Global Labs Network: A Community of School Leaders

Global Lab Schools are a community practice that is driven by a focus on instruction, and is anchored in learner-centered and equitable practices. Throughout the school year, coaches from 2Revolutions and partners from overseas, work with school leaders and their implementation teams to determine school-wide opportunities and build skill sets and systems that will prioritize those opportunities into growth. 

In a calendar year, each Global Lab School will participate in two in person site visits in which there will be collaborative discussions and instructional rounds to ground the work and focus of the leadership team into specific theories of action. Based on those visits, the leadership team will receive consistent coaching and resources throughout the school year that they will work to try and apply. At the culmination of the school year the teams from all schools will meet together to share out and celebrate the learning that has taken place. 

Through the partnership with organizations abroad, the Global Lab Schools also have opportunities to collaborate with leaders from multiple other countries at monthly convenings. These convenings cover additional skills and resources, but also foster that conversation and collaboration of sharing what is working across the oceans. 

In order to truly capture the scope of the work, we interviewed a school leader, a 2Revolutions coach, and the Global Lab Schools Director for their thoughts on the first year of operation.

Kate Callahan is the school leader at Dondero Elementary School located in Portsmouth, NH. Kate has been the school leader since 2010 where DES was deemed a school for improvement with low staff morale and non-renewed teachers. Kate introduced school choice and focused her school professional development to emphasize the importance of the whole child and that all students have the potential to learn. As the years progressed so has student achievement and parental engagement. Joining Global Lab School was an opportunity to be inclusive for her school by increasing student agency, defining the role of teachers and articulating the role of the principal.

Dr. Ruth Hellams, 2Revolutions Coach, brings over twenty-five years of experience as an educational leader. She holds an Educational Doctorate in Leadership from the University of California San Diego/California State University San Marcos JDP. Ruth’s leadership work is rooted in the belief that the principal serves as the school’s Lead Learner whose role is to relentlessly focus on building and maintaining school culture. Ruth is a champion for reimagining schools that seek to break from tradition and embrace new and innovative ideas that foster a joy for learning.

Dr. Shamara Graham, 2Revolutions Senior Consultant and Global Lab Schools Director, an accomplished policy shaper, skilled educational leader, and influential advocate whose work has vastly improved the quality of education for thousands of students in urban settings around the U.S. For over 15 years, she has served as teacher, dean, assistant principal, principal and director of curriculum and instruction. Her strategic leadership has advanced policy, programmatic, organizing and advocacy efforts across diverse sectors that include education, criminal justice, juvenile justice reform, economic inequality/poverty, youth development, civic engagement, and children’s health.

What went well in your year one experience with the Global Lab Schools program?

Mrs. Callahan, Principal: Soo much! Internally- strengthening trust between colleagues, celebrating successes, deeper reflection on practices and desire to strategically enhance systems. Externally- connecting with like minded educators beyond New Hampshire. 

Dr. Hellams, 2Rev Coach: The connections and relationships with the leadership teams at the schools; the sharing of best practices and ideas in support of teaching and learning. A specific highlight was working with leadership teams in support of English Learners. Another highlight was working with leadership teams in support of school-wide literacy work. I also enjoyed working with teams in support of strategies and practices to align their leadership team work.

Dr. Graham, 2Rev Senior Consultant: In year one there were value-add connections between strong leaders in support of their personal development, focus on building leader and team’s instructional leadership skills, and creation of student-student connections that enhance their ability to do learner-centered work.

If you had to distinguish one specific piece or practice from the year one program that had the largest impact on you and your leadership or on your school community as a whole, what would it be?

Mrs. Callahan, Principal: Providing time to create a moral purpose with the entire school community truly changed the inner workings of Dondero.  Titles were removed and each member's voice was heard and documented.  New relationships were formed from sharing common beliefs about how we educate students, grow their hearts and provide learning experiences beyond the classroom. We laughed, we cried and we celebrated our work and one another.

Dr. Hellams, 2Rev Coach: The most significant impact was working with a team in support of their English Learner population. The population increased virtually overnight and the leadership team and I brainstormed effective strategies and practices designed to address the shifts in population and give teachers and scholars agency in teaching and learning practices.  Enhancing knowledge and understanding of ELD and SDAIE strategies was a main focus of discussion. The team at the school is eagerly looking forward to continuing the work in the 2023/24 school year.

Dr. Graham, 2Rev Senior Consultant: Each state, district, and school defines instructional rounds differently. The purpose of the visit is to support instructional leadership, collaboratively create theories of actions, and observe classroom instructions. It was eye opening for leaders to zoom out to hone in on an area of growth that could become an opportunity to move from a few spaces to wall to wall in the building.

If you had to explain the Instructional Rounds process, how would you explain it? How does it differ from the typical classroom observation? What benefits did you see in the process?

Mrs. Callahan, Principal: AHHHMAZING!! Instructional rounds honor how learners respond to the implementation of best practices by educators that are seen, heard and felt in every classroom throughout the school in all content areas. Instructional rounds celebrate; therefore collectively elevate the work of teachers and foster common goals for the community to achieve. Typical classroom observations provide the teacher with feedback that states what is seen in the classroom but does not move beyond the individual. Too often, classroom observations are associated with contractual evaluations.

