Educators often remind students that learning happens when failure occurs, and that a growth mindset is necessary to push forward through a difficult task. Teachers encourage risk taking. And indeed, the evidence that presenting academic challenges fuels learning is clear—the "effect size" (a statistical determination of how much a practice effects student learning) of tasks and curriculum that stretch learners is 0.58, well over a year's worth of growth in school (Hattie, 2012).
This makes sense. Learning happens in the space created when students reach for the higher bar. And it makes intuitive sense that reaching for challenge could inspire learners and make school exciting.
But the presence of academic challenge within isolated classrooms isn't going to bring breakthrough results. Coordinated schoolwide efforts are needed to create learning environments where high teacher expectations interweave with challenging tasks and the supports necessary for student success. A culture that urges students to work hard in school and to do well academically is said to have academic press (Murphy et al., 1982). It's vital that schools that want to energize learning invest in policies, procedures, and practices encouraging such "press."
Questions of Trust
However, an unstated assumption lies just below the surface of encouraging academic press as a way to enliven schools—that students trust us enough to embrace academic challenge. When a trusting learning environment isn't present, students hedge their bets and play it safe. Or even worse, resistance to learning sets in. Students may hide from the teacher, or may appear to agree just to placate an authority, but privately reject any suggestions. At the extreme level, outright refusals and open hostility surface. Students resist teachers' best efforts—and, along with that resistance, throw out the challenge their teachers are trying to create.
A climate of trust is essential for learning—but is quite fragile among the complex interactions of many humans each school day. More to the point, adults have immense influence on the level of trust because they are in positions of authority. Using sarcasm and humiliation in interactions with children is obviously damaging, but trust can be undermined in less obvious ways. A harsh public reprimand directed at one student may create mistrust among those not directly involved, if for no other reason than that they fear being the next target. Perceived favoritism for certain students sends the unintended message that teachers don't value the rest of the group. Failure to keep promises does damage. With each violation of trust, students learn to limit risk taking, distance themselves from the teacher, and resist efforts meant to provide the academic challenges they need.
Optimal Learning Environments
Now consider a classroom that brims with academic challenge and is energized and engaging. We know these classrooms when we see them. They hum with possibility and potential. Students take risks, and the teacher celebrates their successes and helps them locate the wisdom and insight that lies just under the surface of a failed attempt. Students feel free to ask, "What if?" and "What's next?"
At Health Sciences High School and Middle College in San Diego, where we work, we once walked into such a classroom near the end of the school day. Students were peer reviewing one another's memoirs while the teacher met with a small group of students for supplementary instruction and coaching. No one noticed we were there. One visitor accompanying us marveled, "I love being in classrooms where students are working in the last five minutes of the period like there's 30 more minutes to go."
Multiply this effect across many classrooms and the school day, and you've got a climate that encourages students to accept academic challenges—and accept support and guidance to accelerate learning. The conditions present in learning zones like this are the same as those found in optimal working environments for adults; open, honest communication builds relationships and trust. The National School Climate Standards (2009) summarizes these conditions, noting that the ideal school community:
- Creates an environment where all members are welcomed, supported, and feel safe in school—socially, emotionally, intellectually, and physically.
- Develops meaningful and engaging practices, activities, and norms that promote social and civic responsibilities and a commitment to social justice.
Building Trust with Restorative Practices
Forging such a climate requires the coordinated effort of every member of the learning community. The methods that thousands of schools use to accomplish these goals fall under the banner of restorative practices. At our school, restorative practices are the linchpin to elevating trust and achieving academic press.
Restorative practices provide a framework for building trust and rescuing trust when it has been lost. The restorative practices movement traces its history to the practices of indigenous peoples who have used communal efforts to create societies that shape the next generation, aligning youth to the values of the group. A notable feature of restorative practices is the effort devoted to repairing relationships when a wrong has been committed. The entire community is involved, since damage to an individual is seen as harmful to the entire group. Rather than facing banishment, the offender has a path forward to make amends, to re-establish his or her trustworthiness with the victim and the community. For this reason, restorative practices have been embraced by juvenile justice systems, and many schools are using restorative practices as part of processes to address problematic behaviors and conflicts.
But these peacemaking efforts are only the tip of the restorative practices iceberg. There's also a solid mass of prosocial practices related to restorative justice that learning communities can use to create a climate of trust—one that frees students to turn to adults for support and to advance their own learning (Smith, Fisher, & Frey, 2015). Here are ways it works at our school.
Class Circles
Teacher-student relationships are the drivers of an energized classroom where trust flourishes. John Hattie's (2012) research into interventions that increase learning shows that strong relationships between teachers and students have a high effect size. Relationships serve as a catalyst for learning.
But if only one person is doing the talking, what's the likelihood that meaningful relationships can ever emerge? One method for building relationships between students and the teacher that keeps the talk mutual is the class circle (Costello, Wachtel, & Wachtel, 2010). The structure is simple: The teacher and students arrange their chairs in a circle so they face one another, pushing aside desks or other physical barriers. Teachers often use a "talking stick"—a small object each speaker must hold while talking, then pass to the next speaker—to ensure all voices are heard.
