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Illinois School Board Journal
November/December 2005

Practical PR: Communities of practice help knowledge sharing
by Carol L. Votsmier

Carol L. Votsmier is director of communications for Springfield Public School District 186 and a member of the Illinois chapter of the National School Public Relations Association.

Seymour Sarason, a retired professor of psychology at Yale University, said: "It is virtually impossible to create and sustain over time conditions for productive learning for students when they do not exist for teachers."

One of those conditions involves the willingness to share knowledge and information that will benefit all concerned.

"Communities of Practice" (COP) is an organizational structure to manage and share knowledge across a system. The structure focuses on the connection between the knowledge of individuals and the communication systems that allow this knowledge to be shared across the organization. The result is a knowledge-oriented organization able to reach its goals more effectively.

COPs create professional learning communities that deepen and enrich individual experiences within a system. These communities may be within a school, across a district or across educational partnerships. Communities of practice may consist of grade level teachers, principals, the superintendent's cabinet or the Department of Instruction.

The important piece is the conversation around what works, why it works and how we can make it better. Although there may be communities of practice on several levels, they are linked by the common purpose of increasing student achievement.

One of the tools used to create a COP is a "promising practices" fair. Staff from several Springfield Public Schools District 186 attended a promising practices fair, sponsored by the Ball Foundation, where sharing between school districts occurred. At the end of the session, many of our attendees realized promising practices existed in District 186 that had not been shared between schools. The idea of holding our own promising practices fair began to take shape.

"For years I have worked next to people who had the answers to questions that I needed," shared a district employee charged with planning our promising practices fair, "but I didn't know they had them! The untapped potential in educators is enormous and must be shared for a school system to be successful in educating its students."

Schools that attended the Ball Foundation's fair became exhibitors for the day in Springfield. A large room was lined around the perimeter with bold, bright promising practice exhibits. Educators from pre-K through high school eagerly waited to seek out practices aimed at improving student achievement and begin conversations around those practices.

The energy in the room rose as staff members walked through the marketplace of displays and sampled a variety of promising practices. The two or three minute overview was enough to whet appetites and make participants want more information about their colleagues' successes. To satisfy their cravings, they next experienced the deep inquiry.

Because of the number of successful practices presented, choosing one promising practice to concentrate on proved to be difficult. Deep inquiry gave teachers an opportunity to learn more about the practice — what it is, how it had been built into the curriculum, how it was working in the school and what staff members were learning from it. In addition, an opportunity was provided to ask questions and begin conversations around instruction.

In the third phase, participants discussed the learning that occurred and how the work might translate into their own buildings. Organizers were gratified to see middle schools learning from elementary schools, math teachers learning from English teachers and principals learning from each other.

Building COPs requires multiple approaches in creating connections within an organization. Teachers, classrooms and schools have historically functioned as independent silos. This prevented the wealth of knowledge within our district from being shared.

Today District 186 educators and administrators are connecting with each other, building connections between schools, and connecting the entire district as a dynamic system that shares knowledge and works together for sustainable student success.

To view the promising practices fair, visit our Web site at www.springfield.k12.il.us.