COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY

WHAT:  Collaborative inquiry is a structured, team-based process to investigate and improve school systems, procedures, pedagogical practices, and student learning. In a school setting, collaborative inquiry involves teachers, administrators, and other educational staff working together to identify a specific area for improvement, examine data, and implement strategies to enhance student outcomes. This process is grounded in ideation and reflection, which help team members build shared knowledge, challenge assumptions, and refine their practices based on evidence.

WHY:  Collaborative inquiry is effective because it fosters a culture of collective efficacy and agency through shared learning experiences and collective responsibility. When teams can engage in open dialogue, examine evidence (data) together, and identify areas for improvement, it builds trust and strengthens relationships among team members, which leads to a more cohesive school community. Ultimately, it enhances student outcomes by ensuring educators are aligned and equipped to address students’ diverse learning needs.

HOW: Steps for Collaborative Inquiry

1. Empathize: Do we know our students?

•  Who’s voices are not being heard? Who/what needs attention?  Research and understand the needs of your students. What is lacking? 

1. • Synthesize the insights from the evidence to capture the core issues/needs connected to F.O.T

2. Define a Puzzle of Practice (P.O.P)

   • Create baseline statements using your school data snapshot/evidence

   • Articulate a puzzle of practice you want to solve.

   • With regard to the experience of belonging and equitable experiences and outcomes, what are the signs of hope (assets) currently exist?

3. Ideate Solutions for Change

   • Create ideas and challenge assumptions to strengthen support.

   •  If there were no barriers and no limits what would you imagine school to look like? Imagine the possibilities.

   • What models currently exist that you can strengthen?

4. Design a theory of action and a plan to test and collect evidence

   • Transform your ideas into tangible solutions. 

   • Articulate a realistic theory of action connected to solving the puzzle of practice.

   • Determine what expertise already resides in the school community. 

   • How will we know our impact? What types of evidence should be collected to tell you what to continue, stop, or refine? 

5. Action- Prioritize steps to take first.

   • Determine action steps the team can take to support their theory of action and inquiry. Co-construct a timeline for implementation.

   • Discuss next steps for learning (TCC options)

FRESHMAN ON-TRACK 

Freshman On-Track is a metric, originally developed by the University of Chicago, to predict high school graduation success. The University Consortium considers students “on-track” if they earn at least five full-year course credits and no more than one semester F in a core course during their 9th-grade year.  Research revealed that “students who are on-track are three-and-a-half times more likely to graduate than those who are off-track” (Allensworth and Easton, 2005).

Emily Krone Phillips, the author of The Make-Or-Break Year, reports that Freshmen On-Track is more predictive of graduation than any other background characteristics, including test scores, socioeconomics, race, and the neighborhood within which a student resides. To this end, the 9th grade year is referred to by researchers as the “make-or-break year” (Phillips, 2019).

By tracking and monitoring the success of 9th graders, schools can provide early intervention and targeted support to students in danger of falling off track. Such support and intervention increase a student’s likelihood of graduating high school (Allensworth and Easton, 2005; Phillips, 2019).  

The success story of Chicago Public Schools best exemplifies this. Under Arne Duncan’s superintendency from 2001-2009, Freshman On-Track was put on the district’s accountability framework. As a result, schools formed collaborative teams to track the progress of their 9th graders. These teams met periodically to analyze data related to being on track (grades, attendance, discipline, participation in extra-curricular activities, etc.) and to determine responsive action. Not only did they remedy the root cause(s) of the struggle for ninth graders off track or almost off track, but they also created ways to sustain the successes other freshmen were experiencing. 

The Chicago Public School District witnessed remarkable growth with their freshman on track and graduation rates. Emily Krone Phillips reported in an interview with Frederick Hess,

“Freshman On-Track rates have increased in the district from 65 percent in the 2008-09 school year to 89 percent in the 2017-18 school year. Graduation rates have risen apace, reaching an all-time high of 76 percent in 2018. For many years in CPS, students were as likely to drop out as to graduate. Now they are three times more likely to graduate” (Education Next, 2019).

Such growth was only possible because school-based teams achieved their shared purpose by meeting regularly, utilizing protocols and processes to analyze data, and relying on research, success studies, and their professional expertise to determine next steps.