Collective teacher efficacy, when a staff of teachers believe that together they can inspire growth and change in their students, has the greatest impact on student achievement—even higher than factors like teacher-student relationships, home environment, or parental involvement (John Hattie). Collective teacher efficacy is unlikely to develop without a leadership plan for creating the environment […]

In this week’s episode of the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast, Steve ponders “Team or Franchise?” Listen as Steve ponders the continuum of teachers working as individuals to teachers working as teams to teachers working as franchises. Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or visit BarkleyPD.com to find new […]

A blog on the Gates’ Foundation website explores 4 Ways that Leadership Teams Create Conditions for Success in Schools.  Here are the four with some of my thoughts and observations: #1 Strong leadership teams enable teachers to work with their peers and focus on improvement rather than evaluation I have written and spoken often about the […]

In the third episode of the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast, Steve ponders “Warm Demanders.” Listen as Steve examines the work of Judith Kleinfeld, who observed teachers who were having the greatest success in producing student learning and labeled them “warm demanders.” Subscribe to the Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast on iTunes or […]

Podcast Episode 1: The Importance of a Collaborative School Culture We are excited to announce the first episode of the new Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud podcast, now available for free through the iTunes Store. In the first episode, Steve ponders “The Importance of a Collaborative School Culture.” In each episode of the Ponders Out […]

I read with great interest a white paper titled, Skills for Today: What We Know about Teaching and Assessing Collaboration.   As a teacher in the 70’s, I approached many lesson designs, grouping my students for cooperative learning.  I did all my teaching during those years as a member of teaching teams which reinforced my beliefs […]