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Encouraging Teacher Voice can Improve School Culture

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Encouraging Teacher Voice can Improve School Culture

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Read more about the research in this news brief.

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Dive Brief:

Writing for eSchool News, education and communications consultant Jennifer Abrams details how educators can develop a positive voice to improve school culture, based on her own experiences in making the move from the classroom to a teacher leader/coach position.

Abrams writes that a large part of those efforts must focus on building a "climate of trust" in which teachers collectively believe that what they do every day is making a positive impact on the lives of their students as well as on their communities at large.

To foster positive school cultures, educators should use their voice by listening as much as talking, considering how they deliver their message (ensuring they don't just talk about themselves or only offer their own solutions rather than hearing out those put forth by others), keep their tone in mind, and consider how they ask questions.

Dive Insight:

Alongside the expected return of educational decision-making power to the state and district level under ESSA has come a push for a greater degree of decision-making influence from the bottom up rather than the top down. By giving teachers a sense of empowerment and agency in their daily activities, administrators can build a culture that encourages innovation and provides educators a greater sense of professional fulfillment.

A panel at this year's SXSWedu conference detailed how teachers are often a school's or district's greatest untapped innovation engines. As Gwinnett County Public Schools Teacher of the Year Valerie Lewis told those in attendance, "If we're bored to death, we're not giving our kids the best of us," further elaborating on her own experiences creating a living museum for Black History Month and an "Ed Obstacles" event inspired by her 9-year-old son's obsession with the American Ninja Warrior TV series.

The power of teacher voice has also been seen in schools like Minnesota's Impact Academy at Orchard Lake, where Superintendent Lisa Snyder allowed a group of teachers to reimagine the school as three "vertical, K-5 communities" that each have autonomy to make decisions like knocking down walls for open class environments where students can work across grade levels in their "right fit" groups.

Top image credit: Adobe Stock

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Encouraging teacher voice can improve school culture

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Writing for eSchool News, education and communications consultant Jennifer Abrams details how educators can develop a positive voice to improve school culture, based on her own experiences in making the move from the classroom to a teacher leader/coach position.

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Consider administering a survey to ask teachers to reflect on how inclusive and collaborative the school culture is.

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Consider implementing Pineapple Charts so teachers can share best practices with each other and distribute curriculum leadership among staff. You can learn more about

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This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. If you click these and make a purchase from Amazon, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support.

Professional Development: The phrase has a way of striking dread into the hearts of teachers. But not because teachers don't WANT to improve. Not because we believe we're done growing and learning. Far from it.

In fact, so many teachers bristle at the thought of PD because most of the time, it's executed so poorly. Although the typical one-size-fits-all format-where every teacher in the building is herded together to listen to an expert speak-has been widely denounced, it still persists as the default model. Sometimes, if the speaker happens to be engaging, some teachers will walk away with a small tidbit they can apply to their own work. For most teachers, though, it feels like a waste of precious time, time that could be spent developing skills that would make a real difference in their specific practice.

But things are starting to change. More and more schools are experimenting with personalized approaches to professional development; this guide from EdSurge takes a comprehensive look at all the different shapes this can take. And as new unconferences pop up every week all over the world, teachers are seeing just how easy it can be to learn from each other, without the need for any kind of outside expert.

And now, taking PD to an even simpler, more local, more affordable level, we have the Pineapple Chart.

What is a Pineapple Chart?

A Pineapple Chart is a system that allows teachers to invite one another into their classrooms for informal observation. The chart is set up in some location where teachers go on a daily basis: the teacher's lounge, the copy room, or wherever teacher mailboxes live in your school. On the chart, teachers "advertise" the interesting things they are doing in their classrooms, activities they think others might want to observe. The activities could be as complex as a science lab, a history simulation, or a Skype session with a school in another country. Or they could be as simple as a read-aloud or a lesson on badminton.

The chart represents one week of school. Along the top, five columns are labeled Monday through Friday. Along the side, rows assigned to various chunks of each school day. In a middle or high school, these would be class periods. In an elementary school, the rows could be divided by hours or half-hours.

