Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams

Transforming Schools Through Coherence, Belonging, and Consistency
Dave Nagel - Education Consultant
Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams
March 2026 | 240 pages | Corwin
Create Flyer

Purchase

eBook
ISBN: 9798348832803
Available from January 0001
Paperback
ISBN: 9798348832780
Available from January 0001

Description

Transform your school teams into engines of student growth

Despite significant investment, many schools struggle to translate professional learning efforts into measurable student achievement. The challenge isn't a lack of will but a need for a new approach—one that moves beyond mandated meetings that lack impact to cultivating genuine collaborative expertise.

Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams provides a clear, research-based blueprint for school and district leaders to transform how their teams work together and align efforts and actions to desired goals and outcomes. Drawing on Visible Learning research and proven strategies from high-performing organizations, the authors introduce a framework for designing and sustaining teams that maximizes impact and growth. Are you ready to unlock the full potential of your teams

With this book, you’ll learn to:

  • Determine core essential actions that unite the efforts of all the adults in your school or system
  • Embrace a nine-element framework to foster authentic collaboration, psychological safety, and a shared commitment to student learning
  • Utilize a variety of practical tools, including vignettes, case studies, self-assessments, instruments, and reflection logs, to effectively guide team development and track progress toward shared goals
  • Align professional learning with PLC actions to ensure new knowledge is applied effectively in the classroom, bridging the "knowing doing" gap
  • Strengthen your existing PLC model by integrating strategies that enhance team leadership, cohesion, and a focus on high-impact outcomes

This book offers a powerful blend of insights and strategies that leaders can implement immediately. By investing in the people and practices that matter most, you can create a system of connected classrooms, teams, and structures that lead to lasting success for all students.

Contents

Foreword

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

About the Authors

About the Authors

Part 1. The Breaking Point—And the Blueprint

  • A Tough Truth
  • Urgency in the Teacher Workforce
  • It Goes Deeper
  • Stop Looking Across the Street—Look Inside
  • A Path Forward: What Data Tell Us
  • Systems Thinking and Collaborative Expertise Are Nonnegotiable
  • Chapter 1. The Need for Expertise
  • The Quest for Expertise
  • The Need for Expertise in Teaching
  • Examples of Enhancing Probability
  • The Need to Scale Expertise in Our Schools
  • Chapter 2. Unlocking Potential: Dismantling Barriers to Collaborative Educational Expertise
  • Collaboration: True Potential Catalyst for Driving Collective Expertise
  • It Takes More Than a Model
  • Failed to Live Up to Their Promise
  • Chapter 3. A Model for Developing Collaborative Expertise
  • A Vision for the Future
  • Conclusion

