Ten Traits of Highly Effective Schools by McEwan-Adkins Elaine K.;

Author:McEwan-Adkins, Elaine K.; [McEwan, Elaine K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1651811
Publisher: Corwin Press
Published: 2008-07-16T00:00:00+00:00

HIGH EXPECTATIONS AND EFFICACY

To have faith in one’s ability to raise achievement in a school where students have previously never been engaged and motivated requires a strong sense of personal efficacy. Ensuring academic success for very-low-performing students also requires collective efficacy, a belief in the abilities of one’s colleagues to come alongside and do their share. However, some educators simply do not believe that raising the achievement of low-performing students is possible. They have closed their minds to the confirming data and impressive results from other schools. These individuals fall into a category of educators that Jeff Howard (2003) of the Efficacy Institute describes this way: “There is a widespread culture of disbelief in the learning capacities of many of our children, especially children of color and the economically disadvantaged. Most educators, along with other Americans, have been socialized to believe that intelligence is innate, fixed at birth, and unequally distributed: ‘Some have it and some don’t’” (p. 83). In addition to the disbelievers, there are many educators who are worried that they may not be capable of motivating and engaging disengaged students. Both the disbelievers and those who feel powerless to make a difference need embedded professional development, high expectations, encouragement, and multiple opportunities for scaffolded learning from a strong instructional leader and their colleagues.

Psychologist Albert Bandura defined self-efficacy as the “belief in one’s capacity to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (Bandura, 1997, p. 3). There have been many studies showing a strong relationship between teachers’ perceived self-efficacy and their students’ achievement (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Tschannen-Moran, Hoy, & Hoy, 1998). Perceived collective efficacy refers to “the judgment of teachers in a school that the faculty as a whole can organize and execute the courses of action required to have a positive effect on students” (Goddard, Hoy, & Hoy, 2004, p. 4).

The experience that is most predictive of future success is a previous mastery experience. For example, a group of teachers or a team of athletes that has achieved success at least once automatically increases their likelihood of doing it again.

Some teachers pose this question when they overhear gossip in the teachers’ lounge about a former student who has failed another course or been suspended one more time. “What did you expect?” they say, throwing up their hands. “I could have told you so.”

Here’s my answer to the question, “What did you expect?”

“Well, actually I expected a whole lot more. I expected the student would be able to make the grade and stay in school. I expected that working as a team, this staff could make a difference in this student’s life.”

Success for students, whether low achieving or honor roll, is about expectations. Students who don’t arrive at school with a built-in set of expectations need highly effective teachers to give them theirs.

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