School Conditions that Promote Achievement

As a consequence of their research, Bryk and Schneider (2002) proposed that the following school conditions foster high student achievement:

  1. A positive orientation to innovation – a teacher “can do” attitude and internalized responsibility.
  2. Outreach to parents.
  3. Professional community – collaborative work practices, personal commitment to improve teaching and school operations.
  4. High expectations and high academic standards.

Likewise, Hoy and his colleagues (Forsyth, Adams, & Hoy, 2011: Hoy, Tarter, & Woolfolk, 2006) found that collective efficacy, collective trust in parents and students, and academic emphasis form a latent construct, academic optimism, which explains student achievement in schools regardless of socioeconomic status.

What is striking about the two sets of findings is that they are remarkably similar. The attached model maps the two sets of findings and shows that how they form a culture of academic optimism, which promotes achievement.

Click here to download a copy of School Conditions that Promote Achievement

Bryk, A. S., & Schneider, B. (2002), Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Forsyth, Patrick B, Adams, Curt M., & Hoy, W. K. (2011). Collective trust: Why schools can’t improve without it. New York: Teachers College Press.

Hoy, W. K., Tarter, C. J., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2006), Academic optimism of schools: A force for student achievement, American Educational Research Journal, 43, pp. 425-446.