School-Based Instructional Rounds: Improving Teaching and Learning Across Classrooms

by Lee Teitel

Overview

In School-Based Instructional Rounds, Teitel offers detailed case studies of five different models of school-based rounds and investigates critical learning from each.

Instructional rounds—one of the most innovative and powerful approaches to improving teaching and learning—has been taken up by districts across the country and around the world. Now Lee Teitel, an originator of this transformative practice, explores one of the most promising ways in which it is being adapted in the field: implementing instructional rounds networks within, rather than across, K–12 schools.

In School-Based Instructional Rounds, Teitel offers detailed case studies of five different models of school-based rounds and investigates critical learning from each. Expanding rounds to include teachers, for instance, offers opportunities for a more direct connection to instructional improvement. Other areas of experimentation include increasing the frequency of visits, engaging participants across diverse roles, and modifying the structure or focus of rounds work.

School-Based Instructional Rounds represents an invaluable resource for educators involved in instructional rounds. It marks a significant addition to the literature on this evolving practice."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612505893
Publisher:	Harvard Education Press
Publication date:	10/01/2013
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Lee Teitel teaches courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on leadership development; partnership and networking; and understanding organizations and how to improve them. He directs the master’s-level School Leadership Program. He was the founding director and then faculty senior associate of the Executive Leadership Program for Educators, a five-year collaboration of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Kennedy School of Government that focused on bringing high-quality teaching and learning to scale in urban and high-need districts.

Teitel is coauthor (with Elizabeth City, Richard Elmore, and Sarah Fiarman) of Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning (Harvard Education Press, 2009). He has facilitated or helped launch instructional rounds networks in ten states in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Sweden.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

PART I Case Studies 9

CHAPTER 1
Overview of Instructional Rounds
Practice, Impact, and Philosophy 11

CHAPTER 2
Nested rounds in a Rural District
Killingly Memorial School 31

CHAPTER 3
Stand-Alone Rounds in a K–12 Urban Charter School
Pegasus School of Liberal Arts and Sciences 53

CHAPTER 4
School-Based Rounds in a Midsize Urban District
Akron Public Schools 67

CHAPTER 5
Connecting School-Based Rounds to District Improvement
Farmington Public Schools 89

CHAPTER 6
Rounds Reconsidered in an Independent School
Ballarat Clarendon College 123

PART II Learning from School-Based Rounds 141

CHAPTER 7
Shared Context, Immediacy, and Embeddedness
School-Based Rounds and Improvement 143

CHAPTER 8
Making Connections
Tying Together Rounds and Other School Improvement Processes 155

CHAPTER 9
Frequency, Professionalism, and Role Change
School-Based Rounds and Cultural Shifts 171

CONCLUSION
Lessons for School-Based and Network Rounds 185

APPENDIX
Reflecting On, Improving, and Nesting Instructional Rounds Practice 199

NOTES 215
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 217
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 219
INDEX 221

Editorial Reviews

“This book is a valuable resource for anyone engaged in the practice of instructional rounds. Lee Teitel has artfully woven case studies together with the principles of instructional improvement to illustrate the power and perils of school-based rounds. It will help us reflect and improve on the rounds practice in our district.” — David Title, superintendent, Fairfield, CT Public Schools 

“With this groundbreaking book, Lee Teitel takes the exploration of instructional rounds to the next level. Using specific examples, he shows how to bring this approach to improvement into the hearts of schools and classrooms, advancing educators’ efforts to create a precise focus on the quality of instruction. School-Based Instructional Rounds provides powerful improvement strategies, and at the same time raises key reflective questions for getting better at the rounds process. This insightful volume makes a huge contribution to advancing the stature and collective efficacy of the teaching profession.” — Michael Fullan, OC, OISE/University of Toronto 

“School-Based Instructional Rounds is a must-read for any educator who aspires to professionalize educator practice, create a culture of collaborative adult learning, connect strategic choices made at the district level to teaching and learning in classrooms, and improve learning at scale. Lee Teitel will stretch your thinking about rounds improvement, guide you to new insights, and help you see possibilities you had not envisioned.” — Bonnie Boothroy, director, Iowa Superintendents Instructional Rounds Networks, School Administrators of Iowa 

From the Publisher