Collaboration and a Shared Culture

Teams seem to function more successfully when members have a shared culture and one that promotes collaboration. When team members share many values and hopes, teams can flourish. Kruse, Louis, and Bryk (1994) describe the following characteristics of collaborative cultures of schools:

Critical elements of school communities: reflective dialogue, deprivatization of practice, collective focus on student learning, collaboration, and shared norms and values.
Structural conditions: time to meet and talk, physical proximity, interdependent teaching roles, communications structures, and teacher empowerment.
Social and human factors: openness to improvement, trust and respect, cognitive and skill-based teaching and learning, supportive leadership, and socialization of teachers. (pp. 4-5).