“Mastery, Mindset – they matter”

Last week I began a series on efficacy – learner, teacher, and leader efficacy. At its’ simplest form, efficacy is the “capacity or power to produce a desired effect”. It comes from confidence, knowing, risking, failing, succeeding, each driven by a mindset that I can, I have, and I will.

Efficacy is developed. It can’t be incentivized by external rewards. Efficacy is an inside out proposition. In fact, motivational theorists seeking to understand intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation birthed the efficacy research. Self-efficacy underpins most if not all expressions of efficacy.

Individuals have to be motivated to learn before actual learning takes place, during the process of learning and after the task has been learned.

In order to increase self-efficacy beliefs we need positive and encouraging role models. Students, teachers, and administrators need to be taught what it looks, sounds and feels like to have high self-efficacy beliefs.

If you are around people that are positive, confident in their own abilities you tend to be motivated to strive for better – whatever the task.

Cultivating an environment that builds and supports efficacy in self as well as others can be awkward. This is especially true given not everyone has the same levels of self-efficacy beliefs.

Albert Bandura, psychologist, responsible for the development of social learning theory, identified four sources of efficacy. They are 1) mastery experience, 2) social persuasion, 3) physiological states, and 4) vicarious experience.

I would like to look at each briefly with the explicit purpose of developing how we, together can begin to build more efficacious educators and learners.

Mastery experience is considered the most influential of the four. Mastery experience is referring to an individual’s previous success at a given task. A critical first step towards mastery is engagement in tasks and activities. Mastery experiences happen when you reach the point where you understand the content knowledge or skill enough to apply or perform it on your own. It happens with plenty of prior exposure to the content. You are able to interpret the results of your actions and use those results to develop your capability to engage in future actions or tasks.

You are able to participate in tasks on a first hand basis with little or no assistance from outside influences. Through a strong mastery experience, you are able to get feedback on your own learning capabilities. This is where confidence begins to fuel your action – you know you can and will based on the knowledge that you have.

Our collective experience with mastery learning is tainted given how the accountability system in North Carolina as well as across the country were interpreted and implemented.

The shortsightedness of determining the quality, effect of teaching and learning by a single measure created a mindset of episodic or erratic learning. Covering material, cramming and the like are not the strategies that bring about mastery learning.

In fact, simply covering material for compliance sake and hoping students retain it actually works against efficacy.

I am not suggesting that teachers mindlessly cover material or “cram” for EOG or EOC assessments.

Rather, I am saying that the mindset created by using the results of EOG or EOC assessments only to make judgments for both teacher and learner create an obstacle for mastery learning and efficacy.

Hence, we need a different mindset to build efficacy – especially for teaching and learning. That mindset must set aside the pressure albeit external or self-imposed to use single measures of performance as the only measure. To achieve mastery leading to efficacy takes engagement, experience, and capacity in skill and knowledge. It takes time. Moreover, it takes a relentless pursuit of competency in foundational skills, application of these skills leading to new learning, and clear and focused aim on enduring habits of learning, for learning, achieved by learning.

Next, I will begin to unpack efficacy through vicarious experience, physiological states, and social persuasion.

"Efficacy - the right construct for our time"

Much of what we do and desire to do in teaching and learning is build efficacy in our learners. We may not always use that exact term. Efficacy is a powerful construct (concept) that impacts each of us on a daily basis. An aim of education is setting in motion individuals that have confidence, are motivated, and aspire to be successful in all aspects of life.

Too often we tend to focus on building esteem in our learners when it should be efficacy. Where esteem is about perceptions, feelings about others and one self, efficacy is about confidence built from experiences. I certainly don’t want to over simplify either, however, it seems that both enhance, support, build, reinforce, and create a powerful presence of the individual as well as community.

That is, we want students to know they can, with confidence take risks with learning – knowing at times they will not be successful. Knowing full well they can succeed, have succeeded and will succeed. They have a confidence that their teacher is right there to support to them when success is not achieved at first try. Equally, the learner knows that the teacher will not accept mediocrity or dismiss sub standard or under performance.

Learners know that failure isn’t about quitting or giving up or in. Rather, learners with efficacy expect to be stretched, challenged beyond their perceived limitations because they have experience with learning. They know failure is only temporary not permanent.

We know from the efficacy research that teachers, too have a need for efficacy. Most, if not all teacher efficacy comes from learner efficacy. When students are successful as a result – a direct result of a teacher, teacher efficacy builds. Teacher efficacy, like learner efficacy develops over time. Foundational is knowing that one can and will make a difference in the lives of others. It comes from taking risks as well. It comes from knowing one has a supportive coach, colleague that will be there for them when something doesn’t work as intended or cheers them for success. Equally necessary is “truth” telling about performance – good, better, and best as well as areas that must improve.

