Distributed Leadership at Gauger-Cobbs Middle School
Gauger-Cobbs Middle School in the Christina School District has spent the last two years building a distributed leadership structure that brings teachers and administration together to better address the needs of their school and their students. Teachers and administrators at the school were looking for an innovative way to improve student achievement, enhance the climate and culture of their school, and increase family and community engagement. To accomplish all this, they knew that the traditional top-down leadership structure of the school was not going to work, and that they needed to work together to create an environment where instructional leadership is everyone's responsibility. Together they have come up with creative uses of time and resources that have transformed how their school operates, improved student achievement, and realized growth in their Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) scores.
How does it work?
- Building on research that connects teacher leadership to school improvement by Dr. Joseph Murphy at Vanderbilt University, the staff at Gauger-Cobbs has been working together to develop initiatives that focus on meeting their goals without adding too much to anyone’s plate.
- Distributed leadership works by putting the responsibility of school success on the shoulders of the entire school community, not just the traditional leadership. To do this, Gauger-Cobbs invested a significant amount of time in creating truly effective teacher collaborations. They worked with their master schedule to allocate time for subject matter teams to meet regularly, established protocols to help these teams work together effectively, and spent time on team building and celebrating teacher leadership. All teachers were required to serve on an action team, charged with identifying and implementing programs and initiatives that would help the school meet its goals.
- Using this time, teachers were given the leadership to design professional development that meets their needs. They also established a system of peer visits so teachers throughout the school could learn from what other teachers are doing. Teams of teachers' videotape their meetings to evaluate how they are working together to improve their collaborative efforts and to provide a learning tool for the rest of the staff. Along with changes to their own practice, they also brought a number of programs into the schools that are designed to help students succeed. They instituted Positive Behavior Supports, Knowledge First and the AVID program.
What are the results?
- With more time to collaborate, teachers at Gauger-Cobbs have been able to focus their work on increasing student achievement. By reevaluating professional development and programs in the school, they are able to focus their work on the interventions that will make the greatest impact on student achievement and school culture. For example, they implemented student behavior controls to help make classrooms more manageable. The leadership teams have built in more time for teachers to collaborate, focus on student needs and learn from each other. Teachers meet as interdisciplinary teams and as grade level content teams to give them an opportunity to plan lessons and align the work they are doing with other work in which students are engaged.
How does Vision 2015 address Distributed Leadership?
Vision 2015 recommends:
- Create a more professional environment by including relevant professional development opportunities for teachers
- Provide an opportunity for teachers to work with colleagues
- Increase in-classroom coaching and mentoring
- Create incentives and supports for schools to help new teachers succeed: realistic course loads, class sizes and assignments
- Create incentives and supports for schools to help new teachers succeed: realistic course loads, class sizes and assignments
This fall, the first cohort of districts and schools will participate in the Vision Network, a public-private initiative to implement recommendations of the Vision 2015 plan. Distributed leadership models and staff development opportunities will be explored as part of the intensive training that each district's and school's leadership teams will receive.
Where can I learn more?
Learn about the work of Dr. Joseph Murphy on Teacher Leadership
Visit Gauger-Cobbs' website for more school information
