This past Monday during our inservice we discussed about an educational data resource called Visible Learning and the link to the full research website can be found here:
http://www.visiblelearningmetax.com/
A fascinating piece among the multitude of studies we covered honed in on a concept I knew and felt, but never realized there were technical words to describe it — “collective teacher efficacy”…
According to the studies conducted this factor had one of the highest ratings in positively accelerating student learning. Here’s a quick definition:
The shared belief by a group of teachers in a particular educational environment that they have the skills to positively impact student outcomes.
Shared belief is contagious and it speaks to our need in working together as a staff towards goals and initiatives that will benefit our students. A current example of this is our CTE team’s efforts to pull together the Spring College and Career Fair here at Blue Valley on March 26th. It has been so exciting seeing the moving pieces come together and hearing the interest among both businesses and colleges for the opportunity! This will be a huge WIN for our students and surrounding area schools…
Yet, throughout this planning and initiating process the biggest factor has been our shared, collective belief as a team in the value this experience will have for our students and our ability to make it happen.
So, let’s take a moment and think with a broader stroke…if a shared, collective belief can have this much power on a small scale what if this belief was collectively shared by ALL our school’s stakeholders??
What if we could tap into the collective, shared belief of our parents believing they have the skills to invest and raise their child to be an outstanding human being or that they have something of value to contribute to our school!
What if we could inspire a collective, shared belief among our student body so they can realize that the greatest limits are self-imposed and that carrying a more positive self-image can help address a creeping cultural crisis.
What if we could activate the collective, shared belief of our local community by helping them seize opportunities to mentor and work alongside our young people through our various programming?
What WOULD it look like if we all, together, had a common collective, shared belief in our capacity and skill to positively impact each other and our world?
This shouldn’t be a pipe dream for our schools…being totally frank, in a distilled sense I feel, it is the COLLECTIVE purpose of our expansive education system.
Getting pumped for our upcoming Mid-Winter Symposium this week and getting to interact with other Ag teachers from across the state! Have a wonderful rest of the week my friends!
Perennial Educator 