Instructional Data Teams

When teachers form collaborative groups with the goal of helping their students to greater achievement, it is known as Instructional Data Teams (IDT).  The collaboraton is an ongoing, deliberative, and evolving process.

Most of the time, IDTs are formed from teachers who have shared educational goals.  This can be teachers at the same grade level.  It can be a group of teachers who are concerned about the same course materials.  Or it can be a group of teachers who share a wider subject area.

When teachers form IDTs, they must consider what each member of the collaborative team can bring.  They must also remember that the goal is to keep developing and changing to assess students' needs and then to make applicable changes to their respective curriculums that reflect the discoveries of the team process.  The measure of success for IDTs is student progress.

The formative stages (who should be part of an IDT, why, and what each member of the IDT should bring to the table), and the longer-term evolution of the IDT (assessing how successful the team is and what needs the team needs to do to continue enhancing its effectiveness) involve a complex set of assessments, decisions, and actions.  It can become difficult to make this assessment within the team. That is why it can be valuable to bring in a professional educational consultant, who can offer a fresh view as an exprienced educator.