This article reports the progress of one project aimed at bringing together professionals from post-secondary and K-12 environments. The project is being implemented at Richards Middle (RMS) in Columbus, Georgia and involves a collaborative partnership between several universities and RMS, resulting in a school-based evaluation initiative with direct implications for strengthening leadership, training, and instructional practices in schools. Faculty researchers from three universities from two states, Troy University, Columbus State University, and Auburn University are working collaboratively with faculty and staff of Richards Middle School on an inquiry with a three-fold purpose. The primary goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme in its first year of implementation in the sixth grade. A second goal of the investigation is to evaluate the effectiveness of the staff training and development process employed during the initial year in terms of effective professional learning practices. A third goal is to investigate the effectiveness of the collaborative process itself in terms of the implementation of the dialogic approach discussed in Clark, et al. (1996)
