COLLABORATIVE EVALUATION AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: AMPLIFYING THE POWER OF TEACHER PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS

The novelty of the Model for Collaborative Evaluations or MCE (Rodríguez-Campos & Rincones– Gómez, 2013) resides in the way in which each of its elements (components and subcomponents) influences the others and, as a consequence, the overall collaborative evaluation. To accomplish a comprehensive collaborative evaluation, the interactive use of the MCE elements on a rotating and remixing basis is recommended. However, there is a benefit of utilizing the individual MCE component Identify the Situation, and specifically the subcomponent Identify Stakeholders. Social Network Analysis (SNA) was used in the featured case study (Bauman, 2018) to create visual representations of teacher professional networks that operate within a school. Prominent members of this network were identified as teacher leaders. Teachers who are identified as teacher leaders by their peers, and engage in collaborative practices, are able to provide a unique perspective about school operation practices and implementation of processes for school improvement planning.