- Advanced teacher influence. She describes advanced teacher influence as opportunities for teachers to participate meaningfully in important school-wide decisions.
- Goal consensus. Donohoo notes when there is strong consensus on key goals that greater consistency and alignment of effort result, thus synergizing everyone’s impact. Interestingly, this condition, even by itself, shows to increase student achievement.
- Teachers’ knowledge about one another’s work. This condition highlights the importance of collaboration, sharing, and mutual trust among staff members. Its presence also provides teachers with more frequent opportunities to learn from the effective practices of colleagues.
- Cohesive staff. Cohesion does not necessarily mean that everyone always agrees, but it does imply an agreement on fundamental educational issues. Disagreements more likely inhabit tactics and methods for addressing important issues, not the issues themselves.
- Responsiveness of leadership. This condition speaks to the importance of respect and concern demonstrated by school leaders, including protecting teachers from issues that distract from and compete with teaching time and focus.
- Effective systems of intervention. These processes and practices ensure students receive timely, effective, responsive support when they struggle or need additional assistance to be successful.
The Master Teacher Blog
Providing you, the K-12 leader, with the help you need to lead with clarity, credibility, and confidence in the ever-evolving world of education.
Latest Posts
In Your Corner, Student Learning, Thinking Frames
Unlock an Unstoppable Force for Learning
There is little question that poverty can exert a heavy influence on student learning and school success. In schools across the nation, the level of poverty experienced by students nearly predicts achievement scores. Yet, a longstanding and growing body of research points to a school-based, culture-driven strategy consistently demonstrating power to overcome poverty’s influence on student learning outcomes.
The power of this deceptively simple approach resides in the understanding that the nature of our commitment, effort, and persistence determines, or at least marks a noteworthy influence on learning outcomes. Commonly referred to as efficacy, 1970s psychologist Alfred Bandura popularized this construct.
Recently, efficacy’s role in schools received renewed attention among researchers. Specifically, researchers now seek to examine the relationship more closely between what teachers believe about their collective capacity to influence student learning outcomes and its effect on student achievement. This strand of cultural research, known as collective teacher efficacy, recently yielded surprising and important findings.
As early as 1993, Bandura concluded that the effects of collective teacher efficacy in a school could more than outweigh the negative learning effects of low socio-economic status. In the early 2000s, studies conducted by Roger Goddard (University of Michigan) concluded that collective teacher efficacy had a stronger relationship to mathematics and reading achievement than socio-economic status. Studies also show that when teachers create high levels of collective efficacy, parent relationships tend to be stronger and more positive. Even more recently, John Hattie’s meta-analysis of research on collective teacher efficacy concluded that it ranks at the top among the most powerful influences on student achievement.
Obviously, this is great news for educators as this strategy has its roots in the school and is not dependent on families or even students. Thus, regardless of external school circumstances students face, the presence of collective teacher efficacy can powerfully and positively influence their achievement.
Researcher and author Jenni Donohoo in her book, Collective Efficacy: How Educators’ Beliefs Impact Student Learning, describes six enabling conditions that support high levels of teacher efficacy. The six conditions are:
In Your Corner, Relationships and Connections
What It Means When Students Call Us “My Teacher”
The shift from us being the teacher formally assigned to a class to students seeing us a “their” teacher happens over time. Small steps, micro-connections, and shared experiences transform our relationships with students from the person who will instruct them to the person who will coach, nurture, and champion their learning.
Of course, some aspects of this transformation happen naturally. For many of us and many of our students, this process requires little effort and intentionality. Yet, it is an important process and deserves examination, especially since it does not always happen for every student.
A closer look reveals that there are specific actions that teachers who fully achieve the shift from “the teacher” to “my teacher” typically engage in. Here are six behaviors common to teachers who form strong connections with students:
These teachers accept students into their classrooms unconditionally. Students do not have to prove themselves. Past behavior and learning histories are not barriers to full membership in the class. Everyone belongs and is treated accordingly.
These teachers make a personal connection with students. Smiles are personal and accompanied by eye contact. The teacher notices shifts in mood and changes in appearance. Students feel as though the teacher sees and gets them. When chance encounters happen outside of the classroom, greetings leave students feeling noticed and validated.
These teachers give personal attention to their students. They listen carefully and patiently. They send a message of “I want to hear your ideas, your adventures, your observations, and your struggles.” Students feel valued and respected, and they have something worthwhile to offer.
These teachers make an emotional investment in their students. They monitor students’ responses to learning tasks and challenges to ensure they are challenged and engaged. These teachers want students to feel safe enough to take learning risks and confident enough to weather learning missteps and setbacks. They know that learning often involves struggle, but with struggle frequently comes success and satisfaction. Worry, wonder, delight, and disappointment are part of the journey.
These teachers hold high expectations for their students. They communicate to students that with conscientious effort, smart strategies, and timely support, they can learn at high levels. Their message to students is, “You can do it—and I will help.” They champion learning and celebrate with students when they solve a difficult problem, complete an important project, or reach a new level of learning.
These teachers are interested in and concerned about more than the child or young person as a student. They view formal learning in school as a part of who the student is. What happens outside of school is important and connected to learning and behavior in school. They understand that the whole of who the student is matters in their learning and matters in their lives.
We may at times take the transition from “the teacher” to “my teacher” for granted. We should not. When students consider us to be “their teacher,” they bestow on us a special honor. We then transform from organizers of routines, keepers of rules, and presenters of content, to mentors, coaches, counselors, and advocates.
In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
In Your Corner, Student Learning
Climate and Culture, In Your Corner, Student Learning
In Your Corner, Student Learning
Share Your Tips & Stories
Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.
Send Us An Email
In Your Corner, Supporting Families
Climate and Culture, In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management, Thinking Frames
Communication, In Your Corner, Thinking Frames
We’re In Your Corner!
Sign up to have the weekly publication delivered to your inbox.
As much as we sometimes want to take control and tell students what they should do when they face a difficult challenge, it usually is best to position ourselves as coaches, reflectors, and supportive advocates.
More Featured Articles
Categories