A Teacher's Guide to VITAL Collaboration

This guide provides strategies, protocols, and facilitation guidance to maximize the impact of every PLC session.

K–12 educators will find a structured, evidence-driven approach to Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), offering powerful tools and facilitation techniques to enhance both teaching and professional growth.

Unlike typical approaches to data teams, the VITAL (Visibly Improving Teaching and Learning) Collaboration model uses concrete evidence from teacher practice and student learning to establish clear goals and pathways for equitable instructional improvement. It facilitates visible growth in both teachers and students by examining artifacts such as lessons, classroom observations, student work, and assessment data. The comprehensive framework integrates insights from research on teacher efficacy, improvement science, professional learning communities, and lesson study to optimize collaborative efforts. Teachers and school leaders will find practical strategies, protocols, and facilitation guidance to foster a culture of continuous improvement within their PLCs.

Whether you are enhancing your instructional practices or working with colleagues toward better outcomes, this guide will help you maximize the impact of every PLC session. This book is an excellent companion to Kevin Perks’s A School Leader’s Guide to VITAL Collaboration.

Book Features:

• Evidence-Driven Approach: Departing from traditional models, VITAL fosters a cyclical, data-informed process where concrete evidence from teaching and student learning drives goal-setting and instructional improvement, leading to measurable gains in both teaching quality and student achievement.
• Comprehensive Framework: Integrates diverse educational methodologies, including school improvement science and lesson study into a cohesive framework, providing educators with a robust toolkit of protocols to optimize PLCs and drive meaningful change.
• Facilitation Guidance: Offers practical strategies, protocols, and facilitation guidance that empower teachers and leaders to effectively lead and participate in PLCs, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and professional growth.
• Focus on Equity: Prioritizes equitable student outcomes by ensuring that discussions and actions within PLCs are anchored in data-driven insights and strategies that support every learner's success.
• Practical Tools: Provides educators with actionable tools such as protocols for reviewing data, analyzing standards, goal setting, lesson tuning, and evaluating student work, enabling them to implement VITAL Collaboration principles immediately in their classrooms and schools.

Kevin Perks is the senior managing director for WestEd’s Quality Schools and Districts program, providing coaching, training, and technical assistance support to schools, districts, and state departments of education. He is the editor of Transformational Leadership for Rapid School Improvement.

“Kevin Perks’ companion books—one for school leaders, the other for teachers—contain magnificent, powerful, and clear ideas for transforming learning in schools. The fourfold framework is comprehensive and instantly inspiring. In our current work on deep change, we look for ‘specificity without imposition,’ ‘proximity to practice,’ ‘leader-teacher-student collaboration,’ and clear, measurable outcomes. These two books have it all: a clear pathway for principals, teachers, and students to work together and get results. Readers will benefit immeasurably by immersing their work in these inspiring companion books. VITAL Collaboration, indeed!”
—Michael Fullan, professor emeritus, University of Toronto, and author of The New Meaning of Educational Change, Sixth Edition

“This practical, accessibly written guidebook provides faculty with a process for working together to create a culture in which inquiry and growth are promoted among both teachers and students. In a profession where many feel isolated, this book’s road-tested procedures can help teachers develop ways of working together to address the issues they face in their classrooms and schools.”
—Peter Smagorinsky, emeritus professor, The University of Georgia

“A Teacher's Guide to VITAL Collaboration provides educators with protocols to support their PLC practices, allowing teams to make meaningful improvements in student outcomes and overall increase collective teacher efficacy. Recognizing the complexity of teaching and learning, the VITAL collaboration process offers the roadmap to shared growth!”
—Jennifer Loftus, superintendent of Paso Robles Joint Unified School District, formerly the executive director of educational services for the Santa Maria-Bonita School District

“This terrific resource describes and synergizes collaboration among professionals within school structures and teams to maximize solutions. The practical approaches, resources, and tools are useful for impactful collaboration within our school teams.”
—Mary E. Little, professor and program coordinator, Exceptional Student Education, University of Central Florida

"This book offers a transformative approach to Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) through the VITAL Collaboration model. By using concrete evidence from teacher practice and student learning, it provides clear strategies for fostering both teacher and student growth. With practical tools and research-backed insights, this guide helps educators and leaders maximize the impact of every PLC session. A valuable resource for anyone committed to continuous improvement in education, specifically scholarly practitioner researchers."
—Juliann Sergi McBrayer, codirector, National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Research Center, and associate professor, educational leadership, Georgia Southern University