Identifying the attitudes and traits of teachers with an at-risk student population in a multi-cultural urban high school.

International Journal of Educational Management
Identifying the attitudes and traits of teachers with an at-risk student population in a
multi-cultural urban high school
Raymond L. Calabrese Sherry Goodvin Rae Niles
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Raymond L. Calabrese Sherry Goodvin Rae Niles, (2005),"Identifying the attitudes and traits of teachers
with an at-risk student population in a multi-cultural urban high school", International Journal of Educational
Management, Vol. 19 Iss 5 pp. 437 - 449
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Identifying the attitudes and
traits of teachers with an at-risk
student population in a
multi-cultural urban high school
Raymond L. Calabrese, Sherry Goodvin and Rae Niles
Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, USA
Abstract
Purpose – To identify the attitudes and traits of teachers with an at-risk student population in a
multi-cultural urban high school.
Design/methodology/approach – A research team consisting of doctoral students and their
faculty advisor used an appreciative inquiry model to identify attitudes and traits of teachers who
supported effective teaching in an urban high school with a high at-risk student population.
Findings – The research team’s findings indicate that those perceived as effective teachers were
culturally responsive, sought small successes, encouraged students, flexible, and caring. They also
formed meaningful relationships with students, had caring attitudes, and viewed themselves as
difference-makers. The research team also found a number of non-supportive teacher attitudes and
traits: blaming, racial attitudes, frustration leading to inflexibility, co-dependency leading to
encouraging the neediness of students, and lack of respect for the contributions made by the
surrounding community and parents.
Originality/value – Teachers, administrators, and counselors agreed that forming relationships and
caring for students were at the core of the attitudes and traits of effective teaching. Moreover, teachers
with effective attitudes and traits were seen as having the ability to integrate into the school and
surrounding community’s culture to encourage students to succeed in school.
Keywords African Americans, Hispanics, Attitudes, Students, Teachers, Racial discrimination
Paper type Research paper
Mendoza High School (MHS) is an ethnically diverse urban high school with a large
at-risk student population in a mid-western city in the USA. (For anonymity purposes,
the high school in this study is referred to as Mendoza High School). The school’s
population has changed dramatically over the past quarter-century. Of the present
students at Mendoza, 60 percent are minority students. Hispanic students constitute 40
percent of the student population and African-Americans comprise 20 percent of the
student population. The racial composition of the MHS faculty, administrators, and
counselors is as follows: 85 percent Caucasian, 6 percent Hispanic, 5 percent
African-American, 3 percent Native American, and 1 percent Asian. A reform-minded
principal was recently appointed to improve discipline, increase achievement scores,
and work more effectively with the diverse community within and without the school.
The atmosphere in the corridors of the high school is stark and almost prison-like.
Police patrol the halls and assistant principals carry walkie-talkies. The only visible
posters relate to rules and punishment. Students assemble in classrooms in a
traditional classroom style and for the most part are silent participants in their
education, staring out windows, scribbling notes, or listening to the teacher lecture.
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-354X.htm
Attitudes and
traits of teachers
437
International Journal of Educational
Management
Vol. 19 No. 5, 2005
pp. 437-449
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0951-354X
DOI 10.1108/09513540510607761

The only time for student excitement is during the lunch hour when students spill onto
the lawn, sidewalks, and streets that surround the school.
MHS faces many of the same challenges as other US urban high schools: high dropout
rate, low graduation rate, and low achievement scores. MHS recently reported the second
highest dropout rate and the second lowest graduation rate in the state. MHS’s reported
dropout rate in the five years preceding this study ranged from 11.4 percent to 14.6
percent of the school’s population. The reported graduation rate was 48 percent; this
reflected an unexplained decrease in the number of students attending MHS not
accounted for by the dropout rate. Administrators stated that the dropout rate is a rough
estimate since they have no policies or procedures to document students who dropout. In
the case of MHS, the graduation rate may be more indicative of the dropout rate.
Literature review
Urban high schools have a unique set of challenges. They have larger enrollments than
suburban or rural schools. Teachers experience fewer resources and have less control
over curriculum. There are morale issues and significantly higher rates of discipline
problems. The students have fears associated with safety, spend less time on
homework, have higher absentee rates, and are more likely to carry weapons to school.
Moreover, students lack family stability and high teacher absentee rates and
recruitment difficulties are associated with hiring excellent teachers (Ascher, 1991; US
Department of Education, 1996). Coupled with these challenges is a trend to treat
pedagogy as a rule-driven prescription (Brophy, 1988). As a result, many teachers view
the research as irrelevant and are left to their teaching instincts to address challenges
in the classroom in general and more specifically in urban secondary classrooms (Zeuli
and Tiezzi, 1993). Among the primary challenges facing urban schools is the low
academic achievement of minority students where race and ethnicity are linked to
academic achievement (Tanori et al., 2002). The existing data indicate a clear gap
between African-American and Hispanic students and Caucasians and Asian students
that is not explained by ethnic or racial differences (Kober, 2001; Miller, 1999).
