, Molloy et al. (1995a) cite Morrill, W.A.,Reisner, E.R., Chimerine, C., & Marks, E. (1991), who found that “twelve to eighteen months was usual, two yearswas not surprising, and less than six months was not sufficient” (p. 2). Payzant (1992) also urges that the planningphase not be rushed, and warns, “The amount of time necessary to work on issues surrounding the actual processes ofcollaboration should not be underestimated” (p. 145). The Harwood Group (1998), discussing findings from collabo-rative projects funded by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, points out the need to be sensitive to “communitytime,” that is, the rhythms and pace of each particular local community (p. 39).

Acquisition and use of resources—Schorr (1997) discusses the dilemma that most effective programs exist onlywithin a “protective bubble” of special funding or other extraordinary support. When the funding dries up, so doesthe program. Other sources note the hazards of money, rather than community need, as the prime motivator foraction; Morse (1996), example, states, “If money alone drives the collaboration, it is in peril from the beginning” (p.20). To address these problems, a number of sources stress the need to work as much as possible with existingresources. For example, Melaville, Blank, and Asayesh (1993) observe:

Effective initiatives are financially pragmatic. Instead of basing service delivery changes on the availabili-ty of new money, they use existing resources fully. They rely on external support primarily to fund acollaborative’s planning efforts and to provide enough financial stability to ensure that prototype effortspoint toward systemwide policy changes. (p. 16)

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Molloy et al. (1995a), among others, recommend that partners “identify resources that are alternatives to direct funding.”These may include “in-kind contributions of staff time, training materials, office space, and coverage in newsletters andother informal publications” (p. 54). The U.S. Department of Education (1996) suggests considering strategies thatmight encourage funders to sustain their involvement:

One approach is to bring potential funders into the partnership. Many private-sectororganizations–local United Ways, chambers of commerce, and corporate philanthropies–contributeactively and creatively when they are “at the table” of the collaborative partnership. . . Most are moreinclined to support a partnership if they are regarded as sources of time, talent, and energy ratherthan only as sources of financial support. (p. 50)

Wolff (1995a), in listing barriers to collaborative work, lists “too much” as well as “too little” funding as a deterrent toeffectiveness. Noting that he and his coworkers have witnessed the failure of “very well funded coalitions (one mightsuggest, overfunded)” (p. 4-46), he lists a number of hazards involved in collaboratives “that were started by the poten-tial lure of dollars”:

● “Once a coalition gets into the business of delivering programming itself. . . it runs the risk of moving from a collab-orative organization. . . to becoming another community agency. This can create a conflict where the coalition is incompetition with its own members” (p. 4-46).

● If a collaborative provides services by “subcontracting program dollars to other agencies,” it becomes necessary “toengage in a process of awarding and then monitoring the contracts.” The collaborative then may become “a monitorof its own members, which creates an inordinately complex set of roles” (p. 4-46).

● “When coalitions are gathered together around the lure of external funding sources, one can never be sure that thepartners at the table are not there just for the dollars.” (p. 4-46)

● In obtaining external funds, a collaborative often must designate a lead agency to receive the funds. “The leadagency may then take on roles, responsibilities and power that place it on an unequal basis with other coalitionmembers” (p. 4-46).

Program implementation—Implementation issues are weakly addressed in the collaborative literature. To someextent, this can be explained by the fact that most guides do not prescribe specific actions, but rather presume that col-laboratives themselves will identify action-oriented programs and projects based on locally identified needs. Since theseprojects can vary considerably in focus and scope, it would be difficult to offer specific guidelines.

However, most sources also seem to fall prey to the assumption that most of the work of implementation lies in theplanning. The Ohio Center for Action on Coalition Development (1992), for example, lists activities involved in thecollaborative process. Under “Implement the chosen solution,” the guide counsels, “Plan strategies for carrying out theplan,” noting that “most of the work is in this step” (p. CFA-104-1). This perspective–which neglects to consider thesubstantial disjunctures that generally occur between even the most carefully developed plans and the realities of takingaction over time–is a common error in the development of innovative programs.

