Leading from below the Surface by Creighton Theodore B.;

Author:Creighton, Theodore B.; [Creighton, Theodore]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1994239
Publisher: Corwin Press
Published: 2004-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Recently, I asked my colleague, John (the Houston ISD principal), to share his thinking with me in regard to the difference between cooperation and collaboration. He began by pointing out that in the dictionary, these two words have the same definition. He continued by positing that in an educational setting, cooperation and collaboration must be distinct. Examples of cooperation are the common simple partnerships between schools and businesses, social services and government agencies, civic groups and parents. All too often, these partnerships involve only minimal responsibilities for the non-school partner from business, social services, or parents. It is a mistake to assume collaboration is taking place when these partners are busy with minimal tasks and responsibilities such as creating school calendars, serving as room mothers, directing students to the bus area, and hosting teacher lunches. As important as cooperation activities are, it is really collaborative kinds of partnerships that help drive effective teaching and learning in our schools.

Collaboration efforts strive to move beyond the day-to-day running of the school. Collaboration implies that we want to make a difference or a change and that we truly realize that we need the help of others to meet the challenges of educating our students. John ties his discussion about cooperation and collaboration to an interesting analogy:

It’s kind of like the discussion we have about the difference between management and leadership. You know, we say that management involves such things as preparing the school budget, scheduling of classes and assignments, completing district and state reports, and keeping the buses running on time. But leadership, we say, involves tasks much more complex and [that] depend on our ability to solve problems, seek creative solutions, handle delicate personnel issues, monitor the delivery of appropriate and effective instruction, and other things considered to be the “messy challenges” of school leadership.

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