Everyone Needs 'Critical Friends'
Effort at Tucson's Catalina Foothills High School is redefining teacher professional developmentExcerpted from AEA Advocate,December 1998
Arizona Education AssociationIt's early Wednesday morning and 36 staff members at Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson are preparing for--act*0
Usually looking forward to--their two hour meeting before school begins on this "late start" day. Why? Because they are part of a new professional development reform movement know as Critical Friends Groups (CFG).
Once per month these staff members--teachers, administrators, the librarian and a counselor--come together as three groups of 12 to help each other think about better teaching practices, look closely at curriculum and student work, and even identify school culture issues that affect student achievement. Each group collaboratively decides topics to explore, including teaching strategies, instructional skills and assessing student work. They also have regular opportunities to observe their peers in action. Each group is led by a staff member and Critical Friends "coach"--trained by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform--who works with a group to facilitate the learning. This particular morning, three different learnings are happening in the three different groups.
Special education teacher Patty Chandler is leading her group in a critical incidents protocol. One of her colleagues has asked to present a problem to the group that he's having with an assignment he gave his students. His question to the group: "Why didn't my students do better?" Over the two hours, the group members will gently question him about his students' disappointing performance and offer suggestions. He then will have a chance to reflect on what he has heard.
American Studies teacher JoAnn Groh is leading her group in an intense discussion about how to make students independent thinkers. This month, she gave her group members articles from professional journals like Education Week and reports from Phi Delta Kappa that relate to the topic. The group members are all interested in what the research says, and during the two hour meeting, discuss ways they can take the research and apply it to their own work with children.
World Humanities teacher Carrie Brennan is facilitating conversations between pairs of group members who are spending some time "debriefing" about their monthly visits to each other's classroom. The pairs are offering each other feedback in a safe and encouraging environment.
Why are these Critical Friends Groups paying off for those involved? "Because the idea of allowing staff members to have school time for professional development is essential to school success," says Groh. "Research suggests over and over that schools with healthy learning communities--where the teachers dialogue with each other and spend time learning what's working and what's not--have higher student success rates.
"But getting teachers to share their work publicly is no easy task. "We're asking people to really violate the norms they've lived with their whole lives," says Faith Dunne, a principal associate at the Annenberg Institute, who helped design the Critical Friends program. "Teachers lead such incredibly isolated lives, and one of the norms of schools is that, in exchange for being in isolation, you get total privacy and nobody ever knows what you're doing."
Patty Chandler, whose group just started this year, agrees. "It's a risk throwing yourself, your work, your students' work in the ring in front of these group members. It makes you incredibly vulnerable at first," she says. "But with each meeting, the trust level among the group members gets stronger. They start realizing that they have people to turn to for advice, help, even just to talk. It sure beats isolation."
The word has spread to other staff members at the school. Right now, there is a waiting list to take part in a Critical Friends Group but since no group can be larger than 12 participants, another staff member will have to be trained as a coach before they can start a fourth group this fall.
"The beauty of Critical Friends--at least at our school--is the fact that the faculty and administrators, even our community, are realizing that professional development must be more teacher driven in order to work," says Brennan. "Our principal, as well as the assistant superintendent and superintendent of the district, have been extremely supportive in giving us school time to take part in these groups. What that says to us is that they realize being a teacher is more than just standing in front of a group of kids teaching all day. Yet that is the common misperception.
"Being a lawyer doesn't mean standing in front of a judge and jury all day. They get time to research their cases, consult with other lawyers, strategize their moves. What makes teachers any different? Collaborative time for teachers means better teaching and, therefore, increased student learning."
The Annenberg Institute, who launched the Critical Friends Group concept in 1995 as the core piece in the National School Reform movement, believes in order for a CFG to start up, a group member must first be trained by the Institute. Groh and Brennan spent three days training staff from both Florence High School and Cholla High School last summer and are planning to help other schools this summer. They've also held workshops for other schools in their own district.
"I'm just amazed a the success of the CFGs and the support we've received," says Chandler. "We're actually taking time to sit down and help each other succeed as teachers. It is wonderful."
NEA's foundation, the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE), has supported the CFG effort at Catalina Foothills High School with grant money and recognition over the last several years. Earlier this year, Brennan received a leadership grant from the Foundation, and Groh was awarded the Hilda Maehling Memorial Award--which recognized the CFG program as one of the top professional development activities for enhancing the academic skills of faculty at the high school.
In addition, NFIE announced mid-November that Catalina Foothills High School will receive funding to improve and support the teacher professional development program at the school even more. The high school, along with the Catalina Foothills Education Association and district, will work together to explore innovations that give teachers the time to learn on the job. Teachers will also use community-wide forums to involve the larger community in the conversation about professional development and student achievement.
Brennan is thankful for the support from the Association and believes all of the hard work it has taken to start the groups and influence professional development at her school is finally paying off. "My group members can definitely point to important changes in their work and their students' learning that stem directly from their interactions with our Critical Friends Group," she says. "More important is that there now seems to be a real sense of support and community at our school.
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