4. Identify multiple sources of data on the viability of our instructional and assessment practices (implementation strategies).

In order to draw appropriate conclusions on the relative merits of the culturally relevant strategies we are employing on behalf of students-of-color, the validity and reliability of the data informing those judgments must be as strong as possible. In most cases, no single source of data could be powerful enough to justify the continuation or cessation of a particular strategy, especially if that strategy is part of a lengthy causal chain. For these reasons, decisions on instructional strategies need to be informed by triangulation of data.

5. Share preliminary findings among the members of the “collaborative”.

C.A.R.E. requires teams to focus on a specific standard as well as a particular group of students. In order for C.A.R.E. team members to generalize about what they learn about curriculum, instruction and assessment from the work with focus students, the opportunity to share craft knowledge with other C.A.R.E. teachers is critical. A collaborative structure also battles the culture of isolation that prevents promising practices from achieving whole-school impact.

C.A.R.E. teams collaborate within the school as a team of teachers and their principal. The C.A.R.E. collaborative consists of many teams coming together to share their findings and deepen their understanding about teaching historically low-performing student-of-color populations.