Facilitating a Horizontal Articulation for Collaborative Success

Jonathan W. Rohloff

Articulation Means Collective Improvement at Fowler

At Fowler Elementary District, student achievement is a team effort through horizontal articulation.  But it takes a culture shift, says principals Jonathan Rohloff and Chad Ostrom.

“We can no longer afford to work in isolation,” said Ostrom.  Through regular articulation meetings, teachers are sharing data, strategies and developing common formative assessments with similar grade level elementary teachers across the district and for teachers with similar content areas in middle schools.

It takes a great degree of trust before we can share with each other across the hall and across the district, says Ostrom.  With evaluations now measuring student growth, it can be even more difficult.  Good teachers may not always want to share with other teachers.

But through horizontal articulation and collaboration, teachers become vested in the common goal of improving student achievement.  They build a support group, and a safety net and create a vested interest in improving every student at every level at the school, and throughout the district.  It assists new teachers struggling, and veterans feeling burned out.

The stakes are too high, with new assessments and accountability to not collaborate and learn from each other.  Articulation brings a culture of trust and collective capacity to a school district, and broadens a teacher’s focus from his/her classroom, to the greater good for all educators and their students.

ASPRA Reporter Craig Pletenik, Phoenix Union High School District