Organizing Schools for Collaborative Learning: School Leadership and Teachers’ Engagement in Collaboration

Abstract

Purpose: Collaborative workgroups can be particularly fruitful sites for teachers to learn and improve. Prior research has illustrated how teachers' engagement in collaboration differs across school contexts. However, this research offers little guidance for leaders hoping to encourage collaborative learning among teachers in their school. Research Methods: Using survey and administrative data from teachers across Tennessee, this study examines the extent to which teachers in a large statewide sample (N = 9889) report engaging in collaborative learning opportunities and how these opportunities are distributed across and within schools. Using a series of multilevel models, I examine whether organizational conditions of schools influenced by school leaders are associated with the teacher-reported frequency and helpfulness of collaborative learning opportunities. Findings: I find significant variation in frequency across context (e.g., school level, geographic context, district size) and find that collaborative planning time consistently predicts how often teachers collaborate. Once accounting for frequency, teachers rate their collaboration as more helpful in schools with higher ratings of the professional climate/leadership and lower ratings of administrative oversight over collaboration. These relationships vary somewhat across contexts, with stronger negative relationships between oversight and helpfulness in schools with weak professional climates and large schools. Implications: Leaders should consider how to structure their schedules to allow for regular collaboration during the school day but should be cautious in mandating how teachers spend large portions of this collaborative time without shared decision-making with teachers.