SERVE's
work with Critical Friends Groups has focused more on using
such groups to examine the quality of teacher assignments,
assessments, projects, and units. It's
very difficult for teachers to critically examine the quality
of assignments, assessments, and units in isolation. At
the same time, critical, constructive feedback from peers
is not often welcomed. But without critical feedback, it
is difficult to improve teaching effectiveness. How can
a collaborative reflective process be implemented in a school
or district? The National School Reform Faculty (www.nsrfharmony.org)
founded in 1995 at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform
at Brown University is one group that has helped to create
groups of teachers at a school, called Critical
Friends Groups that support each other's attempts to
improve their practice. The term has also been used in the
work of the Coalition of Essential Schools. The initial
work of Critical Friends Groups involved looking at student
work as a window into examining students' instructional
needs (www.lasw.org/index.html).
