In late January, Impact Florida held its third Districts for Impact Learning Walk in Collier County, bringing together leaders from our five participating Florida districts.
Our visit gave Collier County Public Schools a chance to share its Data Dialogue Process, which leverages data for continuous improvement – one of Impact Florida’s Five Conditions That Support Great Teaching. Collier Superintendent Dr. Kamela Patton first introduced the initiative in 2011 to help transition school principals from operational leaders to instructional leaders. The concept was birthed from Dr. Patton’s time in Miami as an Assistant Superintendent utilizing a similar process.
The process has supported the district to create a Professional Learning Community (PLC) culture beyond school walls, support data analysis and action to impact instructional practices at the classroom level, and focus on factors beyond academics to address the “whole child.” The process also acknowledges the importance of all staff roles – including administrators and instructional and non-instructional staff – and their impact on student outcomes. This evolution of the data dialogue process over the past nine years is a testament to the districts’ commitment to leveraging data for continuous improvement.
Connecting the Dots
While data-driven continuous improvement is not a new concept for our cadre leaders, the Collier County Public Schools learning walk focusing on that district’s data dialogue process was an eye-opening experience for many. Participants expressed how the experience overlapped with aspects of their own continuous improvement practices, including opportunities for adjustment based on what they experienced during the Collier learning walk.
Beyond Districts for Impact
But the learning does not stop there. Collier County Public Schools was so inspired by their participation and learnings from the District for Impact work that they have launched their own version of the protocol, Schools for Instructional Impact, at the school level, in partnership with Champions for Learning, their local education foundation.
The work is funded by a grant from the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations and will be piloted at four elementary schools, with the aim of increasing the instructional impact of teachers. School leaders, instructional coaches, and resource teachers are visiting each other’s schools to examine instructional practices using the same shared consultancy model as Districts for Impact. This project will be highlighted at an upcoming community roundtable hosted by Champions for Learning, and learnings from the pilot will be utilized to scale instructional impact across the district.
Learnings from Collier County will be captured and shared across the state in a “Case for Impact” in the coming months. The next Districts for Impact Learning Walk will take place at the School District of Palm Beach County in February.
You can also learn more about the learning walks at impactfl.org/districts-for-impact.