Instructional rounds enhance practices and foster community by creating common goals to achieve while also celebrating what is working. They promote open, honest communication and trust among practitioners. Current systems of practice are spotlighted and areas needing revision are highlighted in a manner that recognizes the efforts of educators that still require strengthening and/or deepening.

Dr. Hellams, 2Rev Coach: The Instructional Rounds process is an opportunity to visit classrooms and provide school-wide holistic feedback that amplifies teaching and learning practices by focusing on positive classroom interactions between the teacher and the scholars. For example, when a team of educators visit a classroom, they focus on positive student/teacher interactions. A specific example would include seeing evidence of strong use of academic language between teacher and students. This could include positive reinforcement of academic vocabulary, word walls, explanations of key terms, annotation on key documents, notations in literacy notebooks,  use of academic sentence frames, etc., all of which leads to a more comprehensive approach to academic vocabulary usage in the classroom. It is the consistency of a particular strategy or best practice that gets amplified through the appreciative inquiry process. After a round of classroom visits, data is compiled that includes both teacher and school-wide best practices. Appreciative statements are written that validate the use of the practice and are then shared across the school. Appreciative inquiry is about amplifying whole school focus rather than any one teacher.  It is about what happens when teachers and leadership come together in support of whole-school reform and focus on the best aspects of the work.   

Dr. Graham, 2Rev Senior Consultant: Appreciative Inquiry is a method for self-study and school improvement that values and refines the instructional practices and structures that are working in a school. It is a protocol and a process for honoring and naming learning in real time as an action plan and an evolving map for whole school development from the inside out in group discussions, feedback, and sharing of resources. 

The role of the observation team

Read through the School program provided for the visit. (Listed Below)

• Take notes of your observations within the classroom e.g. what the teacher and student are doing and saying, what is the task.

• Stay in the descriptive mode.

• Move around the classroom without disturbing the flow of the lesson or interrupting the teaching and learning.

• Ask questions of students to clarify their thinking, practices, and tasks when appropriate.

• In the debrief session use evidence from observations to document common practice across the school. 

• Help generate Theories of Action for the school to work on in the future.

The Framework for Classroom Visits

The team is looking for evidence on setting of expectations, classroom culture, structure, and delivery of lessons, questioning of students, student understanding of the lesson and the tasks they are engaged in, and individual student learning behavior. 

The visit is not focused on what individual teachers are doing per se, but more on observing the common strategies and practices in place at the school and the observable evidence of the enhancement of learning within the classroom.

What next steps are you taking as a school?

Mrs. Callahan, Principal: Dondero will focus on two theories of action to pursue for the coming school that we collectively believe need strengthening. One action will be specific to the classroom and the other to the greater community.   In the coming years, theories of action statements will be the foundation for our professional development work with the intent of deepening, enhancing and if needed, changing our practices to foster a collaborative and inclusive learning environment where learners grow academically, socially and emotionally.

Dr. Hellams, 2Rev Coach: As a GLS coach, I am continuing to explore appreciative inquiry as a research-based practice leading to continuous improvement. I am also exploring new literature on literacy and practices designed to meet growing and changing English Learner populations with an emphasis on language acquisition.

Dr. Graham, 2Rev Senior Consultant: As the GLS director, I am continuing to explore and expand the schools admitted into the Network by refining our 9 month journey, scaffolding year 1 and year 2 as well as leveraging thought leaders to the intentional onboarding of international partners to create and enhance the Global aspect of the work.

Would you recommend the Global Lab Schools program to other schools and networks? Explain why.

Mrs. Callahan, Principal: If a school leader is ready to reflect upon their leadership, be vulnerable, and collaborate with other educators to support their teachers in deepening practices to enhance student engagement and outcomes then they should join the Global Lab Schools network. Connecting with like minded educators, hearing their journeys in making change within their schools, and developing relationships to help you reflect upon your own leadership style and celebrate your successes, has been an invaluable and rewarding experience. The Global Lab Schools network has rekindled my drive to do and be more for my school community.

Dr. Hellams, 2Rev Coach: I would recommend the GLS program to other schools and networks, as I feel it is a valuable way of building a community of learners and expanding understanding of a variety of educational issues through a team approach. As a coach, I continue to gain so much through the process of getting to know educators and leadership teams  and share in their learning journeys.

Dr. Graham, 2Rev Senior Consultant: I would recommend the Global Lab School Network as it dispels the myth that leadership is lonely. It's not lonely, it is an opportunity to empower educators by humanizing the role while keeping the bar high for expectations. Leaders were able to connect with other leaders throughout the U.S. and U.K. virtually and in person to support growth and development by having similar foundational text and differentiation to build capacity at the level the culture of the school allowed.

Throughout the school year, these leaders and experts partnered with one another to truly analyze and improve practices within the school building and ensure that continued growth was happening for their school communities. The Global Lab Schools program with 2Revolutions lends itself to coaching, not only at a national level, but at a global level and allows for best practices to truly be shared and implemented around the world. For more information about the Global Lab Schools partnerships, reach out to Dr. Shamara Graham,  Shamara@2revolutions.net.