Introduction

NSRFTM is a professional development

initiative of the Harmony
Education
Center in Bloomington, Indiana.

Self-Guided Tour to NSRF

TM
Critical Friends Groups

TM

Welcome to our "primer" on Critical Friends GroupsTM (CFGs). This

tour will focus on the unique opportunities CFGs present to educators, their students, and their communities.
Feel free to page through from front to back, or use the index below
to jump to the sections that most interest you.
If you have any questions or comments, please call or email us anytime (812-330-2702 or nsrf@nsrfharmony.org). We look forward to
discussing CFGs with you and your organization.

Kind regards,

Michele Mattoon,
NSRF Director

In a Nutshell:
What is a Critical Friends' Group?

p. 2

What Can CFGs Do For My School?

p. 3

Why "Critical" Friends?

p. 4

Trust and CFGs, Purpose of CFGs

p. 5

What are Protocols and

Why Should We Use Them?

p. 6

Essential Values of NSRF Protocols

p. 7

NSRF and the Annenberg

p. 8

Educational Outcomes

p. 9

CFGs and Other PLCs

p. 10

CFGs Improve Student Learning

p. 11

What happens in CFG Meetings?

p. 12

Why do Educators find CFGs

effective?

p. 13

CFG Benefits and Facilitative

Leadership

p. 14

Training Agenda -- How to become

a CFG Coach

p. 15

Open Trainings

p. 16

On-Site Trainings

p. 17

Investment in training coaches

p. 18

Next steps

p. 19

NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical

Friends GroupsTM Copyright 2012,
National School Reform FacultyTM p 1

TM

TM

A Critical Friends Group (or CFG ) is a

professional learning community
consisting of 8-12 members
who are committed to
improving their practice
through collaborative learning
and structured interactions
(or protocols).
CFG members meet
at least once a month for about two hours.

p 2 NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM

Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM

What Can Critical

TM
Friends Groups Do For My School?
1 Help

students succeed
1 Model and build 21st Century Skills
1 Build trust
1 Reduce teacher and
administrator isolation
1 Change school culture
1 Build diversity of thought
1 Extend and share leadership
1 Facilitate participation from
all members
1 Provide healthy challenges
1 Foster equity
1 Honor and prioritize time for deep
reflection
1 Support strategic planning

1 Reveal

solutions to complex dilemmas

1 Develop critical problem-solving
1 Encourages creative, new thinking
(sometimes around old problems)
1 Carefully analyze work, and support
everyone in receiving and giving
focused, actionable feedback
Most of all, CFGs are about
collaborationcolleagues working
together to improve their work and
that of their students, continually
striving for excellence through shared
goals, norms, and values.
NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM p 3

Critical Friends

Why Critical Friends?

TM

In CFG context, critical means

important, key, essential,
or urgent.
CFGs are never about criticizing
others, neither members, nor students.
p 4 NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM

Trust and Your CFG

Newly formed CFGs lay groundwork with trust-building protocols and activities. This creates a
safe atmosphere for members to
talk about challenging issues. One
important beginning protocol is
generating a set of agreements to
work by (including the expectation of confidentiality). Members
also learn specific protocols to give
feedback in a sensitive, constructive manner, and how to talk about
topics that may put others into
their emotional danger zone.

TM

The Purpose of CFGs

In a CFG, members are actively encouraged to
continuously challenge each other to adopt practices that foster education and equity. By supporting diverse thought, experience, and perspective, CFGs encourage members to build upon
one another's participation. Surprising revelations are the norm in CFGs, not the exception.

Trust and confidentiality

are foundational attributes
of every CFGTM
"Something that comes out of a Critical Friends Group
is that everyone has to be vulnerable. When you make
yourself vulnerable and everyone knows that thats a
part of the process, I think people trust each other more
and thats really when change can happen."
A CFG Coach in Bombay, India
NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM p 5

NSRF Protocols

What Are Protocols and

Why Should We Use Them?
Protocols are structured processes or
guidelines to promote meaningful and
efficient communication, problem solving and learning. By using them within a group who share common values,
theyre great vehicles for building the
skills and culture needed for successful collaboration. Protocols permit an
honest, deeply meaningful, and often
intimate type of conversation which
people are not in the habit of having.

p 6 NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM

Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM

Like guardrails
along a highway,
protocols, under
the leadership of
a trained Coach,
provide guidance
and safety, and
help ensure your
arrival at the proposed destination
rather than being
pulled off-track.