Monitoring and assessment—The need for program evaluation is heavily stressed in most guidelines for collabora-tive work. Kirst (1991), for example, recommends a “base-line assessment” followed by the issuance of periodic “com-prehensive report card[s]” (p. 617). Jordan (1997) urges projects to “set up reporting systems from the beginning, evenwhen it seems like nothing is happening” (27).

Many sources also recommend gathering impact as well as process data (Ohio Center, 1992; U.S. Department ofEducation). However, Payzant (1992) urges patience in terms of being able to assess measurable impact, warning that“results based on traditional indicators will not be immediately apparent” (p. 146). Similarly, Zetlin (1997) states thatit may be “five or seven or ten years before the sorts of outcome data that society will applaud become available” (p. 91).

G u i d e

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In spite of the emphasis on evaluation, there is evidence that most collaboratives lack effectiveness in this area. In surveying the literature on collaborative school-linked programs, Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1997) report:

Evaluation and research studies. . . often contain inadequate descriptions of the program compo-nents, use a limited number of outcomes, have few direct measures of collaboration, do not collectprocess or implementation data, do not have comparable control groups, have high rates of attrition,and report little data on program costs. (p. 17)

Momentum—Many sources note the need for explicitly planned rituals, milestones, or other strategies to assure asense of momentum and sustain the enthusiasm of collaborative group members. In a developmental process whoseplanning stages can require many months, members often become frustrated at the lack of tangible accomplishments.The advice from Mattesich and Monsey (1992) is typical of discussions on this subject:

Collaborative groups must experience a progression of “successes” during the collaborative process in order tobe sustained. Defining success too narrowly and distantly–only by accomplishing the collaboration’s ultimategoals–can be discouraging. (p. 28)

Institutionalization—Like program implementation, approaches to institutionalizing programmatic change areweakly addressed by most sources. Issues related to whether and how the collaborative group should establish itself as apermanent entity; whether and how specific projects are to be sustained; and how to accomplish changes in policies,roles, and relationships within and among the agencies and groups involved in the collaborative, are treated onlysketchily. Perhaps most significant is the absence of information on how to address the kinds of “deep structure” issuesthat tend to block major changes in the way existing institutions work with others (Crowson & Boyd, 1996).

Challenges to effective collaboration

The literature on collaboration includes numerous lists outlining obstacles to the success of collaborative work. Exhibit2, on the following pages, presents information from a number of sources; the obstacles listed fall into ten general cat-egories:

● Lack of community readiness,

● Membership problems,

● Limitations of schools and other partner agencies,

● Relationships among collaborating partners,

● Relationships between partners and community,

● Leadership problems,

● Limitations in the collaborative’s skills or capacity,

● Resource problems,

● Collaborative process issues, and

● Outcome issues.

G u i d e

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Exhibit 2Major Barriers to Effective CollaborationIdentified in the Literature

Lack of community readiness

Need for a certain base of social capital (White & Wefflage, 1994)Lack of support for collaboration among community leadership

(Annie E. Casey Foundation, n.d.)Lack of collaborative experience (Casey Foundation, n.d.)Lack of capacity within partner groups (Casey Foundation, n.d.)Absence of necessary resources (Casey Foundation, n.d.)Lack of necessary patience and resolve (Casey Foundation, n.d.)

