Because many school and system leaders and policymakers advocate and support teacher collaboration as a means to improve student achievement, it’s important to understand how collaboration, teacher characteristics, and school characteristics interact to affect student achievement — and how the Standards for Professional Learning (Learning Forward, 2011) fit into this equation. What are the Components of a Strong Collaborative Environment? How can schools and systems create structures and supports so educators engage in the kinds of collaborative problem solving and intentional learning that they value? What do lead learners need to consider? Here are several critical factors in supporting meaningful collaboration and questions to ask when addressing each. Time When educators talk about their learning needs, they cite time as the resource they need to