Simply put, learner efficacy fuels teacher efficacy that in turn drives deeper more empowered efficacy in the learner.

How does efficacy impact leadership?

There is leadership efficacy. Not surprisingly, leader efficacy is derived in much the same way as learner and teacher efficacy. When one sees the direct impact, effect, change or etc. in others resultant from leadership it builds efficacy. The confidence from knowing that one can and will make a difference is powerful for all.

Efficacy builds motivation. Motivation builds confidence. Confidence builds capacity for risk – risk to innovate, imagine, create, and stretch from comfort zones and conveniences.

In so much that efficacy is an underlying objective of our school system, we have much to do in building efficacy in all our staff, in all our schools, and at all levels in our organization. To do so will require an unprecedented effort to build capacity within our schools, our school system, and our community.

Building capacity requires a different mindset than what currently exists in many of our classrooms and schools.

As I have written before mindsets influence directly and indirectly our behaviors. Consider this thought from Albert Bandura (1986, p. 395), "People who regard themselves as highly efficacious act, think, and feel differently from those who perceive themselves as inefficacious. They produce their own future, rather than simply foretell it”.

Designing a preferred future, one that proactively takes the necessary steps, risks that transformation requires, is dependent heavily on efficacy. Our challenge is understanding and acting therefore to build efficacy not at the expense of esteem. Rather, without efficacy, esteem is simply a feeling without any foundation, any proof, or evidence to support the feeling. Stay tuned, in the weeks ahead, we will begin exploring myriad ways to build efficacy.

"Pressure is Key"

Have you ever experienced the loss of your power steering?

On Tuesday morning last, just outside of Washington D.C. we were treated to this experience – the loss of power steering. Fortunately, we were less than 100 yards from an off ramp and less than half a mile from a repair shop. Within four hours, a new pump was installed and we were back on the road.

The experience left me curious about power steering.

Automedia.com says, “The power steering system brings together the strength and power of hydraulic pressure with the mechanical miracle of steering linkages. The power steering pump pressurizes the power steering hydraulic system. The power steering fluid runs through hoses and by way of valves, plungers, or pistons moves the mechanics of the steering back and forth as you turn the wheel. When the pump stops pumping, the pressure drops and the power steering system loses its hydraulic power.

While there are more than a few different types of power steering systems, they all require the hydraulic pressure of the power steering fluid to give you the seemingly superhuman strength to effortlessly turn the wheels with one finger.”

We lost our pressure due to a leak in the pump that forced all the fluid out – bummer. The loss of pressure ultimately failed the steering system. We learned just how important pressure is.

Pressure in education, however is not necessarily viewed as a necessity for performance but it could be. Consider there is nothing magical about power steering fluid until it is pressurized. Maintaining the proper amount of fluid is critical. That pressure enables the hydraulic system to operate properly. Too little fluid results in not enough pressure just as too much fluid results in over pressurizing the system both affecting performance (too much pressure is a really, really bad thing). Suffice, maintaining the proper level of fluid and thus pressure ensures the power steering system to work as designed.

This application of pressure is germane to education. Here’s how. In the power steering system, pressure must be evenly and consistently balanced, flowing without interruption or obstruction. In a like manner, pressure in education must be balanced with both internal and external factors.

Pressure must be consistent and constant. It must be free of threat, ridicule, disrespect, humiliation, or malice. It must be candid, honest, and intentional. It must be critical, corrective, and constructive. Most importantly, it must be timely, relevant, and focused on improving effectiveness.

This type of pressure requires a different mindset – a mindset that is proactive – a mindset that embraces individual responsibility and accountability for both action and results.

A mindset immersed in seeking ways to get better knowing that each of us irrespective of our past of present experience has room for improvement. This mindset doesn’t happen by accident. It is intentional as well as purposeful.

Accepting and acknowledging thinking differently about pressure is risky. To that end, risk has no guarantee. At best, risk builds trust that in turn builds greater capacity for risk. Conversely, risk betrayed erodes confidence, morale, and willingness. Hence, the role of leadership is critical to ensure that risk is “best” for each individual.

Each leader in our system must be first to take risk in thinking differently about pressure. Recognizing that leaders, too, are susceptible to many of the same aversions to risk as the staff they lead, leaders must nonetheless model courage and think differently.

Though I did not plan to replace my power steering pump on that particular day at that particular time at that particular place I was pleased with the outcome. So it will be with thinking differently in relation to our mindset about pressure in our work. Pressure is key – but it must be consistent and constant within the aforementioned mindset.

By the by, have you checked your power steering fluid lately?