In the article “Building Collaborative Cultures,” Kent Peterson describes the skills necessary to promote collaborative leadership. Principal Janette Snelling exemplified these skills in her time at Kohala High School. This essay will discuss the ways in which Principal Snelling diagnosed the organization, dealt with the collaborative process, planned, organized, and scheduled time for collaborative work, and built skill and confidence in staff members.
When undertaking a change initiative, it is important to diagnose the existing educational challenges. To that end, Principal Snelling engaged the staff in a collaborative examination of student data. Data showed that students were not performing well on state assessments. The staff realized …show more content…
Shifting practices in such a dramatic way requires a high degree of collaboration, and Principal Snelling took steps to manage this collaborative process. First, she made sure that staff members maintained a clear focus, by developing a shared goal: to ensure that students possessed the skills, stamina, and desire to achieve success in their chosen career paths. Actions could then be checked against this goal. Principal Snelling also managed conflicts as they arose. Some teachers were resistant to change. At the end of quarter one, she asked teachers for feedback on their challenges so far. The commonalities in their responses guided Principal Snelling’s actions to address this resistance. Principal Snelling also demonstrated leadership skill in planning, organizing, and scheduling time for collaboration. Collaborative work is best accomplished in small groups, and it would be impossible to manage these groups alone. Principal Snelling utilized existing structures on campus, including professional learning communities, the academic review team, and data teams, and re-aligned them to the common purpose of implementing standards based grading. Tapping teacher leaders in each group would be critical to the successful implementation of this change