Throughout this month’s Friday 5 we will be unpacking the Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI). The TFI is a tool that is used at least annually to check for fidelity of PBIS implementation. The TFI features can also have a broader applicability and can be useful for teachers, administrators, and school teams even if they are not implementing PBIS. For progress monitoring purposes, team members may want to use the TFI to identify key areas of focus and participate in a periodic “pulse check” to see how things are going throughout the year.
In this first week, we will look at Team Composition (1.1) and Team Operating Procedures (1.2). Please note, these first two TFI features may be used with any team within a school to evaluate their team composition and operating procedures. Designing a Teaming Infrastructure is critical to the functioning of school divisions and individual schools, and fidelity checks help us determine if we are reaching our team’s potential and fulfilling our team’s purpose.
- Coordinate Teams to Work Smarter, not Harder
Involve the team in creating an annual meeting schedule at the beginning of each year. Ensure the dates and times selected work for team members and allow for full administrative engagement. Examine your current division or school teams and look to see how teams that have the same goals and similar membership can be combined or overlap for part of the meeting time. The activity “Working Smarter Not Harder” (Sugai, 2010) can assist teams to engage in the streamlining of teams.
- Prioritize Meeting Schedules
Canceling meetings can send the message that they are not important. It can also disrupt the flow of progress and devalue the work team members have done in preparation for the meeting. Be careful to stick to the meeting schedule as closely as possible, even if that means occasionally having to reschedule. What we give our time and energy to communicates a message about our priorities.
Consider asynchronous meetings when the need for meeting cancellation arises. At Minnieville Elementary School in Woodbridge, Virginia, educators used Nearpod—a tool they used to include interactive elements like polls into their presentation/ meeting agenda (Minero, 2020). To show proof of completion, team members complete check-ins embedded into the slides before moving on to the next one. Flip is another tool that can be used to invite team members to view a video reviewing critical agenda items and submit asynchronous input to which other members can respond.
- Use Consistent Processes and Protocols
Consistent processes and protocols, such as a standard agenda and a data informed decision making process, help to build fluency with tools, improve meeting efficiency, and support consistent team-based data informed decision making.
Develop team norms to create a culture that invites a breadth of voices and has concrete agreements to reference, should conflicts arise. In keeping with the consistency of meetings, it is important to include expectations for attendance, timeliness and engagement in discussions. The following ASCD article offers a sample set of norms that can help to support teams engaging in data informed decision making: The Power of Team Norms
- Engage Team Members to Build Capacity
Engage team members in assuming key roles and responsibilities to actively build leadership capacity and sustainability. Key roles may include: Facilitator, Time Keeper, Recorder, Data Analyst, Encourager, etc. As team members take more active roles, the work of the team becomes less person-dependent. Providing detailed descriptions of meeting roles can help with meeting coordination and consistency. Some examples may be found here: Team Member Roles and Responsibilities
During team meetings, decisions will often require administrative authority. Action plans developed by teams may involve professional development, a schedule change or school-wide activity that only an administrator can approve. Teams that include an available administrator will be empowered to make decisions and coordinate plans more efficiently (Chaparro et al., 2022).
- Build Representative Teams
When teams include individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences, it can influence the behavior of the group as they are more likely to share differing ideas and opinions, reexamine facts and remain objective (Rock and Grant, 2016). Among numerous benefits, team membership that is diverse and representative of the school community offers a greater depth of experience and perspective, promotes increased awareness, empowerment and the testing of assumptions, and has a higher chance of observing positive change (Forbes Coaches Council, 2021). Read more here: Why Diverse Teams Are Smarter and 14 Important Benefits Of A More Diverse Leadership Team.
When establishing school team membership, take steps to include students and families. The following video shares students’ perspectives on why they feel their voice matters within school decision making: Student Voice Counts | Panorama Education. In addition, take a moment to read the ASCD article, “A Multi-Tiered Approach to Family Engagement”, which offers five critical roles that families can serve in the school decision making process.
References
Bachman, H., and Boone, B., (2022, August 29). A Multi-tiered Approach to Family Engagement. ASCD. Retrieved from https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/a-multi-tiered-approach-to-family-engagement
Chaparro, E. A., Horner, R., Algozzine, B., Daily, J., & Nese, R. N. T. (April 2022). How School Teams Use Data to Make Effective Decisions: Team-Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS). Center on PBIS, University of Oregon. Retrieved from www.pbis.org
Forbes Coaches Council. (2021, June 24). 14 Important Benefits Of A More Diverse Leadership Team. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/06/24/14-important-benefits-of-a-more-diverse-leadership-team/?sh=7f91a6bd1f9b
Martinez S., Kern L., Hershfeldt P., George H. P., White A., Flannery B., Freeman J. (September, 2019). High School PBIS Implementation: Student Voice. Eugene, OR: OSEP TA Center on PBIS, University of Oregon. Retrieved from www.pbis.org
Minero, E. (2020, October 22). Staff Meetings Get a Needed Makeover During the Pandemic. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/staff-meetings-get-needed-makeover-during-pandemic/
Panorama Education. (2016). Student Voice Counts. Retrieved November 12, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1V6kEJ2qXI.
Rock, D., and Grant, H. (2016, November 4). Why Diverse Teams Are Smarter. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter
Sugai, G. (2010). Committee/Group Self-Assessment & Action Planning (Working Smarter Matrix), VTSS. Retrieved from https://vtss-ric.vcu.edu/media/vtss-ric/documents/didm/2019-2020/Working-Smarter-Fillable.pdf
Todd, A. W., Newton, J. S., Horner, R. H., Algozzine, K., & Algozzine, B. (2014). TIPS II Training Manual.