When a teacher sees something on the chart she (or he) is interested in, she goes to that classroom at the designated time, sits down in an out-of-the-way spot, and watches. That's it. No note-taking is required, no post-observation conference, no write-up. Just a visit. She can even grade papers or catch up on email if she wants, paying closer attention when the moment calls for it, but getting work done in the meantime. She can stay for five minutes or a whole class period. The key word here is informal, and it's the best way for teachers to learn lots of skills and techniques just when they need them.

The reasons the visiting teacher might come in are endless: It could be that she wants to start using Google Cardboard, but would like to see another teacher do it first. Maybe she's struggling with classroom management and knows this teacher runs a tight ship. Or maybe she's there because she always wanted to learn more about World War I. Regardless of the initial reason, what she ends up learning is likely to be far more than she expected. During that Google Cardboard visit, she'll also notice a cool bulletin board in that teacher's classroom and decide to try something similar in her room. While watching the lesson on World War I, she'll pick up a questioning technique she ends up using in her own teaching. Every teacher in your building has their own unique blend of skills and talents, but the only way you'll ever learn about them is to see your colleagues in action.

The Origins of the Pineapple Chart

The pineapple has long been a symbol of hospitality; it's used in the chart in the spirit of welcoming one another into our school "homes."

But that's just the beginning. Here's how the Pineapple Chart came to be: In early 2015, Mark Barnes and I were compiling innovative teaching "hacks" for our book, Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School. I remembered my sister, who teaches science in Massachusetts, telling me about her attempts to start a "Pineapple Welcome" initiative at her school, where teachers would hang a picture of a pineapple outside their classroom doors, indicating that any other teacher who wanted to visit was welcome to stop by.

When I asked her how the whole pineapple thing went, she said, "Eh. Some people came in, but usually I would hang the pineapple and nothing would happen. I stopped doing it after a while."

This bothered me, because some of the most valuable skills I have picked up as a teacher came from informally observing my colleagues in their classrooms. I feel strongly that some of the best professional development available to teachers lives right inside the walls of our schools, and if we could just watch each other teach more, we would all grow exponentially.

Just hanging the pineapple on the door, I realized, had two shortcomings. One, it was only visible to teachers who happened to pass by that door on that day. And two, it didn't offer enough information: Just seeing a pineapple on the door tells the visitor nothing about what's going on inside. If a teacher is going to spend time visiting another teacher's classroom, he wants to know that the thing he's coming to observe is something he's actually interested in. A chart posted in a central location, with a bit of information about the day's activities, solves both problems.

We asked my sister to pilot this centralized system at her school, and the first Pineapple Chart was born. Since the publication of Hacking Education, the Pineapple Chart system has taken off in schools all across the world, and the results have been fantastic.

Two Schools Where Pineapple Charts Are Making an Impact

Gator Run Elementary, Weston, Florida

"The Pineapple Chart has been a game changer for the staff at Gator Run," says Intern Principal Cyndi Felton, who initiated Gator Run's first Pineapple Chart in January of 2016. "We have some of the very best PD available under our own roof. Now teachers have the opportunity to get into each other's classrooms and learn from one another."

Since the chart has been going, Felton has seen teachers trying new things more quickly. "Last year we noticed tools and strategies spreading throughout the building after Pineapple Chart visits. Kahoot, Nearpod, Plickers, in-class flipped lessons, SeeSaw, and performance scales in addition to unique procedures, classroom management and teaching strategies."

Maple Avenue Middle School, Littlestown, Pennsylvania

In January of 2016, when Assistant Principal Cortney Golden first launched the chart in her school, she worked hard to keep it full. "I was very aware that if we lost momentum, and the chart was blank, it would die. I sent staff-wide emails, group emails, personal emails, face to face requests, and even had my secretary appealing to teachers to sign up. Getting teachers to sign up was my first priority....then, once that became more automatic, we began to 'push' visiting."

Since then, informal observation and an open-door policy have become part of the school's culture. So much so that the word "pineappling" has become a verb:

"Collectively, we embrace pineappling now more than ever," says Golden. "As teachers desire to grow their craft, to foster 21st century skills, and to help students discover and pursue their passions, it becomes clear to all that teachers need each other. Pineappling gives teachers the permission they feel they need to collaborate, observe, ask, and reflect. It is a 'safe' and powerful professional development opportunity. Pineappling is free, fits within the school day, and has proven to be the BEST professional growth experience."

