Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the National School Reform Faculty have worked to develop a job-embedded professional-development model for collaborative examination of student work and teacher practice that provides collegial support for instructional change. This model involves the use of Critical Friends Groups—or CFGs for short. CFGs provide a model for collegial dialog that involves teachers helping teachers improve student learning.
National School Reform Faculty members Jill Hudson and Judith Gray describe the process in an article titled Renewal through Collaborative Inquiry: The Critical Friends Group Process. In the article, they note that CFGs are a way for participants to “bring to the table their students' work, lesson plans and units, case studies of students, classroom dilemmas, peer observation evidence, and prospective texts.” Furthermore, the CFGs provide an avenue for teachers to investigate their practice “in a setting of mutual support and honest critical feedback from trusted peers” who help them “strive to affirm their goals and revise their strategies” (Hudson & Gray, 2006).
In a CFG, members meet to reflect on and analyze their teaching practices. Discussion takes place using a set of protocols aimed at stimulating critical - yet friendly - feedback. In a seminar on CFGs, Russell Snyder, Associate Director of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, noted that there are three situations in which group members should use the Critical Friends reflection process protocol. Snyder says those three occasions are to consult about peer observations, to discuss refining a teaching artifact or to confer about an issue. The process involves careful description and enforced thoughtful listening, followed by a period of questioning feedback using time limits with an agreed-upon purpose and norms to keep the group focused on the discussion task (http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/programs/DEO/archive/ConferencePresentation/DEOSeminar2004/CriticalFriends.pdf; no longer available on the Internet).
Benefits Critical Friends Groups provide an avenue for educators to take a reflective and critical look at what occurs in their classrooms. As a result, teachers gain insight on instructional practice not available to them before. This, in turn, helps teachers refine instructional strategies so that they can develop high-quality learning experiences for students that result in higher achievement. Kathleen Cushman, a journalist specializing in education and school reform, strongly believes in the benefits of CFGs. “When teachers regularly get honest, supportive feedback from valued peers, not only does their own practice benefit, but student achievement goes up, too” (Cushman, 1998).
Process Critical Friends Groups follow a set of protocols to guide discussion and feedback. There are guidelines and a structure that everyone in the group understands and agrees to follow. Discussion protocols ensure that a certain type of conversation will occur.
Most CFG protocols adhere to the following general process:
facilitator overview
presentation of observations
work or issue
clarification questions
feedback/discussion by participants
presenter reflection
debriefing of process
Cushman, K. (1998, May). How Friends Can Be Critical As Schools Make Essential Changes. Horace, 15(5). Hudson, J. & Gray, J. (2006, April). Renewal through Collaborative Inquiry: The Critical Friends Group Process. New Horizons for Learning, 12(2).