Empirical evidence links collective trust among school stakeholders to gains in student achievement and school performance. As the new principal, I will work to build collective trust by establishing trustworthiness as the principal, developing a culture of trust and optimism, and framing problems as opportunities for progress through social control rather than formal rules. This will help improve student learning by creating an environment of collective efficacy where students and teachers believe in their own capabilities.

1. As a new principal
starting in a school
where academic
achievement has
been stagnant, how
will you improve
student learning?

2. Empirical evidence links the
building of collective trust among
school stakeholder groups to gains
in student achievement and school
performance.

3. a book by
Patrick B. Forsyth, Curt M. Adams,
& Wayne K. Hoy
(3 generations of researchers)
www.waynekhoy.com

4. • Written for educational
researchers & practitioners
• Traces more than 30
years of studies on trust
• Organized into 3 Parts
I. Early Studies &
Theoretical Model
II. Summary of Research
III. Practice Implications

5. Collective Trust:  is the trust that groups
have in individuals and
other groups.
 is sociological, not
psychological
 is like culture; it consists of “shared cognitive
representations in the minds of individuals.”
 is most important in organizations composed of
highly interdependent groups whose common
task is complex and uncertain.

6. 3 Forms of Collective Trust in Schools:
Faculty, Parent, Student
“Principal Authenticity is a key element to the
development of faculty trust.”
3 Basic Aspects of Leader Authenticity:
1) Accountability, 2) Nonmanipulation,
and 3) Saliency of Self Over Role
“Authenticity & trust may be two sides of the same coin.”
SEE HANDOUT ON SUMMARY OF RUTGERS UNIVERSITY STUDIES

7. Collective Trust
& School Climate
“Personality is to the individual what climate
is to the organization. Just as individuals have
personalities, so too do organizations; the
‘personalities’ of schools are called their
organization climates.”
See Handout for Two Measures of Climate:
Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire (OCDQ)
Organizational Health Inventory (OHI)

8. Most scholars agree that trust has
the following attributes:
 Multiple levels (e.g., individual, group, and
organization)
 Different referent roles (e.g., in schools:
teachers, principals, colleagues, students)
 Multiple facets
(benevolence, reliability, competency, honesty, and
openness)*
 Interdependence
 Confident expectations
 Risk
 Vulnerability

9. Collective Trust Model
3 contextual elements that condition formation
1. External context
2. Internal context
3. Task context

10. Questions on Contextual
Conditions for Collective Trust
 What external factors and internal
conditions build and sustain collective
trust in school groups?
 How does the interaction of these
conditions shape collective trust?
 Cognitive Schemata – the values and beliefs that frame how
individuals see the world.
 Parent communication example

11. How does collective trust function
to influence student achievement?
1) Trusting others is an important element
of human learning.
2) Student achievement is mediated by
collective efficacy* of the school.
*the shared perception of the teachers that the faculty as a
whole has a strong capability to be effective with students;
also, part of academic optimism.

12. Academic
Optimism
is a collective set of beliefs about
strengths and capabilities in schools in
which optimism is the overarching idea
that unites collective efficacy and
collective trust with academic emphasis.
(is linked to student achievement/overcoming low SES)

13. A Balance of Control
Formal Control – employing codified
rules, goals, procedures, and regulations that
specify desirable patterns of behavior
Social Control – using organizational
values, norms, and cultures to
encourage desirable behavior.
When to use which?

14. Collective Trust Guidelines
for Accountability
I. Frame problems as opportunities for
progress.
II. Use social control to stimulate
improvement.
III. Make the school the unit of improvement.
IV. Make trust the linchpin of trust diffusion.

15. Collective Trust Guidelines
for Leadership Practice
I. Establish trust in the principal by being
trustworthy.
II. Be mostly a leader, sometimes a manager.
III. Expect, respect, and model organizational
citizenship.
IV. Develop and nurture a culture of trust and
optimism.

16. As a new principal
starting in a school
where academic
achievement has
been stagnant, how
will you improve
student learning?