Collective Teacher Efficacy

& �Enabling Conditions

November 6, 2023

OPI HS Forum

About Matt

• Assistant principal at Flathead High school
• 5th year administrator
• Former high school science teacher and coach
• Data-informed
• “Biggest bang for the buck”
• Student of the game

Learning objectives

• Participants understand the sources of efficacy and can define collective efficacy.
• Participants become familiar with the six enabling conditions for collective efficacy to flourish.
• Participants have actionable steps to improve the collective efficacy within their buildings/districts.
• Participants are able to use the Enabling Conditions for Collective Teacher Efficacy Questionnaire (Donohoo, 2017).

Quick note: Visible Learning & Hattie

Hattie synthesizes studies (meta-analysis); he does not claim to have found all of the primary data.

Obstacles are plentiful in education…

Academic achievement…

Montana drop out rate

Inequalities…

Montana student achievement rate

Graduation rates… MT: 85.78% (2021-22)

In addition to students with serious barriers to education…

How do we remedy these obstacles?

• Academic achievement
• Inequalities
• Graduation rate
• Social/emotional health

• Canned curriculum? Charter schools?
• More money?
• More programs?
• More screeners?

Perhaps none of these things are the answer…

Perhaps the answer rests within those individuals who can truly make a difference…

Locus of control

Internal

• “I control my own destiny.”
• “I am good at school because I work hard and pay attention.”
• “We lost the game because our preparation this week was subpar.”
• “My students achieve (or did not) because of my impact on their learning.”
• Person notices a problem, “So what are we going to do about it?”

External

• “Outside factors determine my destiny.”
• “I am good at school because my dad was good at school.”
• “We lost the game this week because of the referees.”
• “My students did not achieve because the school is lower socioeconomic.
• Person notices a problem, “Well, that’s too bad, I can’t control what happens because of X, Y, and Z.”

Questionnaire

Efficacy is rooted primarily in experience…

• Have staff members been mentored and successfully completed similar tasks? (mastery experiences)
• Have staff members seen others successfully complete those tasks? (vicarious experiences)
• Have teachers told other colleagues that “We can do this!”? (social persuasion)
• What is the affective state of the group? (How do they respond to stimuli in general?)

Tile example

Mastery: 0

Vicarious: minimal

Persuasion: father

Affective state: DIY projects

What is Collective Teacher Efficacy ?

CTE: “teachers' beliefs about the faculty's capability to successfully educate students constitute a norm that influences the actions and achievements of schools”

Essentially, do individual teachers believe that the entire faculty has the ability to accomplish something? (It is task-specific.)

Misconception alert! Collective teacher efficacy is not just working together as a team. That can promote it, but is not necessarily what it is.

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Efficacy predicts…

• How long individuals persist on difficult tasks (Bandura, 1977)
• How willing individuals are at trying new instructional strategies (Ghaith & Yaghi, 1997)
• How much students enjoy the class/school (highly efficacious teachers bring more joy into the classroom) (Hayat et al., 2020)
• How teachers manage student behaviors
• Increase teacher efficacy, increase student efficacy
• Teacher job satisfaction and burnout (Klassen & Chiu, 2010)

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...a school’s collective efficacy and greater student achievement can be increased through purposeful and ongoing instructional initiatives and collaborative teaching opportunities if instructional capacity is intentionally built through the process. Therefore, school leaders should not only look to initiatives that have the promise to increase student achievement, but also those that create the potential to develop collaborative opportunities to positively affect the school’s culture and the relationships of the people in it (Versland & Erickson, 2017).

The Power of Collective Teacher Efficacy!

Placing teachers in highly efficacious staff increases their own self-efficacy

Collective Efficacy > demographics

(SES/Race/Gender)

(Hoy et al., 2002; Hattie, 2023)

Moving from a low-average to a high-average school increases +40% student achievement (Goddard et al., 2000).

Reflection

• How does this connect in my life and/or profession?

6 subscales of survey:

• Advanced Teacher Influence
• Goal Consensus
• Teachers' Knowledge About One Another's Work
• Cohesive Staff
• Responsiveness of Leadership
• Effective Systems of Intervention.

Jigsaw

Effect size of 1.20!

• Defining Teacher Leadership (Cheung et al., 2018)
• Getting Started with Peer Observation

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Jigsaw directions

Jamboard

Advanced Teacher Influence

1. Teachers are entrusted to make important decisions on school-wide issues.

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5. Teachers are provided authentic leadership opportunities.

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15. Teachers have a voice in matters related to school improvement.

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Goal Consensus

2. Improvement goals are established and understood by all faculty.

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7. There is consensus on school goals among staff.

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18. Teachers actively participate in setting school-wide improvement goals.

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Teacher Knowledge About One Another’s Work

6. I know about the classroom management strategies my colleagues use in their classrooms

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13. I know about the feedback my colleagues provide to students.

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17. I am aware of the teaching practices used by others on staff.

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Teacher Knowledge About One Another’s Work … at FHS

Teacher Knowledge About One Another’s Work … at FHS

Cohesive Staff

“The strongest and most consistent relations [when looking at teacher burnout] were found for conflicts with parents and having to organize teaching in ways one did not believe were the best,” (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007).

4. The staff holds shared beliefs about effective instructional approaches.

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8. The staff agrees about what constitutes effective classroom instruction.

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11. The staff agrees about assessment strategies that are the most effective.

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Responsiveness of Leadership

3. Administrators help us carry out our duties effectively.

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9. The leaders show concern for the staff.

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14. The leaders protect staff from issues that detract us from focusing on learning and teaching.

“...as school principals’ effective leadership behaviors increased, teachers’ collective efficacy beliefs also increased in their schools. At the same time, school principals’ effective school leadership behaviors positively and significantly predicted collective teacher efficacy,” (Cansoy & Parlar, 2017).

“The strongest and most consistent relations were found for conflicts with parents…” when comparing self-efficacy and teacher burnout (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007).

Effective Systems of Intervention

10. There is a system in place to ensure high levels of success for all students.

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12. There are systems in place for tracking and monitoring at-risk students.

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16. Students meet with success because of interventions that are in place.

“One may conclude from these data that teachers must not only believe that the intervention they are suggesting can be effective, but they must also have confidence in their ability to implement the intervention effectively” (Soodak & Podell, 1994).

Our collective efficacy…

[Data from questionnaire.]

Reflection on objectives

• Participants understand the sources of efficacy and can define collective efficacy.
• Participants become familiar with the six enabling conditions for collective efficacy to flourish.
• Participants have actionable steps to improve the collective efficacy within their buildings/districts.
• Participants are able to use the Enabling Conditions for Collective Teacher Efficacy Questionnaire (Donohoo, 2017).

References & Further Reading

Contact info:

Matt Allison

Flathead High School

allisonm@sd5.k12.mt.us

406-751-3500 x3474