Tips for Making Pineapple Charts Work

Find creative ways to make the time.
The simplest way to squeeze these visits in is for teachers to do them during their planning time, or part of it. Remember, we're not talking about a whole class period necessarily; a 15-minute visit may be all that's needed to pick up a new strategy. In cases where teachers want to see something that doesn't coincide with planning time, the staff will need to be more creative:

A floating sub can be arranged for a day (or a few days) and teachers can "sign up for the sub" in order to visit another room.

Administrators (or other certified personnel) can step in to cover a class. This solution does double-duty, as it gives the principal some time to interact more closely with small groups of students. Instead of covering the teacher's regular material, the administrator could use this time for having discussions about school issues or just getting to know the students.

Teachers can team up to cover each other's classes. Imagine a scenario where teacher A agrees to cover teacher B's class while teacher B observes in teacher C's room. Then everyone switches roles two more times. A motivated school might even experiment with a second chart (beside the Pineapple Chart) where teachers post a need for coverage and other teachers sign up to cover for them.

Keep it voluntary.
Administrators, be warned! The quickest way to suck the life out of this initiative is to make it mandatory for all teachers. By keeping visits informal and strictly voluntary (for the host teacher AND the visitor), you'll ensure that the Pineapple Chart is always seen as a positive thing, a learning opportunity initiated by the teacher.

Skip the documentation.
An equally fast way to drain people's enthusiasm for visits is to force them to do some kind of write-up afterward. Please don't turn the chart into another reason to require teachers to document. If they know paperwork is expected of them, they will be far less likely to visit.

Start with the bold and the brave...
When you first launch the Chart, many teachers will be shy about posting lessons. Get things going by having your most extroverted teachers sign up first. If you get a group of 5-10 teachers willing to put themselves out there, this will eventually help others step forward as well.

...but set the bar low.
Make sure teachers know they don't have to be doing something 'impressive' in order to post a lesson to the chart. "The hardest part is getting teachers to understand it doesn't have to be an extravagant lesson to sign up," says Felton. "Their everyday strategies and standard procedures can be incredibly helpful to someone who has never seen or thought of it. You really never know what you might learn whether it's a 5- or a 25-minute visit."

Sell it.
Especially when you first get started, encourage those who do the observing to share the good things they saw by talking about it in faculty meetings, sharing a compliment on a teacher "brag board" or posting about it online. At Maple Avenue, Golden encouraged teachers to tweet about their experiences using the hashtag#MAMSLearning. "This helped keep the excitement high, and the pressure low," she says. "Although I still have to harass teachers every once and again (I call it "gently wooing") to showcase the teaching and learning in their classroom, it has become very much part of our culture."

Share Your Story

If your school has already started using a Pineapple Chart, tell us about it in the comments. I would love to hear about tweaks you've made to the system and how the system is impacting teacher relationships and student growth.

Learn More

The Pineapple Chart is just one of the 10 hacks Mark Barnes and I share in our 2015 book, Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School. Get your copy today and start hacking tomorrow! ♦

Learn something new every week.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll also get access to my members-only library of free resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading!

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How Pineapple Charts Revolutionize Professional Development

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As one-size-fits-all PD fades into obscurity, more personalized professional development models have emerged. The Pineapple Chart may be the greatest of them all.

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Teacher-Led Professional Development: A Proposal for a Bottom-Up Structure Approach

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Teacher-Led Professional Development: A Proposal for a Bottom-Up Structure Approach

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Learn about the impact of teacher-led professional development in the peer-reviewed article,  Teacher-Led Professional Development: A Proposal for a Bottom-Up Structure Approach from the International Journal of Teacher Leadership.

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Changing Teacher Feedback to Improve School Culture

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Changing Teacher Feedback to Improve School Culture

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There are additional options to optimize teacher voice so learn about additional strategies to collect feedback in Changing Teacher Feedback to Improve School Culture.

