Learning Forward
Equity and excellence in teaching and learning.
VOICES
Let's get specific about how leaders can build trust
By Jon Saphier
Categories: Collaboration, Leadership, School leadershipDecember 2018
Vol. 39 No. 6
School leadership literature repeatedly identifies trust as essential for creating high-gain schools — schools where student gain scores are more than one year’s worth of achievement at a given grade level. These are schools that get results beyond what their demographics would have predicted (e.g. Bryk & Schneider, 2002; Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, & Easton, 2010). When educators trust their leaders and each other, academic achievement rises. Not coincidently, students also develop trust and a sense of safety in the school community (LaCour, York, Welner, Valladares, & Kelley, 2017). Trust, however, doesn’t develop on its own. Leaders must engage in practices that build it. But what school leaders do to build trust has been something of a mystery. Two decades ago, Paul Black and Dylan
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VISIBLE PRACTICES OF A STRONG ADULT PROFESSIONAL CULTURE
Learning organization
1. Frequent teaching in the presence of other adults.
2. Safety to take risks, be vulnerable in front of colleagues.
3. Constant learning about high-expertise teaching.
Teams and data
4. Deep collaboration and deliberate design for interdependent work and joint responsibility for student results.
5. Nondefensive self-examination of teaching practice in relation to student results.
6. Constant use of data to refocus teaching.
Passion and press
7. Urgency and press to reach all students and do better for disadvantaged students.
8. Commitment to implement “Smart is something you can get” in classroom practice, class structures, and school policies and procedures.
Humane, caring environment
9. Humane environment of caring, appreciation, and recognition, getting to know one another, traditions we look forward to.
Critical feedback
10. Demanding and high standards for development toward high-expertise teaching for all teachers.
11. Honest, open communication and the ability to have difficult conversations.
12. Environment of reflection with habits of mindful inquiry.
Source: Saphier, 2018.
References
Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998, October). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-144.
Bryk, A. & Schneider, B. (2002). Trust in schools. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Bryk, A., Sebring, P.B., Allensworth, E., Luppescu, S., & Easton, J.Q. (2010). Organizing schools for improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Covey, S.M.R. (2006). The speed of trust. New York, NY: Free Press.
LaCour, S.E., York, A., Welner, K., Valladares, M.R., & Kelley, L.M. (2017, September). Learning from schools that close the opportunity gaps. Phi Delta Kappan, 99(1), 8-14.
Saphier, J. (n.d.). Lessons in leadership: Be vulnerable and strong [Web log post]. Available at www.saphier.org/lessons-in-leadership.
Saphier, J. (2018). Strong adult professional culture: The indispensible ingredient for sustainable school improvement. In H.J. Malone, S. Rincón-Gallardo, & K. Kew (Eds.), Future directions of educational change. New York, NY: Routledge.
Saphier, J., Haley-Speca, M.A., & Gower, R. (2018). The skillful teacher (7th ed.). Acton, MA: Research for Better Teaching.
Categories: Collaboration, Leadership, School leadership
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