There is substantial evidence that academic differences among racial and ethic groups
may be more a product of the academic content and classroom instructional experience
than the student’s background or ability (North Central Regional Education Laboratory,
n.d.). Originally, the focus on lack of achievement by minority students in urban areas
centered on family deficit issues where there is a diminishment of the social capital of
families (Coleman, 1987). Coleman defined social capital as “The norms, social networks,
and relationships between adults and children that are valuable for the child’s growing
up” (p. 36). The gap between minority and Caucasian students was a product of the lack of
social capital in minority home environments (Schneider and Lee, 1990). A competing
explanation now focuses on the assets of the minority population by examining the
cultural-historical context of the student and seeks to understand the experiences,
knowledge, social networks, and types of educational experiences that may advance the
achievement levels of minority students from traditional minority backgrounds (Padron
et al., 2002). Much of the research related to demographic designations of at-risk students
seems to use the deficit model to define the at-risk student population.
External factors influencing achievement
The deficit model reports a correlation between several external factors and the lack of
student achievement. According to Bempechat and Ginsburg (1989), academic
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outcomes of students are negatively affected by low levels of parental educational
achievement. In addition, the child’s limited extent of English language proficiency and
the impact of language on achievement are indicating factors for non academic success
of at-risk students. This may be exacerbated by the fact that there is a glaring disparity
between the ethnicity and race of the students in urban schools and the teachers who
teach them (Zeichner, 1993). Data taken from the National Center for Education
Statistics (2002) indicated that 44.2 percent of Hispanic young adults born outside of
the USA were high school dropouts. Hispanics born in the USA were less likely to
dropout; yet, they were more likely to dropout when compared to Pacific Islanders,
Caucasians, or African-Americans (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002).
The dropout issue is complex. Many urban schools lack procedures for identifying
students who formally dropout; they do not include in their dropout data students who
choose to stop attending and ignore the formal dropout procedures. Thus, many urban
schools will report a low dropout rate that does not account for a high non-graduation
rate. Researchers claim that the two rates should be nearly equivalent. In fact, while
many states report single digit dropout rates the graduation rates, especially in urban
schools, are exceeding low. Many students who stop attending school, either formally
or stop attending without formally dropping out, are at-risk students. These students
are at-risk in one or more of four areas: school-related, student-related,
community-related, or family-related (Woods, 1995).
The nature of teaching and dropouts
The National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) emphasizes the critical nature of
teaching, instruction, and the relationship of the teacher to the student as important
factors in reducing the student dropout risk (National Dropout Prevention Center, n.d.).
Teachers, who help students to constructively focus on student retention, encourage
the student to become involved in school and identify specific student learning needs
(Hale and Canter, 1998).
Successful teachers of at-risk students have a sound knowledge base, are actively
engaged with the make-up of their academic discipline, have a firm understanding of
how students learn, and the skills necessary for students to meet high standards
(Singham, 2003). In high poverty schools, teachers who lack these qualities are often
not provided with professional development opportunities, resulting in increased
frustration leading to high teacher turnover. Excessive teacher turnover in low-income
urban communities appears to have an impact on student achievement
(Darling-Hammond and Sykes, 2003). The high teacher turnover rate results in a
low teacher commitment rate where many urban high school teachers are poor adult
role models and choose not to engage with students (Barth, 2001).
Highly qualified and engaged teachers passionately believe that they make a
difference because of their teaching practices and personal concern for their students
(Secada, 1998). Having caring, quality teachers who bring meaning into their
relationships with students provide students with respect, high expectations and trust
of the students’ intellect to find solutions to problems (Fulton, 2004).
According to Glass (2004), teachers who are successful with low socioeconomic
students use logical consequences to direct students to learn appropriate behaviors;
they build relationships with students and seek to make learning relevant. Palmer
(1998) states, “Good teaching requires self-knowledge: it is a secret hidden in plain
sight” (p. 3). In order to connect with students, good teachers make affective
Attitudes and
traits of teachers
439

connections related to their subject matter and students. These connections are
reflected in the teachers’ spirits and they create a desire to learn among students
(Palmer). One methodology that focuses on understanding what is good, and in this
case, effective teaching, is appreciative inquiry.