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Feedback is most powerful when it is solicited in meaningful, intentional ways, and school administrators can use it to leverage momentum towards change in school culture. In other words, changing teacher feedback from a pro forma administrative exercise to gaining knowledge from colleagues' thoughts and ideas is like fuel in a gas tank. Here are some ways to diversify feedback to drive powerful change:

It Doesn't Always Have To Be an Email Survey

Make sure that you are creating opportunities for formal and informal feedback. It's wonderful to send out email surveys after major programming shifts to find out how your community is impacted by major changes. It's equally important and helpful to mind the cultural barometer of your school. Tools like SurveyMonkey and Google Forms are great, but they may not be helpful in changing teacher feedback. A principal friend at another school has his staff do an activity at the beginning of faculty meetings. Upon arrival, he gives every member of his team a post-it note and asks them to tell him what went right that day. It's a small thing, but he gets great insight into the inner workings of their school.

Make It Personal

When you are asking for feedback, have a specific goal in mind about the information you are seeking. Thanks for the Feedback suggests three types of essential feedback: appreciation, coaching, and evaluation. Likely, as an administrator, your default is to ask for evaluation, therefore, what you receive from colleagues will be along those lines. No healthy relationship can rest if evaluation is the sole mode of feedback. You can gain important insight when you seek coaching from your school community. Instead of asking those you lead to evaluate the effectiveness of a given program, initiative, or project, consider a two question survey. Consider open-ended questions like, "What is getting in the way of our work together?" and "As we move forward, how can I best serve our community?" Direct questions signal your personal investment.

Consider A 360 Review

When was the last time your leadership was formally evaluated by members of your team? Formal feedback is limited to insights from people who don't see us daily. A 360 review gives individuals the chance to be evaluated by a small group of peers and can provide powerful insights. This can help you better see how others perceive you. It gives you the opportunity to continue to develop your leadership with intentionality.

Go Big Picture to Boost Morale

To address the big-picture needs of your community, consider conducting monthly culture surveys for one year. In monthly all-school meetings, ask faculty and staff to complete a quick paper-based check-in with the following questions. Respondents can rank the following questions by selecting "always," "sometimes," "not usually," or "never".

The community of adults I work with caring.

I feel comfortable approaching administrators with concerns.

My supervisor appreciates my contributions to our shared work.

My work with students contributes directly to the mission of the school.

These responses will reveal opportunities for growth. We all know good feelings abound in September, but what can we do to keep staff feeling connected? We can be intentional with our messaging and our actions so our colleagues see us as accessible and responsive.

Unless you use the feedback you get, asking for feedback will seem like an empty gesture. Your colleagues must see policies, practices, and procedures that reflect the feedback they have given you. If they can see that you have thoughtfully considered their ideas, you can gain trust, appreciation and even better feedback.
Join our Facebook group Principal Life for more conversation about and insights into the challenges of school leadership.

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Changing Teacher Feedback May Improve School Culture

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Feedback is most powerful when it is solicited in meaningful, intentional ways, and school administrators can use it to leverage momentum towards change in school culture. In other words, changing teacher feedback from a pro forma administrative exercise to gaining knowledge from colleagues' thoughts and ideas is like fuel in a gas tank.

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Building a School Culture that Supports Teacher Leadership

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Building a School Culture that Supports Teacher Leadership

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This is an exceptional resource from the Massachusetts Department of Education, which outlines the type of school culture that promotes teacher leadership. As you explore Building a School Culture that Supports Teacher Leadership consider which of the components are already in place when you’re viewing the sections titles, “What this looks like…” and which ones that need to be addressed through thoughtful improvement planning. You could also use the “What this looks like…” statements and provide staff with a survey to rate their level of agreement with the statements.

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Understand the three enabling conditions to increase teacher efficacy in this article, written by Dr. Jenni Donohoo is a best-selling Corwin author.

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Amazing things happen when a school staff shares the belief that they are able to achieve collective goals and overcome challenges to impact student achievement. Recently, Professor John Hattie ranked collective teacher efficacy as the number one factor influencing student achievement (Hattie, 2016) based on a meta-analysis by Eells (2011). Collective teacher efficacy refers to the "collective self-perception that teachers in a given school make an educational difference to their students over and above the educational impact of their homes and communities" (Tschannen-Moran & Barr, 2004, p. 190). Rachel Jean Eells' (2011) meta-analysis demonstrated that collective efficacy and student achievement were strongly related with an effect size of 1.57. According to the Visible Learning Research (Hattie, 2012), this is more than double the effect size of feedback (0.75). Collective teacher efficacy is beyond three times more powerful and predictive than socio-economic status (0.52). It is also greater than three times more likely to influence student achievement than student motivation and concentration, persistence, and engagement (0.48).

