Thursday, September 15, 2016

Communication, Transparency, and Inclusion: Key Ingredients to Successful Education Programs

To develop teaching/learning programs, it's integral to have apt collaboration, inclusion, communication, and transparency.

Collaboration
It's best to redesign teaching/learning organizations so that there is the opportunity for lots of beneficial collaboration. Our current shared teaching/learning model is a terrific way to build better collaboration--together a number of educators teach 75 students. What we can do together is far better and more satisfying than any one of us could do alone. Systems have to look for ways to develop similar collaborative teams in schools to grow distributive leadership.

Inclusion
Too often programs in schools are mandated and created by people not in the classroom. This often results in disruption because the realities of the daily teaching and learning are not represented. Inclusion of all stakeholders in decision making and program development is vital to successful teaching/learning programs.

Communication
Missing communication creates havoc in schools. When educators, families, students, administrators, and citizens don't know what's going on, problems occur. It's best to develop streamlined, timely ways to inform all members of the learning community including students, families, educators, staff members, administrators, and citizens.

Transparency
When the important information of an organization is hidden, trouble ensues. There's little to no reason for secrets in education except for the most personal information related to students or personnel. Transparency paves the way to optimal collaboration and teamwork.