One of the latest buzzwords in education is the “power of teams” or “collective efficacy.” My district (BCSD) outlines that very notion of building collective efficacy to impact student learning in its ‘Vision 2021’ because its leaders truly believe that the only way to move schools forward, lies in our teams. Collective efficacy is defined as the collective belief of teachers to positively affect students. This is more than a buzzword, trend, or phase that will pass. John Hattie’s meta-analyses reveal and prove this to be true that collective efficacy has the highest effect on student achievement. Therefore, collective efficacy must be woven into the fabric of the culture and ethos of the school as it creates the systems, structures, and protocols for our schools to function as successful organizations of learning.
Reflecting on my past two years as a new principal, I have learned that the greatest influence that I have as a principal is over the narrative of the school. Where we invest our time, resources, and energy will send the message of what is important and the priority of our school. In their book, Leading Impact Teams, Paul Bloomberg and Barb Pitchford state that “teachers are our greatest resource,” and I couldn’t agree more with that statement. Consequently, we invest our resources in building capacity and continuous professional learning: learning for both students and adults. The way to build collective efficacy lies in the willingness to learn and grow individually and collectively with our teams. Our learning must be set at high levels and expectations while stretching ourselves beyond our comfort zones.
If we aren’t willing to stretch ourselves outside of our comfort zones, how are we to facilitate better learning experiences for our students? That is the question we must ask of ourselves. Our teams at our school are beginning to understand that it’s not the programs or new textbook adoption that will raise student achievement, but themselves. We are beginning to trust one another by being vulnerable, admitting failures, sharing ideas, and being open and honest with one another when we don’t have the answers. This is visible in the way our teams collaborate during our PLC time. We have created systems and structures for our teams to engage in meaningful collaboration. Instead of “lesson planning” we are striving for designing learning experiences and sharing best practices. We are moving beyond the cognitive dissonance resulting from “fidelity” to a textbook program and seeing the program more as a resource to facilitate learning and critical thinking.
Education is more than preparing our students for college and careers and raising standardized test scores; it’s about preparing our students with the life skills to become informed, ethical, and empathetic citizens. While our students need to develop the skills to be college and career ready, it is also our moral imperative to cultivate their soft skills to compete and have an “edge” in this global economy. Our teams are understanding the value of shifting our classrooms from teacher-centered to student-centered classrooms. We believe that learning and the development of soft skills take place through the 4 Cs: creation, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication. Our teams must redesign our learning experiences for our students by incorporating those 4 Cs. As we are now moving into our “fourth industrial revolution,” we must not be complacent with ourselves or our current educational landscape. Jobs are becoming more and more automated, leaving humans behind. While our students must be prepared for this new revolution, we as teachers must also engage in learning that promotes the creation, collaboration, critical thinking, and collaboration in our classrooms. Transforming our schools cannot happen with one innovative teacher or pockets of them, it can only occur with the collective efforts of our teams who are willing to learn and grow together.
Therefore, to effect change, whether its the culture, mindsets, or student achievement, it takes strong teams who believe in one another, and that together, they can accomplish anything to reimagine school to be the best for our students. This is where the power lies to transform our schools: Teams that continually learn, trust one another to do the work, challenge complacency and mediocrity, and are never satisfied with the status quo.
Lemuel Kwon currently serves as a K–5 principal for Casa Loma Elementary (@casalomaschool) in the Bakersfield City School District (BCSD). She has served in various capacities for BCSD: as a teacher, academic coach, dean of students, and vice principal. She enjoys working with and learning alongside her staff, the best staff in BCSD!
