Assessing the Impact of Informal Control Strategies on Growth in Teacher Trust in Accelerated Schools

• In Event: 65.021 - Developing Tools for Equity Awareness in School Improvement: Support, Development, and Networking for Teachers and Leader

Abstract

Despite emphasis on the use of informal or social control mechanisms in education for building trust, no empirical basis currently exists to support causal linkage between the use of social controls and the development of trust. Using data from the Study for Instructional Improvement (SII), our purpose was to investigate the impact of the Accelerated Schools (ASP) approach to instructional change on growth in teacher-teacher relational trust by means of propensity score (PS) matching analysis. Findings revealed no appreciable effect of the ASP program on change in teacher trust when compared to control schools. Analysis of high and low trust-growth schools revealed that high trust growth schools had better school and district plan specificity and more prevalent decision-making.

Author

• Timothy G. Ford, University of Oklahoma