Developing instructional expertise through shared leadership: an international collaboration to implement teacher peer excellence groups

Session Submission Type: Group Panel

Description of Session

This group session presents research regarding the implementation and impact of Teacher Peer Excellence Groups (TPEGs), a model widely practiced in high-performing education systems with a focus on building productive communities of practice for teachers (Hallinger & Heck, 2010; Hiebert, Gallimore, & Stigler, 2002; Lee, 2008; OCED, 2010; Yang, 2008; Wang, 2013). The TPEG model builds teams of teachers organized by subject matter or grade levels, deeply engaged in disciplined and structured study and improvement of instruction through de-privatization of practice, collaborative planning, giving and receiving actionable feedback, and holding one another accountable for implementing improvement measures. In Shanghai, this model has succeeded in raising teacher and student performance across the board, as evidenced by the number of disadvantaged students who excel in Shanghai schools despite their background being twice as high as in the United States (OECD, 2010).

Discussions in this group session will include findings drawn from the first two years of TPEG implementation, reported by an international team of researchers from the U.S. and China. An international team of researchers from one U.S. university and one Chinese university provide a program of support to 27 schools and their principals across Tennessee as they developed and implemented two TPEG teams each in their schools, one focusing on math and the other on language arts. The TPEG cycles were rooted in the Tennessee teacher evaluation observation rubric and Common Core standards that served as the basis for teacher peer observations and feedback. The university and district teams also collaboratively developed a set of tools and protocols to support the full spectrum of TPEG activities. Throughout the pilot process, the researchers collected implementation artifacts, individual principal and teacher focus group interviews, and survey data across all school sites. Principals and teachers responded to survey questions around the key TPEG outcomes and enabling conditions in schools.

We outline how the TPEG model is designed to build and sustain a professional knowledge base for teaching by making classroom teaching public, creating shareable artifacts, and incorporating mechanisms for validation of improvement based on expertise (Hiebert, Gallimore, & Stigler, 2002; OECD, 2010; Yang, 2008). We argue that the successful implementation of the TPEG model hinges upon the capacity of school and district leadership capacity to foster communities of practice that support highly effective teaching and learning (Coburn & Russell, 2008; Goldring & Cravens, 2007; Hallinger & Heck, 2010; Louise et al., 1996; Robinson et al., 2008; Stillman, 2011). We differentiate the TPEG model from typical professional learning communities, emphasizing the essential and non-negotiable components of TPEG, which are comprised of iterative cycles with four steps: collaborative lesson planning, peer observation of teaching, peer feedback, and reflection and refinement of practice and work products (lesson plans and associated tools).

Furthermore, this session will highlight the roles of partnerships that cross boundaries between U.S. and international educators, and practitioners and researchers. We will also provide an opportunity to examine how districts and schools can cultivate distributed instructional leadership to develop and support highly effective teaching and learning through implementing Teacher Peer Excellence Groups (TPEGs).

We will present multiple perspectives from international researchers, teachers, and principals who participated in a collaborative partnership between the U.S. university, six school districts across Tennessee, principals in Shanghai, and the Chinese university with one of China’s key national research centers on K-12 education effectiveness. We propose an interactive format with presentations by researchers and practitioners, discussion among the presenters and discussants, and Q&A between the presents and the audience.

Sub Unit

• SIG: Teacher Education and the Teaching Profession

Chair

• Xiu Cravens, Vanderbilt University

Individual Presentations

• Teacher peer excellence groups (TPEGs): building communities of practice for instructional improvement - Xiu Cravens, Vanderbilt University; Timothy Drake, Vanderbilt University

• Supporting principal learning and instructional leadership through TPEGs - Charlotte Munoz, Vanderbilt University

• Developing effective and sustainable communities of teaching practice: a comparative perspective from Shanghai - Jianjun Wang, East China Normal University; Xiaowei Yang, East China Normal University; Jiacheng Li, East China Normal University; Zhongjing Huang, East China Normal University

Discussant

• Paul Fleming, Tennessee Department of Education