Membership problems

Too small a group (Samuels, Ahsan, & Garcia, 1995)Failure to include community representatives or engage them in significant roles

(Payzant, 1992; White & Wehlag, 1994)Top-heavy collaborative boards (White& Wefflag, 1994)

Limitations of schools and other partner agencies

Lack of buy-in from key agency leadership (Dombro, O’Donnell, Galinsky, Melcher, & Farber, 1996; Elder, 1992)Bureaucratic inertia; resistance to change (Crowson & Boyd, 1996; Dombro, et al., 1996; Elder, 1992)Confidentiality and other bureaucratic issues (Elder, 1992; Heath & McLaughlin, 1996)“Deep structure” issues that discourage shared power and responsibility,

including reward structures and role specialization (Crowson & Boyd, 1996)Fragmentation of agency initiatives, leading to conflicting priorities and procedures (Smylie, Crowson, Chou, & Levin, 1996)

Relationships among collaborating partners

Turf issues and competition (Elder, 1992; Wolff, 1995a)Historical lack of links and communication between partner groups (Dombro, et al., 1996;

Heath & McLaughlin, 1996)“‘Bad history’” (Wolff), leading to a lack of trust (Dombro, et al., 1996)Differences in belief systems, culture, or perspectives (Dombro, et al.; Heath & McLaughlin, 1996)

Relationships between partners and community

Weak linkages to the community (Wolff, 1995)Alliance with specific programs rather than the larger community (Dombro, et al., 1996)Lack of knowledge about neighborhood contexts; “disjuncture” between assumed knowledge and actual conditions

(White & Wehlage, 1994; Heath & McLaughlin, 1996)

Leadership problems

Too few partners with needed leadership skills (Dombro, et al., 1996)Failure to build leadership capacity (Wolff, 1995)“Dominance by professionals” (Wolff, 1995)Dominance by a single agency (Payzant, 1992)

Appendix F ● ISSUES IN COLLABORATIVE WORK: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Appendix F ● ISSUES IN COLLABORATIVE WORK: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

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G u i d e

Limitations in the collaborative’s skills or capacity

“Minimal organizational capacity” (Wolff, 1995)Lack of knowledge and influence (Elder, 1992)

Resource problems

Lack of time (Dombro, et al., 1996; Driscoll, Boyd, & Croyson, 1997)“Too much or too little” funding support (Wolff, 1995)Lack of money and other needed resources (Dombro, et al., 1996)

Collaborative process issues

Failure to articulate goals, assumptions, expectations (McClure, Jones, & Potter, 1996; Newman & Beck, 1996)Defining success too narrowly and distantly (Mattesich & Monsey, 1992)Lack of communication among partners (Dombro, et al., 1996)Excessive use of jargon (Guthrie & Guthrie, 1991)Failure to address conflict (White & Wehlage, 1994)Inadequate time and attention to planning (Newman & Beck, 1996)“NATO,” or, No Action, Talk Only (Guthrie & Cuthrie, 1991)Lack of standards for measuring success (Newman & Beck, 1996)

Outcome issues

Imbalance between process and achievements “(Dombro, et al., 1996) or, the costs outweigh the benefits” (Wolff, 1995)

While lists of obstacles can be useful, they provide an inadequate picture of the magnitude of the challenges involvedin collaborative work, particularly efforts that seek to change basic opportunities, roles, and relationships. Peirce andJohnson (1997) point out that “there’s a deep mismatch between the level of challenges [that collaboratives seek toaddress] and the way American society is organized, collectively, to deal with them” (p. 7). Similarly, Crowson andBoyd (1996), noting the proliferation of guides to collaboration and service coordination, conclude, “What the hand-books and guidelines and experiential evidence to date do not adequately provide are insights into ‘deep structure’issues in cooperating institutions” (p. 139). Such “deep structure” issues often represent the most pervasive, deeplyentrenched barriers to collaborative work. These barriers are discussed in some detail in the following paragraphs.

