The Collaborative Solution Discovery (CSD) model offers a scalable process of four routines that guide you through defining success, accessing current practice, and developing your own iterative improvement cycle.
Click on each step to learn more.
Introduce the process to school-site staff and share your passion for the work.
Every problem-solving process begins with determining a focus. The definition of the problem itself and its solution will be addressed by the team.
Determine intended outcomes and staff communication.
Who are the primary movers?
At each school, the team might include other school- and district-level staff that are neither teachers nor principals.
The team envisions what ideal student interactions will look like at each grade level, i.e., the sorts of interactions with teachers, tasks, and peers that demonstrate growth in student identity and agency.
Set a student-focused frame for professional learning and collaborative inquiry across the system:
Communicate to the team that this is not a ‘top-down’ process and that they are here as collaborators contributing a classroom and site-level perspective.
Set a student-focused frame for professional learning and collaborative inquiry across the system:
Communicate to the principal that this is not a ‘top-down’ process and that they are here as collaborators contributing a system- and site-wide viewpoint.
The team looks for their ideal interactions in multiple classrooms. This becomes a measurement tool to test and refine through multiple classroom observations.
Communicate to all staff the collaborative, non-evaluative nature of the process and solidify the schedule.
Communicate to all staff the collaborative, non-evaluative nature of the process and solidify the schedule.
Ensure everyone understands the data-gathering process.
All team members observe student actions from all classrooms represented by the team.
Refine the tool based on the initial data gathering walk-through.
Choose a new practice to implement and adapt it to fit your classroom.
Provide time, resources, and professional learning routines to support teachers in growing their agency:
Encourage the team to seek out diverse perspectives across the system in order to better understand the true nature of the problem.
Provide time, resources, and professional learning routines to support teachers in growing their agency:
Connect the team to existing resources and initiatives related to their problem-solving focus.
Choose an area of focus for the team to observe, gather evidence, and measure success.
Continue adapting new practices by using the team’s observation and analysis to adjust and improve.
Continue cycles of observation and adjustment until observation data shows growth.
Use analysis of patterns and trends to provide teachers with guidance and support on implementing and adapting new practices.
Collaborate with site leaders to analyze patterns and trends in order to provide better support.
As the process becomes familiar, continue to look for opportunities for collaboration between the team and other peers in order to inspire agency and grow collective efficacy site- and system-wide.