Collective teacher efficacy, as an influence on student achievement, is a contribution that comes from the school-not the home and not the students themselves. According to the Visible Learning Research (Hattie, 2012), it is more than double the effect of prior achievement (0.65) and more than triple the effect of home environment (0.52) and parental involvement (0.49). This supports Bob Marzano's (2003) conclusion, based on his analysis of research conducted over thirty-five years, that "schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student backgrounds" (p. 7). Research shows that at the school level, collective teacher efficacy beliefs contribute significantly to the school's level of academic success.

Three Conditions That Enable Collective Teacher Efficacy to Flourish

Perceptions of collective efficacy however, vary greatly among schools. Some staffs believe that through their collaborative efforts they can help students achieve in measurable ways, while others feel that they can do very little to impact student results. The adaptive challenge is in shifting the latter group's beliefs. Although there is still much to be learned in regard to factors that contribute to collective efficacy, existing research provides guidance on three enabling conditions for collective teacher efficacy to flourish. While enabling conditions do not cause things to happen, they increase the likelihood that things will turn out as expected. Attending to these three enabling conditions will help in realizing the possibility of collective teacher efficacy in schools.

#1. Advanced Teacher Influence

There is a clear and strong relationship between collective efficacy and the extent of teacher leadership in a school (Derrington & Angelle, 2013; Goddard, 2002; Knobloch, 2007). Advanced teacher influence involves teachers assuming specific leadership roles and, along with that, the power to make decisions on school-wide issues. Sherri Lewis (2009) suggested that "with more opportunity to participate in school decision-making, teams build more mastery experiences in this type of decision-making and experience social persuasion through colleagues' feedback" (p. 72). In order to advance teacher influence, administrators can identify areas that might be considered for school improvement (e.g. school environment, delivery of curriculum, professional learning, collective efficacy, parental involvement, etc.) and begin to increase opportunities for teachers to become involved in meaningful ways. Providing teachers greater autonomy and influence over important decisions will help to build collective efficacy.

#2. Goal Consensus

Having a clear set of goals is important to the success of any endeavor-including school improvement. Setting measurable and appropriately challenging school goals helps educators achieve purposeful results-especially when the staff reaches consensus on which goals to set. Terri Barber Kurz and Stephanie L. Knight (2003) found that consensus on school goals was a significant predictor of collective efficacy in their study which examined the relationship between the two. It takes a special skill set to lead a group in collaboratively developing, communicating, and gaining consensus on powerful goals that transform learning, teaching, and leading. Understanding why goal setting is important and having knowledge of how goal setting works is critical to the effective execution of this leadership practice. Viviane Robinson et al. (2009) identified three conditions that must be met in setting goals.

The conditions of effective goal setting required that:

1. the team had the capacity to meet the goals;

2. the goals were clear and specific; and

3. the staff was committed to the goals.

Leaders can help build collective efficacy by communicating a strong belief in the capacity of the staff to improve the quality of teaching and learning and attain appropriately challenging goals throughout the goal setting process. Acknowledge joint accomplishments and identify and celebrate small and large wins that have resulted from team work.

#3. Responsiveness of Leadership

In schools where leaders act consistently with the principle that it is their responsibility to help others carry out their duties effectively, leaders are responsive and show concern and respect for their staff. Responsive leaders demonstrate an awareness of the personal aspects of teachers and protect teachers from issues and influences that detract from their teaching time or focus. This includes providing teachers with materials and learning opportunities necessary for the successful execution of their job. When principals demonstrate the ability to respond to the needs of the staff, teachers feel supported and they have a greater belief in their collective ability to affect student outcomes. Staffs respond positively by working more diligently. Responsiveness requires awareness of situations - the details and undercurrents in the school. Is anything preventing the team from carrying out their duties effectively? If so, how can leaders respond to the situation in a way in which the team will feel supported?