Part 2. Collaborative Expertise Team FrameworkTM for Impact

  • The Nine CETeam Frameworks for Driving Impactful Collaboration
  • Maximizing Impact: The Interdependence of All Nine Frameworks
  • Chapter 4. Framework 1: Relevance to Role
  • Lack of Relevance = Lack of Engagement
  • 2. Align Macro Goals With Micro Actions
  • Example: Empowering Belonging in PLC Settings: Goal to Action Clarity
  • Prioritizing Collaborative Time Spent on Goals
  • Example: Willow Creek Elementary (45-minute weekly PLC)
  • 3. Ensure Transparent Purpose for ALL Aspects of Collaboration
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 5. Framework 2: Tier 1 Professional Learning: Aligning PL?PLCs
  • Expertise Is Built by Professional Learning, Not Training
  • Monitoring Consistency: Staying the Course in Professional Learning
  • Chapter 6. Framework 3: Teams of Significant Impact
  • Build for Impact Not (Just) Convenience
  • The Structure Must Support the Purpose
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 7. Framework 4: Guiding Questions Drive Deep Inquiry
  • Consistency of Your Inquiry Model
  • Digging Deeper into Guiding Questions With a What, Why, How Approach
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 8. Framework 5: Cognitive Diversity, The Power of Thinking Differently—Together
  • Utilizing Cognitive Diversity as a Driver of Team Effectiveness and Impact
  • From Like-Minded to Impact-Minded
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 9. Framework 6: Ensuring Relational Trust and Psychological Safety
  • Culture is What You Do; Climate Is How It Feels
  • Psychological Safety: The Fuel for the Fire
  • Critical Need for Psychological Safety in Schools
  • Trust: The Key That Unlocks Potential
  • Three Types of Trust, With Relational Trust as the North Star
  • Cohesive Commitments Driven by Developing Shared Commitments (Values)
  • Chapter 10. Framework 7: Authentic Norms and Commitments to Drive Effective Collaboration
  • Norms Extend Beyond Education
  • Norms Drive Authentic Adult Engagement
  • Establishing Norms for All Fundamental Aspects of Collaboration
  • Co-Constructing Norms
  • Chapter 11. Framework 8: Team Leadership and Cohesion: The Anchor of Impactful Collaboration
  • Fostering Cohesion: The Role of PLC Leaders in Developing Collaborative Expertise
  • 1. PLC Leaders/Activators Establish and Protect Strategic Focus
  • 2. PLC Leaders/Activators Ensure a Businesslike and Mature Approach for Collaboration
  • 3. PLC Leaders/Activators Support Team in Clarifying Roles and Maintaining Accountability
  • 4. Capitalize on Strengths to Maximize Collective Expertise
  • 5. Designing Purposeful PLC Work Through Consistent Use Routines, Protocols, and Adaptive Action
  • Systemizing Team Collaboration for Maximum Impact
  • Chapter 12. Framework 9: Scaling Success: How to Expand Collaborative Expertise Across Your School
  • Scaling Success in Schools: Five Drivers of Scalable Impact
  • Driver 1: Clarifying Core Practices—Monitoring What Matters Most
  • Quick Summary
  • Driver 2: Create Conditions for Endurance and Driver 3: Streamline for Replication
  • Driver 4: Empower Ownership and Driver 5: Embrace Adaptive Growth
  • Putting It All Together—Scaling for Success
  • Avoiding Regression—Working Through the PIT
  • Conclusion: Scaling Success Is the Work
  • Chapter 13. A Call to Action, the Courage to Transform Schools
  • Embracing Strategic Coherence
  • Cultivating Belonging Through Empowerment
  • Ensuring Consistency of Action
  • Leveraging Collaborative Expertise
  • The Courageous Path Forward
  • References
  • Index

Description

Transform your school teams into engines of student growth

Despite significant investment, many schools struggle to translate professional learning efforts into measurable student achievement. The challenge isn't a lack of will but a need for a new approach—one that moves beyond mandated meetings that lack impact to cultivating genuine collaborative expertise.

Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams provides a clear, research-based blueprint for school and district leaders to transform how their teams work together and align efforts and actions to desired goals and outcomes. Drawing on Visible Learning research and proven strategies from high-performing organizations, the authors introduce a framework for designing and sustaining teams that maximizes impact and growth. Are you ready to unlock the full potential of your teams

With this book, you’ll learn to:

  • Determine core essential actions that unite the efforts of all the adults in your school or system
  • Embrace a nine-element framework to foster authentic collaboration, psychological safety, and a shared commitment to student learning
  • Utilize a variety of practical tools, including vignettes, case studies, self-assessments, instruments, and reflection logs, to effectively guide team development and track progress toward shared goals
  • Align professional learning with PLC actions to ensure new knowledge is applied effectively in the classroom, bridging the "knowing doing" gap
  • Strengthen your existing PLC model by integrating strategies that enhance team leadership, cohesion, and a focus on high-impact outcomes

This book offers a powerful blend of insights and strategies that leaders can implement immediately. By investing in the people and practices that matter most, you can create a system of connected classrooms, teams, and structures that lead to lasting success for all students.

