Collaboration Rubric: Assessment and Staff Development Tool

Introduction

Based on Friend & Cook’s model of components of collaboration, in 2005 the ELL department developed a “Collaboration Rubric” to guide and assess teacher, school, and district implementation of collaboration.  The information on the rubric provides a comprehensive description of the instructional practices and school-level structures that are necessary for successful collaboration.  It is available in a bulleted format, as “Guidelines for Collaboration” or in a survey format for use as an assessment tool.
At present, the rubric addresses items related to "school-level factors” and "instructional-level factors” (see Components of Collaboration graphic).  Additional components may be added in the future.  The complete rubric is included in Appendix A.
Intended Uses for Rubric
The collaboration rubric is intended for use in several ways:

• By all SPPS staff as a guide to the components of effective collaborative programs;
• By teachers and principals as a tool for assessing collaboration, setting goals for continued improvement, and guiding professional development plans;
• By the ELL department as a tool for assessing district-wide progress toward collaborative ELL services in the district-wide initiatives of reader's, writer's, and math workshop;
• By school leadership teams in the spring SCIP planning process; and
• By School Quality Review teams as a guide for when reviewing ELL services.

District-Wide Collaboration “Data”

During the 2005-06 school year, elementary teachers and principals were asked to complete the collaboration rubric as a survey to report on the status of collaboration in their schools.  The completed results will be used by each school and by the district as a whole.  In schools, ELL department staff will present the data and work with school leadership to create a plan for ongoing professional development, district support, and school-level structural changes that will improve and sustain collaboration.  At the district level, the data will be used to determine how to support schools’ progress toward effective collaborative instruction.  

Note:  Collaboration survey data will not be used in the evaluation of individual teachers’ or principals’ performance and will never be included in personnel or other job-related records.