What Academic Optimism Is… And What it Is Not
This week’s blog is maybe one of our most important here at AEC. Analysis of Academic Optimism of Schools and Teachers is a cornerstone of our new services. But more than that, Academic Optimism is a powerful construct that can explain why some schools are more or less successful than others, even when controlling for socio-economic status (SES). In this blog, I’ll explain what organization-level Academic Optimism is...and what it is not.
In its conceptual heart, Academic Optimism is a construct made up of three parts: collective efficacy, trust in students and parents, and academic emphasis.
Collective Efficacy refers to the faculty’s group belief that they can accomplish the goals they set and can affect student learning outcomes.
Faculty Trust in students and parents refers to the willingness of the faculty to rely upon the students and parents to work together to achieve educational outcomes.
Academic emphasis, sometimes called academic press, refers to a school’s focus on academic success and achievement for all students.
When these three concepts come together, they form the Academic Optimism of a school (Hoy, Tarter, Hoy, 2006). High levels of academic optimism—that is, high levels of collective belief that faculty can help students learn, strong trust between faculty and students/parents, and a clear academic emphasis—lead to schools that perform well, even in the face of other factors, including low SES and previous levels of student achievement. Academic Optimism can be a powerful predictor of how a school can perform. It can also explain why schools that should be performing well may not be. We’ve seen cases in the past in which schools had all of the “right” factors, but strikingly low levels of trust or self-efficacy among the faculty led to lower achievement in students. Academic Optimism also exists at the individual level in schools, but for our purposes now, we are going to stick to the organizational variable.
Academic Optimism is not dispositional optimism. It is not a generalized belief that things will “just turn out okay.” It isn’t looking on the bright side or seeing the glass as half full. In that sense, the name optimism may be a little misleading. But even with the potentially confusing name, we know that Academic Optimism is a powerful construct and we would love to help your school find out more about how you score on the measure.
What measure is this, you might ask? Great question! Academic Optimism has a rigorously validated, reliable measure that both Lauren and Amy have a wealth of experience administering. The measure breaks down all three components of Academic Optimism, so we can tell you both how your school stacks up when compared to other districts and in what specific areas you can improve.
We hope you are as excited about Academic Optimism as we are. Stay tuned for the next blog, when we tell you about specific school policies that have an influence on creating and nurturing a culture of Academic Optimism. And, as always, get in touch if you are interested in learning more about our services! We would love to come to your school, virtually or in-person!