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Two new evaluation instruments for collaboration.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Elementary teachers, a principal, and professors co-designed a curriculum alignment project to integrate state social studies and reading standards. Data were collected using a philosophy of education scale (Pryor, C. R., 2003) and an attitude and belief questionnaire (Pryor, B. W. 2003). Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistics. Results indicate that if project objectives change during collaborative consulting, use of quantitative instruments can guide participant philosophies and beliefs about changing roles.

This project was funded by collaborative and fellowship research grants from the Texas A&M University System's Regents Initiative for Excellence in Education, Institute for School-University Partnerships.

Introduction

Benefits of university-school collaboration have long been a part of the education literature. Among the most outstanding of these benefits are: (a) an expanded base of expertise for the project (McCall & Restow, 2001), (b) a sense of professional renewal for participants (Lewison & Holliday, 1999), and (c) multiple perspectives in problem solving (Sirotnik & Goodlad, 1998). Once the collaborative team is identified, however, several roadblocks to these benefits often appear--some of which are less noticeable by a collaborative team. Three often reported roadblocks include a lack of clear project objectives, insufficient time or energy for the project, and disappearing administrative support (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1992; Lieberman 1992). Different beliefs held by collaborative participants can be roadblocks that are often not obvious until a project is completed (e.g., McCall & Restow, 2001). These beliefs can affect participants' perceptions of: (a) their role in carrying out the project, (b) the design of the project deliverable, and (c) their ratings of the usefulness of the collaborative project (Markowitz & Crane, 1993).

Two New Measures of Participant Perspective

Typically, qualitative methods such as journals, meeting notes, or interviews are used at the end of a project to report participants' perspectives of project worth (Vare, 1997). In reviewing reports of collaborative curriculum projects, McCall and Restow (2001) found the different perspectives held by participants (e.g., philosophical goals) can affect the development of curriculum, such as selection of teaching methods or resources to be used in the project (McCall & Restow, 2001). The differences in philosophical approach should not be surprising. Teachers and professors work in different cultures, with different job expectations and status (Brookhart & Loadman, 1990). The expectations of the roles of those who collaborate, therefore, vary according to the philosophical beliefs, expectations and attitudes of the project participants. Without some measure of this difference, project...