Collaborative Response

Kurtis Hewson has been an award-winning teacher, vice-principal, and principal, as well as taught at the post-secondary level. With over a decade of experience as a school administrator, Kurtis has championed the call for collaborative structures in schools to ensure success for all students. In addition to two finalist awards from Alberta Excellence in Teaching program and an Edwin Parr award recipients for excellence in his first year of teaching, Kurtis was an honoree for the ASCD Outstanding Young Educator Award in 2010. Kurtis is one of five Alberta principals featured in Reflecting on Leadership for Learning: Case Studies of Five Alberta Elementary School Principals, addressing exemplary leadership practices in elementary schools in Alberta. He is the co-founder of Jigsaw Learning and currently works with districts and schools nationally and internationally establishing Collaborative Response frameworks and interacting with thousands of educators annually. Lorna Hewson is a passionate educator who is co-founder and Lead Learner of Jigsaw Learning, a Canadian consulting company that provides support for educators. She is an engaging presenter, facilitator, coach and mentor and has served to support classrooms, schools and districts nationally and internationally. An Alberta Excellence in Teaching Award winner, Lorna has served diverse roles in schools and districts and has a wealth of experience in essentially every area of development in supporting the needs of districts, schools, staff and students. She has served in district leadership roles in curriculum, learning and inclusive services as well as experience in curriculum implementation and design at the provincial level and has had the privilege to serve as the chair of the Alberta Assessment Consortium. Lorna engages in a variety of support structures with systems, including coaching, mentoring, leading and facilitating schools and districts in Collaborative Response, designing and coordinating teams throughout systems, and building inclusive frameworks that ensure every child has a team to identify and meet their needs.

Foreword by Andrew Hargreaves Table of Contents Companion Website Contents Introduction - A Call to Action Chapter 1 - Examining a Culture of Response Chapter 2 - Envisioning Collaborative Response Chapter 3 - Collaborative Structures Chapter 4 - Collaborative Processes Chapter 5 - Collaborative Team Meetings Chapter 6 - Data and Evidence Chapter 7 - Continuum of Supports Chapter 8 - Putting the Pieces Together References and Resources

Collaborative Response has been instrumental in changing the lives of both staff and students. It has provided an explicit and collective framework to have conversations that lead to improved student learning outcomes and ensured that the individual learning needs of all students are recognised as every person's responsibility. -- Janeen Silcock * Ballina Coast High School Ballina, New South Wales, Australia * Our district in coastal, rural Maine has been actively implementing Collaborative Response for three years now, and each year we continue to grow and evolve through the implementation process. The Collaborative Response philosophy and approach served as the leverage that we needed after years of trying to get a district-wide RTI plan off the ground! It has been a transformational model for all of our teams through grade levels PK-12. -- Nicole Chan * Regional School Unit 24, Sullivan, Maine, United States of America * Through understanding the role of assessment, collaboration, and a defined continuum of supports, Kurtis and Lorna lay out multiple entry points for schools, leadership teams, and senior leaders that will ultimately impact all students in achievement, inclusion, and well-being. -- Joanne Pitman * Calgary Board of Education * Collaborative Response is based on a structure that enables professional learning communities in schools to develop for the benefit of student learning and well-being. That is because the approach includes a respect for the knowledge, idiosyncrasies, and experience of staff and students-all these are resources that can be used for the benefits and growth of all involved. -- Ingileif Astvaldsdottir * University of Iceland, Department of Education, Reykjavik, Iceland * The positive impact of our revised meeting schedules, and our four-tiered intervention framework, is that all students are put in the spotlight, and none are left to fly under the radar. In addition, the collaborative team meeting has advanced the professional capacity of staff by providing the vehicle to engage in deep discussions of evidence-based teaching practices that assist in improving student achievement. -- Leigh Toscan * Southern Cross Public School, Ballina, New South Wales, Australia * Through understanding the roles of assessment, collaboration, and a defined continuum of supports, Kurtis and Lorna Hewson lay out multiple entry points for schools, leadership teams, and senior leaders that will ultimately impact all students in achievement, inclusion, and well-being. -- Joanne Pitman * Calgary Board of Education, Calgary, Alberta, Canada * Collaborative Response provides a deeper model for collaboration and a way to be more intentional about supporting all our students. In addition, Kurtis and Lorna Hewson and the Jigsaw Learning team have been invaluable in providing informative videos, templates, articles, and learning opportunities that are guiding our leadership team in leading professional development for our staff. -- Karen Currie * Kamloops Christian School, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada * Collaborative Response gave our school the focus and framework needed to change the culture around how we identify and support all of our students. Providing meaningful and strategic tiered systems of supports, along with an emphasis on relationships, totally changed the game for our collaborative teams. This philosophical shift from the 'Me' to 'We' in the work we do has empowered all staff to initiate more student-centered conversations and consistently highlight celebrations. -- Chris Burris * South Shore Regional Centre for Education, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada * We have reimagined our student support structures, placing the Collaborative Response process at the heart of our practice. Long meetings focusing on deficits are gone, replaced by action-based collaborations focusing on classroom instructional strategies and learning dispositions. Collaborative Response is a key driver of our schoolwide collaborative culture and has been a major contributor to our strong growth in external assessments of literacy and numeracy. -- Luke Bristow * Murwillumbah High School, Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia * We all need to be on the same team when it comes to student success, and we are seeing huge benefits from Collaborative Response as it sets the table for increased student achievement at every grade level and subject area within our schools! -- Adam Murray * Peace River School, Division Peace River, Alberta, Canada * Through the lens of intervention, our school has evolved notably in a short time span. Teachers now review their instructional practices more thoroughly, have a clearer understanding of student learning needs, and access recently created support structures to assist their students. Our Collaborative Response work has become a foundation to build upon to address a variety of concerns, both transient and long-lasting, and is now an essential part of our school growth processes. -- Carolyn Jensen * Memorial Composite High School, Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada * With the use of consistent, intentional structures such as the collaborative team meetings, data analysis, and continuum of supports, we have seen increased efficacy, confidence, and collaboration at all levels of our organization. We are embracing a culture where staff rely on the strengths of their colleagues in a student-centered approach to inclusivity. -- Pamela Guilbault * Lakeland Catholic School Division, Bonnyville, Alberta, Canada * Collaborative Response provides a well-researched, flexible framework from which to address and support individual student learning needs. Administrators and teachers will appreciate the structures and processes which can be easily integrated into their practice. With clear guidelines for everything from organizing student data, to planning efficient team meetings, this book is a fantastic resource for improving student learning. -- David Dyck * Calgary Board of Education, Calgary, Alberta, Canada * Our structure for student support involves a wonderful collaboration from a large group that consists of Administrators, Teachers, Educational Assistants, Student Services Team, and Cree & Language Team with the help of Jigsaw Learning, their team, and our contracted Service Providers. Collaborative Response enables us as a collective to find solutions to create student success. This approach tailors to the needs of our organization, with Cree Language and Culture as the foundation of our school. -- Lisa Thunder, * Oski Pasiknowew Kamik School, Wabasca, Alberta, Canada *