In Conclusion

If educators' realities are filtered through the belief that they can do very little to influence student achievement, then it is very likely these beliefs will be manifested in their practice. Rather than leaving it to chance, it is timely and important to consider how collective efficacy beliefs may be fostered in schools and organizations. Three enabling conditions, identified from research on school characteristics associated with collective teacher efficacy, were outlined above. While there is no failsafe set of steps leaders can take, by attending to the enabling conditions, change leaders increase the likelihood that collective efficacy will be fostered. By strengthening collective teacher efficacy, teachers will develop the resolve to persist against challenges and realize increased student results. Given its effect on student learning and achievement, the importance of strengthening collective efficacy must not be understated or overlooked.

Dr. Jenni Donohoo is a best-selling Corwin author. In her latest book, entitled Collective Efficacy: How Educators' Beliefs Impact Student Learning she outlines additional enabling conditions along with leadership practices, professional learning designs and protocols for fostering collective efficacy in schools. This book will be available this fall.

References:

Derrington, M., & Angelle, P. (2013). Teacher leadership and collective efficacy:

Connections and links. International Journal of Teacher Leadership, 4(1),

1- 13.

Eells, R. (2011). Meta-analysis of the Relationship Between Collective Efficacy and

Student Achievement. Dissertation. Loyola University of Chicago.

Goddard, R. (2002). Collective efficacy and school organization: A multilevel analysis of

teacher influence in schools. Theory and Research in Educational Administration,

Hattie, J. (2016). Personal communication with the author.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning.

Routledge. New York, NY.

Knobloch, S. (2007). Teacher Participation in Decision Making and Collective Efficacy.

Dissertation. University of Virginia.

Kurz, T. B., & Knight, S. (2003). An exploration of the relationship among teacher

efficacy, collective teacher efficacy, and goal consensus. Learning Environments

Research, 7, 111-128.

Lewis, S. (2009). The Contribution of Elements of Teacher Collaboration to Individual and
Collective Teacher Efficacy. Dissertation, Curry School of Education, University of
Virginia.

Marzano, R. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action.

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA.

Robinson, V., Hohepa, M. & Lloyd, C. (2009). School leadership and student outcomes:

Identifying what works and why. Best evidence synthesis iteration [BES]. New

Zealand: Ministry of Education.

Tschannen-Moran, M., & Barr, M. (2004). Fostering student learning: The relationship of

collective teacher efficacy and student achievement. Leadership and Policy in

Schools, 3(3), 189-209.

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author: Jennifer Bay-Williams & Maggie McGatha

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Fostering Collective Teacher Efficacy: Three Enabling Conditions - Corwin Connect

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Amazing things happen when a school staff shares the belief that they are able to achieve collective goals and overcome challenges to impact student achievement. Recently, Professor John Hattie ranked collective teacher efficacy as the number one factor influencing student achievement (Hattie, 2016) based on a meta-analysis by Eells (2011).

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What is teacher efficacy and why does it matter?

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What is teacher efficacy and why does it matter?

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Read this blog by the staff at Concordia University.

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Efficacy-or a teacher's level of confidence about their ability-can greatly depend on past experiences or on their current school culture. A bad classroom experience or negative work environment, for example, can quickly sour a teacher's confidence. Conversely, witnessing student growth and working in a collaborative environment can boost a teacher's belief in their ability and improve performance. As you can imagine, school leaders play a critical role in developing teacher efficacy within their school community. Here, we'll explain the importance of teacher efficacy and how administrators can help teachers feel valued, confident, and successful.

What is teacher efficacy?

Teacher efficacy is when a teacher believes in their own ability to guide their students to success. For over thirty years, researchers have explored the link between teacher self-efficacy and student achievement. Research suggests that teachers with a strong sense of self-efficacy tend to be better planners, more resilient through failure, and more open-minded and supportive with students. Collective efficacy is when a staff of teachers believe that together they can inspire growth and change in their students.

Why teacher efficacy matters

According to Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning by John Hattie, collective teacher efficacy has the greatest impact on student achievement-even higher than factors like teacher-student relationships, home environment, or parental involvement.