Essential Values of NSRF

Led by a trained Coach, NSRFTM Protocols:
Give time for active listening and
reflection.
Prioritize equity and parity so all
voices may be heard and honored.
Make it safe to ask difficult questions.

TM

Protocols

"My partner and I used the Affinity Mapping

protocol with our principals group recently with
great success! The silent brainstorming session
generated a variety of action steps for the group to
prioritize, leading to a definitive plan to continue
our work next year. Thank you for your support
during our training and beyond! Best quote from
our evaluation form: 'This network has taken [our
organization] to the next level.' Love it!!"
A CFG Coach in Ohio

Allow participants to gain

differing perspectives.
Accomplish much more than
typically happens in a short
period of time.
NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM p 7

Our History

NSRF

TM

and the Annenberg

In 1994 the Annenberg Institute

for School Reform designed a different approach to professional
development, one that would focus on the practitioner and on
defining what practices actually improve student learning.
Since the summer of 2000, Critical Friends GroupTM training has
been coordinated by the National
School Reform FacultyTM (NSRFTM)
at the Harmony Education Center in Bloomington, Indiana.
p 8 NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM

Harmony School, home of the National

School Reform Faculty since 2000

Educational Outcomes
CFGs result in greater student
learning and success by helping teachers and administrators intentionally develop and
implement "best practices."
Educators help each other turn
theories into practice and standards into actual student learning.
Meeting monthly supports ongoing opportunities to review
student work, assignments and
assessments, so every child
can be successful in school.

"I like having people

listen to me. It feels
good. I feel valued. I
feel like my opinion
matters; [this training] reinforced that
there is no one best
stance on equity in
student learning.
It's very complex
and needs to be
examined from many
points of view."
-- new CFG coach
in Wisconsin

NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour

of Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012,
National School Reform FacultyTM p 9

CFGs and other PLCs

Many Professional Learning Communities focus on

standards, with the goal of students performing well
on standardized tests. One organization that promotes PLCs states that teachers need to develop
norms or protocols to clarify expectations regarding
roles, responsibilities, and relationships among the
team members of the PLC.
But how exactly are educators supposed to do this?
CFGTM training will teach you the tools that you
need to collaborate with your colleagues to improve
student outcomes. If PLCs point you toward the
destination youre heading for, CFGs provide both
the road map and the wheels to get you there.
.

p 10 NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM

Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM

"I have appreciated

the wealth of concrete strategiesthe
very clear descriptions of the protocols
and the opportunity
to engage with the
Resource Book. I
value that we are
talking about equity.
I look forward to continuing to engage in
this conversation. For
all our intent to focus
on equity, as a district, it seems that we
rarely talk about it."
A new CFGTM coach

CFGs Improve Student Learning

NSRFTM offers more than two
hundred protocols and activities that can be used to support,
restructure or improve schools,
adult and/or student work.

For example, protocols have been designed

or adapted for:
* Looking at Student Work
* Improving teacher work
* Strategic planning
* Looking at a variety of professional dilemmas
* Discussing texts
* Implementing observation experiences
among peers
* Establishing equity
* Building leadership in high school classes
* and many more uses, growing as experienced coaches find new ways of building
upon established protocols!

NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM

Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM p 11

What Happens In CFG

TM

Each CFG session is run by a trained CFG coach

from your school or district.
The coach typically facilitates one of several timemanaged protocols for examining a dilemma or piece
of work brought to the group by one of its members.
Group members could request a peer observer to help
them improve a specific aspect of their teaching.
The coach might facilitate a text-based discussion of a
topic of concern or interest to the group.
Members often maintain a reflective journal
on CFG sessions or a given prompt.

p 12 NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM

Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM

Meetings?

Why Do Educators Find

CFGs Effective?
CFGs are an ongoing process that encourages educators to continually strive for improvement throughout their careers.
CFGs are focused on the participants own teaching
and their own students learning.
CFGs take place in a small group of supportive and
trusted colleagues, generally within their own school
or program.

"I can use

all this
in the
classroom.
I learned
so many
excellent
ideas to
avoid
'lecture
mode.'"

TM

A new CFG
coach in Greece

CFGs allow participants to have control over their

own professional learning needs.
NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour
of Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012,
National School Reform
FacultyTM p 13

Protocols and activities

learned in CFG training sessions can be used
throughout the school to
improve:
faculty meetings
parent conferences
cabinet meetings
strategic planning sessions
inquiry groups
overall school culture

Participants have also

found that the structure
of protocols can even
permeate their private
lives, to improve communication in
study groups
book clubs
faith committees
even conversing with friends
and family members!

NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour

of Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012,
National School Reform FacultyTM p 14

CFG
Benefits
Are Not
Limited
to CFG
Meetings

Facilitative Leadership
CFG work helps develop facilitative
leadership for everyone involved.
Everyone in the CFG, participants
and coaches, learn and expand their
skills in this area. Often, many
people find themselves using these
skills in their other communications
and decision-making processes.

Training Agenda: How

to Become a CFG Coach
During a five-day New Coaches Training, NSRF
prepares coaches to facilitate honest and productive conversations with colleagues focused on improving student learning and teacher practices.
Some of the skills coaches learn are:
Setting norms for working together
Active listening

Careful crafting of
the agenda includes
passive, active, and
imaginative protocols. There was
great reinforcement
of intentionally chosen protocols and
placement to get
to a deeper sense
of community and
sharing as professionals on specific
topics and/or dilemmas.
--Kaethe from
Florida

Understanding guidelines for dialogue

Learning how to give and receive constructive
feedback.
Using protocols for examining and improving student and teacher work, solving problems, setting
goals, observing peers and building teams
NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour
of Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012,
National School Reform FacultyTM p 15

Open Trainings
Thank you so much
for a wonderful, enlightening three days.
Ill use my new tools at
school to inspire others to share ideas and
work collaboratively
for common goals.
Cant wait for the next
two days!

--Deborah from
California

NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of

Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012, National
School Reform FacultyTM
p 16

NSRF holds Open Trainings three times a year in Bloomington, Indiana, typically beginning in February, July, and October. Because educators often find it difficult to leave their
work for five consecutive days through the school year, only
the July event is five continuous days. Trainings during the
school year are scheduled with a 3/2 break: the group gathers for the first three days, then on the third day together,
they look at their calendars to decide together when they
will return for the remaining two days, usually in April or
January.
These seminars are attended by educators from across the
country and beyond, from a variety of types of educational
institutions (K-12 or a subset, public or private, university,
seminary, etc.), as well as a variety of roles (teacher, professor, HR officer, administrator, etc.) Content is personalized
to the attendees needs. Each coach trainee brings a dilemma
and/or a piece of work to use within the group.

On-Site Trainings
Or if you have a number of people to train as
coaches, NSRF can bring our five-day trainings
to you for a more cost-effective option. On-Site
Training Seminars are specifically tailored to the
particular needs of your school or district.

It was great to see a

CFG in action today and
get a sense of the power
of the techniques while
reflecting upon how it
would go for the whole
faculty. Im finally optimistic about being
able to actually conduct
collaborative learning
groups and expand the
number of conversations at school about
teaching. Of all the
seminars Ive attended,
I have never felt more
empowered as an educational leader because
CFG really works within
my strengths. Almost
everything we did had
short-term to immediate practical applications for my work.
--Phu from California

NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of

Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012, National
School Reform FacultyTM
p 17

Your Investment
On-Site CFG coaches training averages between
$740-$795 per participant for groups of fifteen.
(The amount will vary depending on your location and the size of your group.) This option is
usually best if youd like to train 10 or more people.
Attending an off-site training (Open Training)
averages about $795/participant. Travel, lodging
and dinners are not included. This option is best
if youd like to train single participants or small
groups.
NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of
Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012, National
School Reform FacultyTM
p 18

Next Steps
Contact NSRF director Michele
Mattoon at 812-330-2702 or
michele@nsrfharmony.org with your
questions or to inquire about possible dates for on-site training.
For more information, visit NSRFs website at www.nsrfharmony.org

NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of

Critical Friends GroupsTM
Copyright 2012, National
School Reform FacultyTM
p 19

Thank you for reading our materials. If you

have any questions, please call our offices at
812-330-2702, email nsrf@nsrfharmony.org, or
visit our website at www.nsrfharmony.org.
The National School Reform FacultyTM
(NSRFTM) is a professional development initiative that focuses on increasing student achievement through professional learning communities. We train individuals to coach Critical
Friends GroupsTM, or CFGs, a specific type
of Professional Learning Community (PLC).
Critical Friends GroupsTM use protocols and
activities to facilitate meaningful and efficient
communication, problem solving and learning.

p 20 NSRFTM Self-Guided Tour of Critical Friends GroupsTM

Copyright 2012, National School Reform FacultyTM