Building Teacher Efficacy in a Schoolwide PBIS Program

Building Teacher Efficacy in a School-wide PBIS Program GAPBS Conference, December 5 -6, 2018 Atlanta, GA PRESENTED BY Dr. Melanie D. James, Assistant Principal and Nora Fowler, PBIS Coach and Teacher Winterville Elementary School, Winterville, GA Clarke County School District

Essential Question: What is teacher efficacy and how can leaders build teacher efficacy within their schools to create a positive school climate?

Objectives • Participants will learn how collective teacher efficacy impacts student growth. • Participants will learn how to foster teacher efficacy. • Participants will understand the importance of collecting data to determine staff needs in regards to building a successful PBIS program. • Participants will learn some ways to develop individual and whole staff professional learning opportunities for staff members regarding PBIS ideals. • Participants will walk away with examples of easy-to-implement activities and ideas for their schools to build teacher efficiency in regards to PBIS.

Quickwrite What are some ways your school empowers teachers to feel supported and to be successful in terms of instructing students and with classroom management?

What is Teacher Efficacy? Teacher efficacy is the teacher’s level of confidence about his or her ability to guide students to success. Collective efficacy is when a staff of teachers believes that together they can inspire growth and change in their students (The Room 241 Team).

Why Building Teacher Efficacy is Important According to Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning by John Hattie, collective teacher efficacy has the greatest impact on student achievement - even higher than factors like teacher-student relationships, home environment, or parental involvement.

Why Building Teacher Efficacy is Important Teacher efficacy involves helping all teachers on the staff to understand that the way they do their work on a day-to-day basis has a significant impact on student performance. This also means that teachers should not use distal factors such as home life, socio-economic status, and motivation as reasons for poor achievement. In other words, great teachers will often try to make a difference despite these inhibitory factors.

Characteristics of Teachers with Strong Self Efficacy • • • They tend to exhibit greater levels of planning and organization. They are open to new ideas and are more willing to experiment with new methods to better meet the needs of their students. They are more persistent and resilient when things do not go smoothly. They are less critical of students when they make errors. They are less inclined to refer a difficult student to special education. Source: Jerald (2007)

Ways to Build Teacher Efficacy • Make teachers true stakeholders. Empower teachers to take on leadership roles. • Praise and share the good. Offer encouragement and authentic praise. • Collaborate and listen. Teachers need to know what’s happening in other classrooms to build trust and confidence in each other’s ability to guide students to success. • Acknowledge the hardships. The demands of teaching can be overwhelming. Administrators should empathize with their teachers, listen when they ask for help, and do what they can to help them manage their responsibilities.

Ways to Build Teacher Efficacy (cont’d) • Be responsive and show concern and respect for your staff. When administrators demonstrate the ability to respond to the needs of their staff, teachers feel supported and that have greater belief in their collective ability to affect student outcomes. • Establish a clear set of goals for the school. Setting measurable and appropriately challenging school goals helps educators achieve purposeful results. • Provide useful professional development. When teachers receive PD on topics over and over, they can feel unrecognized and stagnant, lowering their sense of efficacy.

Teacher Efficacy at Winterville

About Winterville Elementary • • Located in Winterville, GA (part of the Clarke County School District) Student population of 433 students, Pre. K-5 th 56% Black, 25% Latino, 16% Caucasian, and 3% Bi-Racial 92. 8% of our students qualify for free/reduced lunch.

About Winterville Elementary • • • We have 24 homeroom teachers in Pre-K -5 th grade plus two self-contained EBD classes that houses students from all over the district with severe behavior problems. Of our 40 total teachers, 18 of them (45%) have been at our school for less than two full years and 6 of them (15%) have taught less than three years. This is the third year of the current administration.

School Data LITERACY GAP ANALYSIS Student Group Dibels Comp % Reading Inventory At/Above GL % Prof/Above ELA-EOG % Prof/Above 2017 -18 All Students 55. 2% 39. 2% 20. 6% 2016 -17 All Students 54. 8% 41. 0% 18. 6% 2015 -16 All Students 56. 5% 29. 0% 14. 4%

CCRPI Data Overall Student Performance Data Trends 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Overall CCRPI Score 63. 3 60. 3 52. 9 58. 5 67. 7 Points of Pride: • Our school’s CCRPI score went up 14. 8 points in two years and 9. 2 points in the last year. • We went from being the 13 th out of 14 elementary schools in CCRPI rankings in Clarke County to number 5. • We received a score of 100+ for closing the achievement gap.

How did we do it? By building teacher efficacy!!!!

