This article lays out a new and inspiring view of what a regional education collaborative can accomplish or what its members can ask it to accomplish for the improvement of instruction.  A collaborative can push beyond the traditional role of service provider to special education students and broker of professional development services. It can orchestrate sustainable improvement for its clients in critical areas of instruction.

The instructional practices under study were academic talk structures and teacher skills to maximize student talk and intellectual safety. The constellation of skills studied was crafted to make student engagement universal through teacher moves that produce productive struggle with higher-level thinking and at the same time a low-risk, supportive climate. The course was a rigorous online program with individual coaching called Making Students’ Thinking Visible hosted by Research for Better Teaching (RBT). What gave the course sustainable power was the role of the three collaboratives.

Regional collaboratives of school districts exist all across the United States. Sometimes their primary purpose is to provide special education services that small districts cannot fund on their own. Sometimes they serve as a broker for providing professional development services their districts request. They go by various names in different parts of the country. Readers may be familiar with collaboratives like BOCES (Board of Cooperative Education Services) in New York State, or the ESDs (Education Service Districts) in Oregon. Ohio’s State Support Teams and Educational Service Centers are two such collaboratives across the state of Ohio. This article is about three regional collaboratives that went beyond service to their client districts and became leaders for sustained improvement of teaching.

This is the story of the partnership of State Support Team Region 9 (SST9), Stark County Educational Service Center (Stark ESC), and the Stark Education Partnership (SEP). Teresa Purses (SEP), Candi Hazelwood (SST9), Julie Weyandt (SST9), and Tom Nunziato (Stark ESC), in collaboration with the school leaders, served as wise change agents to their client districts by applying high caliber wisdom about sustainability to professional learning.  

SST9, Stark ESC, and SEP support and overlap many of the same districts. Their overlapping districts represent urban, suburban and rural communities serving over 80,000 students. SST9’s charter set by the State of Ohio covers over 30 public and community schools based on differentiated accountability status. The Stark County ESC is organized geographically around 22 public school districts and 1 career center. The Stark Education Partnership is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in Stark County, Ohio. They serve as a catalyst, engaging and collaborating with education, business, civic and community stakeholders to drive sustainable improvement and innovation. This partnership is unique in the state of Ohio as the three collaboratives work together in many facets of school improvement.

First, with district and building team structures in place, participants in the course were invited to take the course as a team that included an administrator, general educator and special educator. Teams signed up to be part of a cohort with the course running each year from October to March. Running the course as a cohort provided opportunities for coaching, networking, and additional professional development. Educators in each cohort had an opportunity to network and problem solve together because they were brought together by the leaders of the collaborative.

Second, it was essential for participants to view the MSTV operating principles in action. RBT recommended a visit to Revere High School in Massachusetts. This blue collar urban high school had a multi-year focus on the implementation of MSTV principles and integrated the skills in all subject areas. Teresa Purses, President (now former) of the Stark Education Partnership secured a Timken Grant to fund the visit that included individuals from eight districts and consultants from SST9 and Stark ESC. Revere High School had a track record of successful implementation school-wide with teacher champions leading the large-scale adoption. This school had gone from Level 4 to Level 1 in the state ranking system. Seeing the skills in action uniformly across a big high school was inspiring. 

Fifth, involving and training administrators was critical to the success of the implementation of MSTV. Principals and Central Office administrators had the opportunity to attend coaching sessions during their team planning. The Principal Network, a monthly roundtable, allowed for leaders to focus on MSTV and be part of professional development that strengthens student talk, discourse, and adult professional culture. This provided leaders with the knowledge to generate buy-in for the importance of the work and its role in creating equitable schools. Providing these and other opportunities allowed for growth in collective efficacy across the region. Leadership matters! Observing teachers for use of the skills began to show up in evaluation walkthroughs, classroom visits, pre and post conferences, and building and district wide professional development.

Finally, local district leaders found ways to fold these skills into existing structures that could perpetuate their life in the practice of current and future teachers. For example: One district built monthly professional development sessions into their local Teacher Academy. Another made MSTV a focus for its local Resident Educator program, an Ohio program designed to improve new teacher retention and enhance teacher quality. Some districts used their instructional coaches to support teachers learning the principles. Others paid attention to where these skills showed up in Ohio's educator evaluation systems. While several districts used their current Teach

This uplifting story from Ohio shows that educators in regional collaboratives can lead for high-leverage sustainable improvement. We believe that when you multiply regional collaboration x high quality professional development x leadership support in LEAs x the utilization of existing infrastructures, the results are sustained high power improvement of instructional practice. Take away any of these variables and the results are less impactful. This unique formula from Ohio can be duplicated across systems to reach what we all strive for in education - sustainable learning of high power instructional practices that impact all students.

Jon Saphier is the founder of Research for Better Teaching in Acton MA. He is the author of 8 books including The Skillful Teacher, now in its 7th edition. 

Candi Hazelwood is a recently retired Educational Consultant with the State Support Team Region 9, focusing on school improvement and educational equity. She started her career as a special education teacher in an urban area before becoming a principal. Over her 49 year career in education she has held a variety of positions that impact student learning.

Julie Weyandt is an educational consultant with the State Support Team Region 9 where she supports districts in the area of school improvement. Prior to joining the State Support Team, Julie worked as a curriculum director, gifted coordinator, RE coordinator, testing coordinator, elementary principal, third grade teacher, and adjunct professor for Walsh University. 

Tom Nunziato is an Educational Consultant with the Stark County Educational Service Center in Canton, Ohio where he supports the ESC’s partnering school districts in many facets of education, including data analysis, evaluations and instructional practices. Tom was a middle school math teacher during his first 16 years in education.