Creating Conditions to Empower Teachers as Equity Leaders

• In Event: Seeking Social Justice: Teacher Leadership for Equity, Inclusion, and Advocacy

Abstract

Inequity in education does not have one single root cause. It is a result of educators’ own beliefs, school practices and routines, and also systemwide policies and structures (Author, 2018). Changes to one are limited in effectiveness without parallel to changes to the others, and many educators find this disempowering or defeating. This study examined a project designed to unite educators from throughout the system as leaders of equity-focused inquiry cycles coordinated to address change at multiple levels of the system. Specifically, this study sought to understand the relationship between design features of this district-wide program and these teachers’ commitment, capacity and confidence about making a difference in advancing equity in their schools and in the district.

We will have achieved equity when we have eliminated “the disparities in educational resources and achievement that are linked to demographic variables,” including socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language and disability (Kornhaber et al., 2014). This charge sounds daunting, to be sure, and constructs from the literature on efficacy and commitment can be helpful in interpreting from a social-cognitive perspective how teachers are perceiving this weighty charge. Bandura (1997) identified four influences on teachers’ efficacy: mastery experiences, physiological and emotional states, vicarious experiences, and social persuasion, with mastery experiences being the most influential among them. He further noted that teachers’ efficacy can vary across tasks and is influenced by the context. Tschannen-Moran, Hoy and Hoy (1998) extended this work to propose a theoretical model for how efficacy develops over time. And, additional researchers have examined how efficacy can be amplified within a group (Eells, 2011).

For this paper, survey and interview data collected as part of the program evaluation plan were analyzed from a social-cognitive perspective. We found that while the majority of teachers did report greater sense of commitment, capacity and confidence about being leaders in reducing inequities, several factors supported or limited their experience. Three factors were reported as contributing positively to their changed perceptions. These included the design of the network of inquiry teams, the alignment of their inquiry foci with local priorities, and the new relationships they were able to develop both with teacher colleagues and with school and district administrators. Three factors were perceived as challenges: Insufficient time for engaging in collaborative inquiry and professional learning, local politics including personnel transitions, and creating a growth mindset culture.

Equity is the watchword of the year in US schools. One would be challenged to find a school district that has not claimed this noble goal as a priority, yet equitable outcomes for students are equally rare. As practitioners pursue this complex and elusive goal, they can be challenged by whether they feel they have the will, skill and ability to make a difference. This study, which takes a social-cognitive perspective of system-wide change, contributes to theory-building on the role of program structures in creating conditions to empower teachers as equity leaders.

Authors

• Jill Harrison Berg, Educational Consultant

• Elizabeth Homan, Waltham Public Schools

• Jennifer Ostoyan, Waltham Public Schools District