The Power of Sharing

By Patrick G. Rockenbach

Sharing our best demonstrated practices across the district makes us all better.

Number one on the list is "Share Everything".

Unfortunately that is not always the case. Where I work, we call it "working in silos", which basically means that each group works independently to address their own issues and does not share their findings with the other groups. So one group may find the answer to a very difficult problem but rather than share their results they let the other groups try to figure it out by themselves.

Why you ask, well here are a few reasons:

• "I worked hard to figure it out. Why should I share with somebody else?"
• "That other group never tries to do it on their own, they always wait for us."
• "My results will be better than yours."
• "I'll get a better performance review and will be in line for a promotion/raise before you."
• "I don't know the people in the other group."
• "They won't agree with the way I came up with the answer."

Sometimes you need to put out some crazy ideas to get things started, but it's key to note that there are no "dumb ideas". Here are a few to get us started:

Outside the District

• Seek out members of other school boards to learn what they are doing in their districts.
• Hold a principal or teacher forum or workshop to discuss new ideas.
• Approach local businesses about providing support for the school.

• Bring the various PTAs from the individual schools under the same umbrella.
• Have the school principals meet on a regular basis to share ideas.
• Have a "Teacher Swap Day" and let the teachers work in a different school for a day.
• Invite the parents to be a bigger part of the process.
• Leverage the Lowell Joint Education Foundation to support underfunded programs.