Contents

Foreword

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

About the Authors

About the Authors

Part 1. The Breaking Point—And the Blueprint

  • A Tough Truth
  • Urgency in the Teacher Workforce
  • It Goes Deeper
  • Stop Looking Across the Street—Look Inside
  • A Path Forward: What Data Tell Us
  • Systems Thinking and Collaborative Expertise Are Nonnegotiable
  • Chapter 1. The Need for Expertise
  • The Quest for Expertise
  • The Need for Expertise in Teaching
  • Examples of Enhancing Probability
  • The Need to Scale Expertise in Our Schools
  • Chapter 2. Unlocking Potential: Dismantling Barriers to Collaborative Educational Expertise
  • Collaboration: True Potential Catalyst for Driving Collective Expertise
  • It Takes More Than a Model
  • Failed to Live Up to Their Promise
  • Chapter 3. A Model for Developing Collaborative Expertise
  • A Vision for the Future
  • Conclusion

Part 2. Collaborative Expertise Team FrameworkTM for Impact

  • The Nine CETeam Frameworks for Driving Impactful Collaboration
  • Maximizing Impact: The Interdependence of All Nine Frameworks
  • Chapter 4. Framework 1: Relevance to Role
  • Lack of Relevance = Lack of Engagement
  • 2. Align Macro Goals With Micro Actions
  • Example: Empowering Belonging in PLC Settings: Goal to Action Clarity
  • Prioritizing Collaborative Time Spent on Goals
  • Example: Willow Creek Elementary (45-minute weekly PLC)
  • 3. Ensure Transparent Purpose for ALL Aspects of Collaboration
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 5. Framework 2: Tier 1 Professional Learning: Aligning PL?PLCs
  • Expertise Is Built by Professional Learning, Not Training
  • Monitoring Consistency: Staying the Course in Professional Learning
  • Chapter 6. Framework 3: Teams of Significant Impact
  • Build for Impact Not (Just) Convenience
  • The Structure Must Support the Purpose
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 7. Framework 4: Guiding Questions Drive Deep Inquiry
  • Consistency of Your Inquiry Model
  • Digging Deeper into Guiding Questions With a What, Why, How Approach
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 8. Framework 5: Cognitive Diversity, The Power of Thinking Differently—Together
  • Utilizing Cognitive Diversity as a Driver of Team Effectiveness and Impact
  • From Like-Minded to Impact-Minded
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 9. Framework 6: Ensuring Relational Trust and Psychological Safety
  • Culture is What You Do; Climate Is How It Feels
  • Psychological Safety: The Fuel for the Fire
  • Critical Need for Psychological Safety in Schools
  • Trust: The Key That Unlocks Potential
  • Three Types of Trust, With Relational Trust as the North Star
  • Cohesive Commitments Driven by Developing Shared Commitments (Values)
  • Chapter 10. Framework 7: Authentic Norms and Commitments to Drive Effective Collaboration
  • Norms Extend Beyond Education
  • Norms Drive Authentic Adult Engagement
  • Establishing Norms for All Fundamental Aspects of Collaboration
  • Co-Constructing Norms
  • Chapter 11. Framework 8: Team Leadership and Cohesion: The Anchor of Impactful Collaboration
  • Fostering Cohesion: The Role of PLC Leaders in Developing Collaborative Expertise
  • 1. PLC Leaders/Activators Establish and Protect Strategic Focus
  • 2. PLC Leaders/Activators Ensure a Businesslike and Mature Approach for Collaboration
  • 3. PLC Leaders/Activators Support Team in Clarifying Roles and Maintaining Accountability
  • 4. Capitalize on Strengths to Maximize Collective Expertise
  • 5. Designing Purposeful PLC Work Through Consistent Use Routines, Protocols, and Adaptive Action
  • Systemizing Team Collaboration for Maximum Impact
  • Chapter 12. Framework 9: Scaling Success: How to Expand Collaborative Expertise Across Your School
  • Scaling Success in Schools: Five Drivers of Scalable Impact
  • Driver 1: Clarifying Core Practices—Monitoring What Matters Most
  • Quick Summary
  • Driver 2: Create Conditions for Endurance and Driver 3: Streamline for Replication
  • Driver 4: Empower Ownership and Driver 5: Embrace Adaptive Growth
  • Putting It All Together—Scaling for Success
  • Avoiding Regression—Working Through the PIT
  • Conclusion: Scaling Success Is the Work
  • Chapter 13. A Call to Action, the Courage to Transform Schools
  • Embracing Strategic Coherence
  • Cultivating Belonging Through Empowerment
  • Ensuring Consistency of Action
  • Leveraging Collaborative Expertise
  • The Courageous Path Forward
  • References
  • Index
SAGE Publishing Logo

Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams

Transforming Schools Through Coherence, Belonging, and Consistency


March 2026 | 240 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 23/05/2025 9798348832780 $34.95
Lifetime 08/06/2025 9798348832803 $31.00

Transform your school teams into engines of student growth

Despite significant investment, many schools struggle to translate professional learning efforts into measurable student achievement. The challenge isn't a lack of will but a need for a new approach—one that moves beyond mandated meetings that lack impact to cultivating genuine collaborative expertise.

Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams provides a clear, research-based blueprint for school and district leaders to transform how their teams work together and align efforts and actions to desired goals and outcomes. Drawing on Visible Learning research and proven strategies from high-performing organizations, the authors introduce a framework for designing and sustaining teams that maximizes impact and growth. Are you ready to unlock the full potential of your teams

With this book, you’ll learn to:

  • Determine core essential actions that unite the efforts of all the adults in your school or system
  • Embrace a nine-element framework to foster authentic collaboration, psychological safety, and a shared commitment to student learning
  • Utilize a variety of practical tools, including vignettes, case studies, self-assessments, instruments, and reflection logs, to effectively guide team development and track progress toward shared goals
  • Align professional learning with PLC actions to ensure new knowledge is applied effectively in the classroom, bridging the "knowing doing" gap
  • Strengthen your existing PLC model by integrating strategies that enhance team leadership, cohesion, and a focus on high-impact outcomes

This book offers a powerful blend of insights and strategies that leaders can implement immediately. By investing in the people and practices that matter most, you can create a system of connected classrooms, teams, and structures that lead to lasting success for all students.


Table Of Contents:

