Leaders' Efficacy for School Improvement: Building Teacher Collective Efficacy and Improving School Climate Under High-Stakes Accountability

• In Event: 32.023 - School Leaders' Roles and Actions Toward Improvement

Abstract

School improvement is a human endeavor with uncertainty and ambiguity that relies on social relationships. This study foregrounds the role of leadership in building schoolwide readiness to take on school improvement in the challenging context of high-stakes accountability mandates. Findings illustrate the leader’s role in building—and re-building—conditions needed for growth in positive learning environments and school performance. We suggest that a cycle of efficacy, leadership, and school climate may explain why some schools repeat cycles of low performance or unsustainable improvement, and why some schools seem to defy this trend. Helping leaders increase their self- and collective efficacy for transformational leadership and rebuilding school climate may support schools to be ready and willing to change under high stakes.

Authors

• Irene H. Yoon, University of Utah

• Sandra E Leu, University of Utah

• Cori A. Groth, University of Utah

• Ashley McKinney, University of Utah

• Andrea K. Rorrer, University of Utah