Increasing Instructional Capacity through Vertical Teaming By Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D. Vertical teaming can be used in mathematics, English Language Arts, science, classroom management, student engagement and other areas. Vertical Teaming can be a foundational tool in the development of teamwork and collaboration on your campus. In addition, the use of vertical teaming will build the instructional capacity on your campus (Kowal, 2002). This is very important in the quest to improve student learning. When a school is part of a district the school will contribute to the growth of the district’s instructional capacity. What is Vertical Teaming? Vertical teaming uses vertical teams to achieve the desired objective of improving student learning by developing the instructional skills and abilities of educators. A vertical team as defined by The Texas Leadership Center (1998) is a “small number of people from different levels within an organization who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable” (p.18). In its broadest since educators can mean any teacher, administrator, or paraprofessional who has a direct impact on student learning. At the teacher level, vertical teaming consists of the use of activities that bring together teachers from various grade levels for the purpose of improving student learning. For instance, Kindergarten teachers and First Grade teachers might collaborate on an activity that involves sharing examples about how they teach students various mathematics concepts. In addition, the members of each grade level might discuss the curriculum’s learning expectations for students at the start of their school year, and the end of the school year for the students in their respective grade level. As teachers use vertical teaming to share their expertise in their given grade levels teachers often obtain the following benefits: 1. Develop added respect for what the other grade level does to facilitate student learning which results in better collegiality. 2. Learn where students should end the year in the grade level below their grade level, which results in better curriculum alignment. 3. Learn where students should be at the start of the grade level above their grade level which results in better curriculum alignment. 4. Increase teacher collaboration which results in teams that operate more effectively and efficiently. 5. Increase the building’s instructional capacity for student learning, which results in an increase of the school district’s instructional capacity (Bertrand, Roberts, and Buchanan, 2006). All of these benefits help to lay the foundation for future student learning opportunities. Future learning opportunities are often created through technology developments, and changes in the local and global work environments.