Addressing institutional resistance to change

Institutional inertia is perhaps the greatest barrier to successful collaboration. Schorr (1997), in discussing the reasonsthat effective programs rarely move from isolated local efforts into widespread use, concludes, “We failed to see thatyou can’t grow roses in concrete. Human service reformers and educators alike thought the challenge was to developnew ideas, not to change institutions” (p. 29). She describes “the great hidden paradox” involved in creating and sus-taining widespread improvements:

Agreement around the elements of successful programs has grown, and yet policy and practice havenot recognized how poorly matched are the attributes of effectiveness and the requirements of insti-tutions and systems within which programs must operate if they are to reach millions instead ofhundreds. (p. 19)

Mawhinney (1996) reports that “research on the involvement of schools in collaborative initiatives has documentedtheir resistance to change and the persistence of their organizational structures and patterns” (p. 226; see also Furman& Merz, 1996). Smylie, et al. (1996), among others, echo this conclusion, noting:

Existing school conventions provide few built-in mechanisms for collaboration. Schools are not usu-ally structured with even the simplest of organizational linkages upon which service coordination

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G u i d e

depends. Indeed, fragmentation and role specialization, rather than interdependency, are traditional-ly the workaday reality of schools. (p. 178)

Smylie, et al., in their study of Chicago’s Nation of Tomorrow projects, observed a number of behaviors on the part ofschool principals that undermined the effectiveness of the collaborative:

First, principals, in varying degrees, compartmentalized and isolated the project from routine schoolfunctions. Second, they engaged in entrepreneurial behavior, treating the project as a reservoir ofresources for their schools. Finally, principals evoked a wide range of control mechanisms to influ-ence project implementation. . .Project staff observed the difficulties of many principals (and manyteachers for that matter) “getting their heads around” the project’s philosophy of service coordina-tion, collaboration, and empowerment. They also observed difficulty in the principals’ ability toconceptualize the work of their schools in terms that went beyond traditional instructional activitieswithin the four walls of the building. . .Once acquired, it was not unusual for the principal to redi-rect resources from purposes acknowledged to be important to the project as a whole to purposesmore consistent with existing school goals and ongoing activities. (pp. 182-183)

Efforts to control activities and fit them to existing institutional self-interests are by no means confined to schools.Melaville, Blank, and Asayesh (1993) cite a report on integrated services by the inspector general of the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services: “The report concludes that interagency coordination frequently results inshort-term improvements in the accessibility of services for some clients, but has little permanent effect on the opera-tion of key institutions” (p. 2).

As Crowson and Boyd (1996) point out, “Each institution in a collaborative will be full of its own self-interests. Thesewill be rooted in institutional reward systems” (p. 156). White and Wehlage (1994), discussing the “slippage” betweencollaborative policies and the activities of individual members, note, “A collaborative has to rely on a weak, loosely-coupled organizational form. It is essentially a confederation of organizations that has few sanctions to hold membersaccountable” (pp. 5-6). The authors cite Lipsky (1980), who “contends that to speak of an agency having a single‘interest’ obscures critical differences among various individuals and groups within agencies” (p. 6).

Issues of competence

Beyond brief references to qualified, skilled staff members (Melaville & Blank, 1991; Schorr, 1997), the issue of com-petence is rarely addressed in the literature on collaboration. However, the knowledge and skills of those involved incollaborative work–and of those who carry out the activities and services designed to address collaborative goals–can-not be taken for granted. And, as the educational literature on professional development well illustrates, strengtheningthe competencies of professional staffs represents a “deep structure” issue that is not easily solved.

It is important to consider questions of competence in several ways: (1) the abilities of group members to engage incollaborative processes, (2) the competencies of staff members or volunteers who work on the programs established viathe collaborative, (3) the competencies of agency staff in making institutional changes to support collaborative work,and (4) the capacity of school staffs to teach all children effectively.

Attention to competency issues includes working to facilitate professional training that extends beyond traditionallyrigid disciplinary boundaries. Melaville, Blank, and Asayesh (1993) observe that “narrow professional training hashelped to create and continues to reinforce the existing system” (p. 17). They urge “new forms of interprofessional pre-service and inservice education, training, and leadership development” (p. 17).

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Collaborative groups should not ignore issues of instructional competence. Although attention to issues not directlyrelated to instruction–such as children’s health, safety, and emotional well-being–is perhaps long overdue, attention tothe “whole child” does not negate the importance of quality instruction. Unfortunately, studies suggest that, in manycases, schools lack capacity for instructional improvement (Boethel, 1998).