  • Foreword
  • Acknowledgments
  • Publisher’s Acknowledgments
  • About the Authors
  • Part 1. The Breaking Point—And the Blueprint
  • A Tough Truth
  • Urgency in the Teacher Workforce
  • It Goes Deeper
  • Stop Looking Across the Street—Look Inside
  • A Path Forward: What Data Tell Us
  • Systems Thinking and Collaborative Expertise Are Nonnegotiable
  • Chapter 1. The Need for Expertise
  • The Quest for Expertise
  • The Need for Expertise in Teaching
  • Examples of Enhancing Probability
  • The Need to Scale Expertise in Our Schools
  • Chapter 2. Unlocking Potential: Dismantling Barriers to Collaborative Educational Expertise
  • Collaboration: True Potential Catalyst for Driving Collective Expertise
  • It Takes More Than a Model
  • Failed to Live Up to Their Promise
  • Chapter 3. A Model for Developing Collaborative Expertise
  • A Vision for the Future
  • Conclusion
  • Part 2. Collaborative Expertise Team FrameworkTM for Impact
  • The Nine CETeam Frameworks for Driving Impactful Collaboration
  • Maximizing Impact: The Interdependence of All Nine Frameworks
  • Chapter 4. Framework 1: Relevance to Role
  • Lack of Relevance = Lack of Engagement
  • 2. Align Macro Goals With Micro Actions
  • Example: Empowering Belonging in PLC Settings: Goal to Action Clarity
  • Prioritizing Collaborative Time Spent on Goals
  • Example: Willow Creek Elementary (45-minute weekly PLC)
  • 3. Ensure Transparent Purpose for ALL Aspects of Collaboration
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 5. Framework 2: Tier 1 Professional Learning: Aligning PL?PLCs
  • Expertise Is Built by Professional Learning, Not Training
  • Monitoring Consistency: Staying the Course in Professional Learning
  • Chapter 6. Framework 3: Teams of Significant Impact
  • Build for Impact Not (Just) Convenience
  • The Structure Must Support the Purpose
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 7. Framework 4: Guiding Questions Drive Deep Inquiry
  • Consistency of Your Inquiry Model
  • Digging Deeper into Guiding Questions With a What, Why, How Approach
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 8. Framework 5: Cognitive Diversity, The Power of Thinking Differently—Together
  • Utilizing Cognitive Diversity as a Driver of Team Effectiveness and Impact
  • From Like-Minded to Impact-Minded
  • Conclusion
  • Chapter 9. Framework 6: Ensuring Relational Trust and Psychological Safety
  • Culture is What You Do; Climate Is How It Feels
  • Psychological Safety: The Fuel for the Fire
  • Critical Need for Psychological Safety in Schools
  • Trust: The Key That Unlocks Potential
  • Three Types of Trust, With Relational Trust as the North Star
  • Cohesive Commitments Driven by Developing Shared Commitments (Values)
  • Chapter 10. Framework 7: Authentic Norms and Commitments to Drive Effective Collaboration
  • Norms Extend Beyond Education
  • Norms Drive Authentic Adult Engagement
  • Establishing Norms for All Fundamental Aspects of Collaboration
  • Co-Constructing Norms
  • Chapter 11. Framework 8: Team Leadership and Cohesion: The Anchor of Impactful Collaboration
  • Fostering Cohesion: The Role of PLC Leaders in Developing Collaborative Expertise
  • 1. PLC Leaders/Activators Establish and Protect Strategic Focus
  • 2. PLC Leaders/Activators Ensure a Businesslike and Mature Approach for Collaboration
  • 3. PLC Leaders/Activators Support Team in Clarifying Roles and Maintaining Accountability
  • 4. Capitalize on Strengths to Maximize Collective Expertise
  • 5. Designing Purposeful PLC Work Through Consistent Use Routines, Protocols, and Adaptive Action
  • Systemizing Team Collaboration for Maximum Impact
  • Chapter 12. Framework 9: Scaling Success: How to Expand Collaborative Expertise Across Your School
  • Scaling Success in Schools: Five Drivers of Scalable Impact
  • Driver 1: Clarifying Core Practices—Monitoring What Matters Most
  • Quick Summary
  • Driver 2: Create Conditions for Endurance and Driver 3: Streamline for Replication
  • Driver 4: Empower Ownership and Driver 5: Embrace Adaptive Growth
  • Putting It All Together—Scaling for Success
  • Avoiding Regression—Working Through the PIT
  • Conclusion: Scaling Success Is the Work
  • Chapter 13. A Call to Action, the Courage to Transform Schools
  • Embracing Strategic Coherence
  • Cultivating Belonging Through Empowerment
  • Ensuring Consistency of Action
  • Leveraging Collaborative Expertise
  • The Courageous Path Forward
  • References
  • Index

Recent Product Reviews:

"As an educator, I found this book to be an honest and insightful reflection on the challenges teachers face in today’s classrooms. The author skillfully highlights real issues within the U.S. education system and offers thoughtful, practical strategies to address them. A valuable contribution to the ongoing dialogue about improving teaching and learning."
Subuhi Owais, Academic Coordinator, Pakistan Air Force Women's Association (PAFWA) Education System
"Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams is a must read for any leader who struggles with obtaining impactful results from their teams. The book provides a very specific roadmap for that leader to take their teams to higher levels of learning and effectiveness, thus positively impacting the culture of the school."
Vince Naccarato, Principal, USD 309, Kansas
"Clear, accessible, and grounded in practice, Developing Collaborative Expertise Teams offers school leaders and teacher teams practical guidance for building authentic collaborative learning cultures. With vivid vignettes and useful tools, it is an indispensable resource for transforming school communities."
Jameelah R. Wright, Assistant Professor, William Paterson University, New Jersey
"This book offers a powerful blend of research-based insights and practical strategies that leaders can implement immediately. It delivers tremendous value with actionable examples, clear frameworks, and tools that support real collaboration. From fostering shared language of learning to addressing implementation gaps as systemic opportunities, this resource equips school and district leaders with the clarity and structure needed to strengthen teams and student outcomes."
Saundra Mouton, Leadership Development Consultant, Fort Bend Independent School District, TX
"A timely, research-driven roadmap for building collective expertise that transforms teaching teams into engines of student growth."
Alexander Roberts, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Bering Strait School District, Alaska

Recommendations