Reinvigorating Classroom Practice through Collaborative K-12 and Higher Education Professional Development

Abstract

____________________________________________________________________________ High school, community college, and university faculty attempted to address student readiness for first-year college English classes by working across sectors in a collaborative professional development project, Successful Transitions to College (STC). STC demonstrates that teachers can smooth transitions for students who navigate multiple educational systems throughout their IntroductionAs students cycle through schools and classrooms from one academic year to the next, teachers are ideally positioned to see trends emerging-systemic patterns in teaching, learning, and educational practice. Why do many students struggle reading complex texts, for example?How can we help students build the critical thinking skills they are still developing? In what ways can we nurture their ability to persevere as they move from one grade to the next or from high school to college courses? We may wonder about these patterns as we grade the next set of essays, talk about struggling students in our department meetings, or even point fingers at teachers in grades below or above ours, but that's often where it stops-at the noticing. Successful Transitions to College OverviewSTC is a sustained regional professional development project that connected approximately 25 English language arts (ELA) faculty members from a four-year regional comprehensive university, an area community college, and both urban and rural area school districts with the goal of helping students more effectively navigate the transition from high school to college ELA expectations. Specifically, the primary objectives of the project were to (1) strengthen the alignment of ELA curriculum and instruction across the region's schools and colleges; (2) facilitate K-12 and higher education faculties working together on full adoption of Common Core State Standards (CCSS); and (3) ensure that greater numbers of the region's students, especially low-income students, smoothly transition from high school to college.Through the STC project, a professional network was established that allowed K-12 and higher education faculty collaboration to take hold over time as regional educational leaders worked together on identifying issues of alignment, both curricular and instructional. The project provided time and resources for faculty members to develop, research, test, and apply solutions to shared problems of practice across institutions. Key components of the project included a close and collective examination of CCSS and observations in each other's classrooms. This constructivist and collaborative approach (Annenberg, 2004;Wenger 1998) was informed by scholarship promoting changes to teaching practices across sectors in order to more effectively support students in the transition from high school to college (Conley, 2012). Research in adult learning theories (Brookfield, 1988;Trivette, Dunst, Hamby, & O'Herin, 2009) and cognitive motivational theories (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997) were used to create optim...