Circle discussions can address many issues. With newly formed groups, topics that allow students and teachers to learn about one another, and are typically nonthreatening, work best:
- Tell us your name and the story of why you got it.
- What's your favorite way to spend a Saturday?
These low-stakes circles can morph into discussions that take on the content under study. Using the same structure, students can process complex ideas and dilemmas like:
- How do we use math in everyday life?
- How does energy use now affect our futures?
Using circles allows every voice to emerge and gives each member opportunities to connect and to appreciate others' contributions. Students get used to speaking their thoughts—which helps them take risks academically in speaking or writing challenges.
Class Meetings
Class meetings are used to plan, make decisions, and solve problems about academic or social issues (Vance, 2013). These forums for class governance, generally student-led and teacher-facilitated, communicate each member's shared investment in the quality of the learning community. Class meetings are important for building trust, since all members witness the group's efforts to hold itself accountable for decisions. Five questions help frame any class meeting (Smith, Fisher, & Frey, 2015):
- What is the challenge our class is facing?
- Why is this a challenge for our class?
- How does the issue make us feel?
- What can we do about it? (Brainstorm solutions)
- What is our best solution?
Class meetings can be used to engage students in preparation for an upcoming field trip—talking about the learning intentions, identifying experiences that shouldn't be missed, and making organizational decisions about groups. Or a meeting might address general problems in the classroom, such as choosing ways to help make group projects go better by ensuring all group members follow through on their responsibilities, or brainstorming how to improve supports for a classmate with a vision disability. Class meetings shouldn't address specific problems between individual students, however.
Juniors at Health Sciences High held a class meeting to discuss their college application questions. At this session, they identified three spokespersons, who later met with the principal to plan informational sessions for their families. These spokespersons reported back on their follow-through at another class meeting, and students were able to shape the direction of the presentations to better meet their needs.
Conversations to Rescue Trust
When conflicts between teacher and student arise, they must be addressed as soon as possible. Unfortunately, low-level conflicts are often outsourced. Teachers send the student to an administrator or counselor who must figure out what's happening. That professional rarely knows the context, and may resort to punitive measures. Such solutions come at a high cost. The trust between the teacher and the student has already been damaged, as evidenced by the initial disruption, but the teacher's action doesn't try to repair that trust. Frankly, we think kids will find it hard to muster any trust in the learning environment when the threat of banishment looms.
An impromptu conference is a short, private discussion with a student who is having difficulty. Impromptu conferences aren't an excuse for lecturing the student in the hallway; the intention is to pose questions that give student and teacher a glimpse into what's really going on. This tactic requires a conceptual shift from asking oneself, "What's wrong with that kid?" to "What happened to that kid?" In many cases, the difficulty has nothing to do with what's going on in the classroom, but rather with something happening in the student's life (like the death of a pet or a conflict with a friend).
At Health Sciences High, teachers often use short scripts to support these conversations. We begin by simply saying, "That's not like you. What's happening right now?" and listening to the student's response. The focus isn't immediately on the behavior, but rather on the learner's emotional state. That first question alone can disarm a student who expects to be reprimanded. As you listen, restate what the student is saying: "You're feeling [label the emotion] because [name the concern]. What you want is [goal], and you're looking for a way to make that happen [pathway]." This frame, which comes from cognitive coaching (Garmston & Costa, 2015), can help both the student and the teacher identify the problem and move toward a solution, rather than rehashing who was right and who was wrong.
It can be difficult to host an impromptu discussion amid normal classroom responsibilities. For that reason, our school has procedures in place for teachers to request members of the restorative practices team, including administrators and coaches, to step into classrooms to continue instruction while the student and teacher take some time to rescue the trust both need.
Strengthening Trust Among Adults
Relationships and trust also undergird the work of the adults in the school. However, these qualities are easily eroded if communication within the group is sporadic. To keep trust and bonds strong, our school begins every day of the school year with a morning meeting for staff (Fisher, Frey, & Pumpian, 2012). These ten-minute meetings combine elements of class circles and class meetings and encourage regular communication and problem solving among the staff. They help us daily revisit our mission to create a place of academic challenge and fulfilled aspirations.
Every adult on campus stands in a circle on the perimeter of the room at the beginning of the day. We address three standing agenda items: (1) what do we need to know today? (logistics and immediate concerns, like reviewing procedures for scheduled testing); (2) spotlight on individual students for praise or concern; and (3) a culture-building activity led by one staff member, which involves one of us taking a turn responding each day. This last item changes every few months. Currently, each adult in turn profiles a student he or she is mentoring. Past activities have included sharing personal aspirations and passing a basketball to talk about a student exhibiting "bounce."
Committing to the Right Environment
Relationships and trust are foundational for learning, especially as we strive to create an environment of academic press in our schools. Let's combine the academic challenge we know our learners need with a commitment to create the learning environments they need to thrive and get energized.
