Richard DuFour, EdD, was a public school educator for 34 years. A prolific author and sought-after consultant, he is recognized as one of the leading authorities on helping school practitioners implement the PLC at Work™ process.
Clarifying Collective Inquiry
We received a question about collective inquiry as it relates to professional learning communities. The writer indicated he was confused and wondered if it simply meant the comparison of test scores of the students of a collaborative team. He asked for clarification and examples. Here is my response:
Collective inquiry is the process in which educators engage as they make significant decisions. Rather than making decisions on the basis of mindless precedent ("This is how we have always done it.") or personal preference ("This is how I like to do it. "), they begin by building shared knowledge or learning together, thus it is a collective endeavor. Inquiry simply means we are asking and answering questions together. The key to effective inquiry is making sure the question is significant, that resolving it will help us be more effective in achieving our fundamental purpose and goals. In a PLC, collective inquiry will address not one, but many of these questions:
- What is the fundamental purpose of our school?
- What do we know about the characteristics of the most effective schools?
- To what extent are these characteristics evident in our own school?
- What commitments do we need to make to one another in order to create a more effective school?
- What indicators will help us monitor our progress?
- What are the knowledge, skills, and dispositions we want all students to acquire as a result of every course, grade level, and unit of instruction?
- How should we pace our instruction to ensure all students have access to a guaranteed curriculum?
- What evidence will we gather to monitor each student’s learning?
- Do we agree on the criteria we will use in assessing the quality of student work?
- Do we apply the criteria consistently?
- How will we respond as a school when it becomes evident some students are not learning?
- How can we enrich and extend the learning for those who are already proficient?
- Who among us seems most effective in teaching each skill? How can we learn from each other?
- Which of our policies, programs, and practices support learning for all students? Which interfere with student learning?
It is important to understand two things: first, collective inquiry is a process, the way an organization approaches decision making by gathering evidence; second, the effectiveness of the process will depend on the extent to which the collective inquiry is focused on the correct issues.
Comments
kmccown1
@alanefay
The Curriculum and Instruction department in my district is just beginning the process of becoming a professional learning community. I would like to hear about your beginning steps, if you don't mind sharing.
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alanefay
Our PLC in the Curriculum and Instruction division has discovered THE POWER OF PROTOCOLS, a book from Teachers College Press. This resource contains some very specific protocols. We used the Constructivist Protocol to direct our last meeting.
To look back at Rick's advice:
-- It is important to understand two things: first, collective inquiry is a process—the way an organization approaches decision making by gathering evidence; second, the effectiveness of the process will depend on the extent to which the collective inquiry is focused on the correct issues.-- The protocol choice we made helped us shape our PLCs Big Question after first examining and gathering data on a series of Sub-Questions. Worked beautifully! Most productive work we have had yet on a Friday afternoon.
All of the protocols in the book are categorized for short inquiries, year long endeavors, large group, small, examinations of student work - you name it - with a handy matrix to help you choose just the right support for the task at hand. They are structured, but not stuffy. Every director and consultant in the group requested his/her own copy of the book. I certainly don't get a commission for saying so, but I wish I had this text in my hand several years ago as I began supporting our local schools and districts in the collaboration and data team processes.
Had to pass this little gem along. Hope you find it as helpful as I.
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Jennifer Bolinger
As I have dug through some of the data myself, I am realizing that the numbers do not mean a thing unless you are asking the right questions. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to ask the right questions because sometimes the data is very discouraging. Asking the right questions can help us to understand ways to change the results. Also, collecting the right data is important and working with a group collectively can make a big difference. All and all, I want to say thank you for the questions that can help guide me in finding the right question.
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