Addressing differences in power, perspective, and belief

As noted in earlier sections, differences in race, culture, and class can lead to tensions, miscommunication, and com-peting agendas among members of the collaborative group as well as between the group and the community it seeksto serve. The observation by Wolff (1995b) echoes a common theme in the literature; he reports that one of the“major difficult[ies] that we have found in community helping systems is the inability of helping systems to deal withissues of diversity” (p. 1-5). Race is perhaps the most volatile and pervasive issue; Peirce and Johnson (1997) conclude,“There’s not a single American metro area where [race] is not, to some extent, a very real problem” (p. 27).

The challenge of working through the deep-seated, often unconscious beliefs that different individuals hold abouteach other should not be underestimated. As Delpit (1995) observes, “We all carry worlds in our heads, and thoseworlds are decidedly different” (p. xiv). In her book, Other People’s Children, Delpit asks the question,

Why do the refrains of progressive educational movements seem lacking in the diverse harmonies,the variegated rhythms, and the shades of tone expected in a truly heterogeneous chorus? Why dowe hear so little representation from the multicultural voices which comprise the present-dayAmerican educational scene? (p. 11)

One answer to those questions, Delpit argues, is that inherent in issues of race, culture and class are issues of power.She observes that “those with power are frequently least aware of–or least willing to acknowledge–its existence,” while“those with less power are often aware of its existence” (p. 26).

Ignoring issues of cultural, class and racial difference has not proved an effective strategy. Robinson and Hanna(1994), in discussing the community development work of Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation, describe theFoundation’s “practice of rigidly applying a culture-neutral and color-blind approach,” a strategy that, in retrospect,has been described as “organizers’ myopia” (p. 88). But as staff from the Annie E. Casey Foundation (n.d.) point out,

Unfortunately, there is no single group-work exercise that helps very different people work welltogether to do big things, no magic technique that quickly enables diverse groups to collaborate inmeaningful ways. Instead, we discovered that people who work hard together and in good faith onproblems of enormous importance to the community can provide, in time, the impetus for takingrisks, for talking about things most often not raised directly, and ultimately for building mutualrespect. Further, we learned that a truly diverse array of local stakeholders must be involved early,and that this expectation must be communicated as early and as clearly and consistently as possible.(pp. 4-5)

It is also important to consider the ways in which institutions–and the interpersonal networks that function withinand support them–help to perpetuate differences based on race, culture, and class. New sociological theories andresearch are helping to uncover some of the processes and structures that have led to “the institutionalization of class-and ethnic-based antagonisms” (Stanton-Salazar, 1997, p. 20) and to the reproduction of traditional patterns of powerand social mobility. Issues of diversity are not merely a matter of addressing individual values and beliefs; they remainone of the most difficult and pervasive “deep-structure” issues.

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ConclusionThe literature on collaboration is one indicator of a trend, visible in many aspects of American society, toward whatone writer describes as an “associational world view” (Schwartz, 1992, p. 113), which emphasizes interdependence,community, and “the invisible structure of society beneath the formal structures of which, by common consent, it isbelieved to be composed” (Schwartz, p. 114). Although the difficulties in mobilizing this perspective are substantial,there are a growing number of tools and experiences available to support collaborative efforts.

As is true of any trend, the popularity of collaborative endeavors is both a boon and a hazard. A report by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change (Morse, 1996) notes that “collaboration is what might be called the communityamoxicillin of the 1990s. Not unlike that pink miracle drug given for 90 percent of the earaches of America’s nextgeneration, collaboration is being seen as the panacea for community problem solving.” The biggest challenge in making collaboratives work, as the Pew report concludes, is not in writing a prescription for change–it is in “howto sustain health after a heavy dose” (p. 1). For that challenge, no literature yet exists.

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