That might seem surprising, but it actually makes sense. A teacher who lacks confidence is less likely to push students, try new methods, or push through difficulty. When teachers are confident in their ability, persistent through challenge, and innovative in their practices, students can really benefit. Anita Woolfolk, a psychologist specializing in childhood education, noted that "teachers who set high goals, who persist, who try another strategy when one approach is found wanting-in other words, teachers who have a high sense of efficacy and act on it-are more likely to have students who learn." So, what can school leaders do to build teacher efficacy in their school?

How administrators can build teacher efficacy

Make teachers true stakeholders

Empowering teachers to take on leadership roles gives educators a true stake in their school. When teachers have a role in making important school decisions, feel their voices are heard, and can actively participate in building school culture, efficacy is raised. Top-down, overly evaluative leadership models can lower teacher self-efficacy and ultimately demoralize teachers, negatively impacting classroom achievement. When teachers and leadership work together toward mutual goals, so grows a shared belief in the direction of the work and the ability to effect change with students.

Praise and share the good

Yes, teachers are just doing their job, but a bit of encouragement goes a long way toward building a culture of strong teacher efficacy-and remember, praise isn't just about patting someone on the back. Effective praise in schools is authentic recognition of a teacher's hard work and the resulting student successes. It's also about sharing that work with others as a model of excellence. Teachers who feel valued and see positive outcomes for their students are more likely to persist in their efforts. A school that routinely recognizes the efforts and accomplishments of its teachers builds a community that believes in its members, collaborates, and continually pushes to do more. That's some powerful collective efficacy.

Collaborate and listen

Building a collaborative environment is key toward building collective and individual teacher efficacy. Teachers need to know what's happening in other classrooms to build trust and confidence in each other's ability to guide students to success. They also need time to share their ideas with each other and to work together toward building school-wide best practices. Leaders can assist by providing co-planning time, exhibiting models of excellence, and hosting norming exercises for teachers to build and revisit a collective school mission. And of course, it goes without saying, when teachers are sharing their ideas with you, actively listen; actively show that you care about their insights and opinions, and ask questions.

Acknowledge the hardships

The demands of teaching can be overwhelming. It's easy for educators to feel like they're drowning in paperwork, lesson planning, grading, teaching multiple courses and the many extracurricular activities they generally take on. A leader who truly understands and acknowledges the workload helps teachers feel like they're not just endlessly treading water. When a leader doesn't assist teachers who feel overwhelmed, they can lose their sense of efficacy. They may feel like they're failing, and may blame themselves for not keeping up. Classroom instruction, in turn, is sure to be affected. How you can help: empathize with your teachers, listen when they ask for help, and do what you can to help them manage their responsibilities. If you do, you're more likely to have teachers who feel valued and supported in getting things done.

Provide useful professional development

Nothing feels more counterproductive than useless Professional Development (PD) meetings. A school's staff members are all at different points in their careers, possess varying levels of experience, and have likely sat through many workshops on any day's meeting's topic. When teachers receive PD on topics over and over, they can feel unrecognized and stagnant, lowering their sense of efficacy. But there's another way! Utilizing the experience of your staff and allowing teachers to self-elect PD topics, run training sessions, and share their own work can lead to teachers who are active participants in their development, rather than passive receivers. This builds a culture of efficacy amongst staff who genuinely work together to improve their practice.

Want more ideas? Check out these books on building teacher efficacy.

Collective Efficacy: How Educators′ Beliefs Impact Student Learning
Jenni Anne Marie Donohoo

Leading Impact Teams: Building a Culture of Efficacy
Paul J. Bloomberg and‎ Barb Pitchford

Leading School Teams: Building Trust to Promote Student Learning
David M. Horton
Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning
John Hattie

Tags: Administrative Leadership, Assistant Principals, Educational Leadership, Leadership and Administration, Principals, Professional Development, Teacher Leadership

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What Is Teacher Efficacy and How Leaders Can Improve It

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Efficacy-or a teacher's level of confidence about their ability-can greatly depend on past experiences or on their current school culture. A bad classroom experience or negative work environment, for example, can quickly sour a teacher's confidence. Conversely, witnessing student growth and working in a collaborative environment can boost a teacher's belief in their ability and improve performance.

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John Hattie, the author of Visible Learning, argues that collective teacher efficacy makes the greatest impact on student achievement.  Read Collective Teacher Efficacy by John Hattie to understand how powerful the outcomes of efficacy are for students.