Ways We Build Teacher Efficacy at Winterville Elementary • Teacher recognition (at assemblies, during meetings, from each • • • other) Open door policy with frank conversations Establishing operating principles Consistent communication (principal’s blog, weekly e-mail, AP updates, etc. ) Growing teacher leaders and shared leadership Whole group and individualized professional learning on topics related to behavior and classroom management Bee Buddies and social activities

Staff Wall

PBIS and Culture PLC Topics Covered throughout the Year • • Teaching expected behaviors Trauma-informed care Teaching students in poverty The functions of behavior Growth mindset Teaching with cultural competency AVID Culture

Training Times • • Pre-planning days Professional learning days Half day planning Common learning time (our faculty meetings)

Common Learning Time • Review discipline data to determine trends and problem areas and to determine areas of needed re-teaching • Participate in book studies (books by Eric Jensen and Carol Dweck) • Summarize articles from Educational Leadership magazine • Activities on Cultural Competency

Classroom Visit Feedback • PBIS Walkthrough (PBIS Walkthrough Instrument) • TKES walkthroughs and formal observations • Instructional coaches classroom visits (nonevaluative) • Visits from behavior specialist (Tier 1 Checklist) • Visits from consultants and district personnel

Reminders in Communications • • Weekly communication from principal AP Updates (example of one here) Instructional coaches weekly communication with teams Information from school behavior specialist (see an example here)

PBIS Staff Retreat • 1. 5 days overnight trip to Dahlonega at Forrest Hills Resort • Funded by LSGT Grant and Title I funds • Staff members attending were paid since they were off contract • Agenda

PBIS Staff Retreat (cont’d) Topics covered • • Team Building a Positive Classroom Environment Implementing Restorative Justice Practices Understanding the Functions of Behavior Establishing Engaging Classrooms and Environments for Boys Engaging Parents in Managing Student Behavior Examining Cultural Competency Teaching Students with ADHD/ADD

Team Building Activity

Team Building Activity

Examples of Activities to do With Staff ● ● Privilege Walk (Watch this video) Just Like Me Human Pyramid (Rule Followers, Undecided, Behavior Leaders) Other Team Building Activities

Points to Remember • Share discipline data regularly with staff and use it as a rationale for the need for training. • Use data to guide your planning for training. • Empower veteran teachers to provide training. • Make training meaningful. Each teacher will be in a different place with his/her efficacy and need for guidance. • Extend grace and give teachers time to grow. • Encourage your teachers to develop a growth mindset in regards to their effectiveness as teachers.

Points to Remember (cont’d) • Find two to three areas to work on within one year and review them throughout the year. • Give teachers opportunities to practice the implementation of strategies you have taught, focusing on no more than three areas. Let the main thing be the main thing. • Follow up with additional coaching and feedback. • Leaders and teachers should set short-term, mid-term, and long-range goals in regards to building their self-efficacy, and they should do so with a growth mindset. • Establish a risk-free environment for teachers. • Provide support for new teachers.

Pitfalls to Avoid • Don’t have too many initiatives. Focus on two to three areas at a time. • Be sure to follow up with observations and feedback to ensure implementation of desired strategies. Feedback should occur soon after the observation. • Don’t just give trainings you think are important. Get teacher input of which topics on which they would like to receive assistance.

I Have the Power! I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool for torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized. ~Haim Ginott

Conclusion Leaders: What are some ideas you have come away with for improving teacher efficacy within your building? Set short-range, mid-range, and long-range goals and start planning action steps to reach those goals. Teachers: What are some ways your leaders can help you build your efficacy as a teacher? What are some things you can do?

Resources for Materials and Assistance • PBIS. org • September and Novembers 2018 editions of Educational Leadership (published by ASCD) • School Climate Specialist at your local RESA • Teacher Reflection Form • For surveys on teacher efficacy, go to www. coe. ohiostate. edu/ahoy/researchinstruments. htm • Slides on topics that we taught on Day 1 of our PBIS summer retreat can be found in our agenda.

Sources • • • Balow, Chris. (June 15, 2017). The ‘Effect Size’ in educational research: what is it & how to to use it? https: //www. illuminateed. com/blog/2017/06/effect-size-educational-research-use/. Jerald, C. D. (2007). Believing and achievement (Issue Brief). Washington, DC: Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement. Patterson, Jim. PD strategies that will make your staff behavior management pros. Education World (https: //www. educationworld. com/essentials-effective-behavior-management-professionaldevelopment-training). Protheroe, Nancy. (May/June 2008). Teacher efficacy: what is it and does it matter? Principal. (naesp. org) The Room 241 Team. Teacher efficacy: why it matters and how administrators can help. (https: //education. cu-portland. edu/blog/curriculum-teaching-strategies/improve-teacher-efficacy/).

Contact Information Melanie D. James, Ph. D. , Assistant Principal • E-mail: jamesme@clarke. k 12. ga. us • Phone: 706 -357 -5222, Ext. 68201 Nora Fowler, P. E. and PBIS Coach • E-mail: fowlern@clarke. k 12. ga. us • Phone: 706 -357 -5222, Ext. 68307