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Collective Teacher Efficacy is the collective belief of teachers in their ability to positively affect students. With an effect size of d=1.57 Collective Teacher Efficacy is strongly correlated with student achievement. Here is a quick overview of John Hattie's "new number one" influence.

John Hattie and his team have presented Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE) as the "new number one" influence related to student achievement several times, e.g. at the Annual Visible Learning Conference (2016) or the Collaborative Impact Conference 2017. Although Hattie's latest published list of 195 effects in The Applicability of Visible Learning to Higher Education (2015) puts CTE only in second place, its effect size of d=1.57 is still huge: it is more than two times bigger than that of feedback ( d=0.72), and almost three times bigger than the effect of classroom management ( d=0.52). The message seems to be clear: together teachers can achieve more, especially if they collectively believe that they can do so!

Hattie's new factor is based on Rachel Jean Eells' "Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Collective Teacher Efficacy and Student Achievement" ( PDF). For her Ph.D. thesis at the Loyola University Chicago, she has conducted a meta-analysis of 26 studies on Collective Teacher Efficacy and found that "the weighted average effect size of r-mean (outlier removed) was 0.617″. This number can easily be converted into Cohen's d=1.568, the number Hattie reports.

The concept of Collective Teacher Efficacy itself is much older. It was introduced in the 1990s by Albert Bandura and is rooted in his concept of self-efficacy, Bandura (1993, 1997). He defines collective efficacy as "a group's shared belief in the conjoint capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given levels of attainment." Bandura found that the positive effects of CTE on student academic performance more than outweigh the negative effects of low socioeconomic status.

His findings were later confirmed by Goddard, Hoy, and Hoy (2000). In their studies, they could demonstrate that between-school differences of collective teacher efficacy were more important in explaining student achievement than socioeconomic status. Moreover, Hoy, Sweetland, and Smith (2002) found that the strength of CTE helps the positive effects of individual teacher efficacy and vice versa. A stronger collective teacher efficacy seems to encourage individual teachers to make a more effective use of the skills they already have.

According to Hattie's presentation at the Collaborative Impact Conference 2017 "Collective Teacher Efficacy" is not about making teachers feel good about themselves. It is more complicated than just believing you can make a difference collectively. One of the authors that come closest to Hattie's definition "collaborative conversation based on evidence" is Jenni Donohoo with her book " Collective Efficacy: How Educators' Beliefs Impact Student Learning ".

For further reading and a practical guide about how to build Collective Teacher Efficacy in your school, you should read the short and excellent Issue Brief " Building Collective Efficacy " by Dana Brinson and Lucy Steiner.

Update

In recent a video John Hattie explains what Collective Teacher Efficacy is, and what it isn't. Have a look.

References:

BANDURA, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28 (2), 117-148. (Abstract)

BANDURA, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY, US: W H Freeman. (Book)

BRINSON & STEINER (2007): Building Collective Efficacy: How Leaders Inspire Teachers to Achieve. Issue Brief. The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement. ( PDF)

EELLS, R. J. (2011): Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Collective Teacher Efficacy and Student Achievement, (Abstract / Full text)

GODDARD, HOY, WOOLFOLK HOY (2000): Collective Teacher Efficacy: Its Meaning, Measure, and Impact on Student Achievement. In: American Educational Research Journal Vol 37, Issue 2, pp. 479 - 507 (Abstract)

HATTIE, J. (2015): The Applicability of Visible Learning to Higher Education. In: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1 (1), 79-91. (Abstract)

HATTIE, J. (2016). Third Visible Learning Annual Conference: Mindframes and Maximizers, Washington, DC, July 11, 2016. (Programme)

HOY, SWEETLAND, SMITH (2002). Toward an organizational model of achievement in high schools: The significance of collective efficacy. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38 (1), 77-93. (Abstract)

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Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE) according to John Hattie - VISIBLE LEARNING

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Collective Teacher Efficacy is the collective belief of teachers in their ability to positively affect students. With an effect size of d=1.57 Collective Teacher Efficacy is strongly correlated with student achievement. Here is a quick overview of John Hattie's "new...Read more ›