Appreciative inquiry and identification of effective teacher characteristics
Appreciative Inquiry is defined as the search for finding the best in people, their
organizations, and the relevant world around them (Ludema et al., 2001). Cooperrider
and Srivastva (1987) in their seminal work on appreciative inquiry argue that
appreciative inquiry is based on the premise that organizations change in the direction
that they question. An organization that delves into problems will keep finding
problems but an organization that attempts to appreciate what is best in itself will
discover what is positive. These discoveries can bring about change based on a
foundation of strengths. The use of an appreciative inquiry model focuses on an asset
model. Focusing on an asset model can assist urban schools to focus on what is
positive in their environment and to build on their strengths.
Method
Grounded in appreciative inquiry, a qualitative embedded case study design was used
to identify attitudes and traits of teachers that supported effective teaching at MHS.
The research design provided answers to four research questions: What are the
attitudes and traits of teaching that contribute to effective teaching? What sense of
meaning do teachers bring to their concepts of teaching in their work environment?
What teaching actions do teachers perceive are the most effective in working with
MHS students? How do school administrators and counselors describe effective teacher
actions that motivate MHS students?
The research team used a focused interview with the participating teachers,
counselors, and administrators. The interviewed participants included eight certified
teachers, five administrators, and five counselors of varying ethnicity and tenure at
MHS. The research team also conducted a teacher focus group to collect data from
participating faculty. Seven purposively selected teachers participated in the focus
group. The principal assisted the research team in purposively selecting teachers,
administrators, and counselors for the interviews and the focus group. The research
team also reviewed the building profile and documentation reported to the State
Department of Education by school district. Additionally, the research team observed
and identified artifacts related to the school environment.
Data analyses
The qualitative data were disaggregated by themes and then categorized using the
three basic principles of data collection: multiple sources of evidence; the creation of a
case study data base; and the maintenance of a chain of evidence (Yin, 2003). Data
collected from 18 interviews, one focus group, and review of documents were
triangulated for consistency in results. Data from the interviews and focus group were
transcribed from tape-recorded dialogue. The research team collectively reviewed the
interview and focus group transcripts and then searched the data for common themes.
The research team analyzed the data from all three data collection sources using the
FileMaker Pro software. The quotations used in the results section reflect the sentiment
of those interviewed or participating in the focus group.
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The theoretical framework of meaning and its application to work provided a
framework to explore the attitudes and traits of teachers toward their concepts of
learning, teaching, students, and their work. During data analysis a systems perspective
theory emerged that allowed the research team to identify growth and limiting forces
operating within MHS as a means to present and explain the findings. Lewin’s (1997)
work related to force field theory complimented the appreciative inquiry method. Using
multiple theoretical perspectives is a preferred strategy in data analysis (Yin, 2003).
Senge et al. (1994) suggest that systems archetypes, once identified, make visible the
growth and limiting forces within the organization, as well as, defensive routines that
subvert the focus of organizational members from applying attention on the forces that
most need to be addressed if constructive change is to occur.
The research team defined growth forces as supportive of effective teaching and
limiting forces as non-supportive of effective teaching. Supportive processes
contributed to enhanced social capital of the student in the MHS community.
Non-supportive processes detracted from the existing social capital and contributed to
forces that focus on student and community deficits.
Results
The results from the research team’s qualitative analyses revealed six supportive
processes of effective teaching attitudes and traits: cultural responsiveness;
measurement of victories in small successes; encouragement of students; formation
of meaningful relationships with students; projection of an attitude of caring; and
difference-making. There were four non-supportive processes of effective teaching
attitudes and traits: blaming and racism; bureaucratic rigidity; co-dependency; and
inflexibility and frustration.
Results on the supportive processes of effective teaching attitudes and traits
Cultural responsiveness. Research indicates that immersion in a highly diverse setting
corresponds to increased cultural awareness and commitment to promoting racial
understanding (Alger, 1997). Effective teaching attitudes and traits in this
multi-cultural setting were viewed as setting aside learned or cultural racial
stereotypes. One teacher described her experience by stating that the school’s diversity
helped her to understand the nature of adolescence and that it transcends racial and
ethnic differences:
At MHS it is the same, yet very different. Obviously, there are cultural differences and I think
it’s good to recognize that kids are kids, that students are somewhat the same no matter
where you go, no matter the age. Yet they can be very different.
Many teachers viewed diversity through an asset model perspective, “With a diverse
population there also was a great rise in the creativity and the talent of the students; if you
could direct those two things together you ended up with a really exceptional school
population.” Although, the overwhelming majority of teachers at MHS do not share the
same race or ethnicity as the majority of the student body, those seen as effective teachers
embrace cultural differences, relate effectively to students of color, their parents, and the
surrounding community. In effect, these teachers developed a multi-cultural competence
that has its origination in their desire to make a difference in the lives of the students.
Measurement of victories in small successes. It is important to relish small victories.
One teacher said, “You don’t always know if you’ve made a difference. It varies from
Attitudes and
traits of teachers
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day to day. You just have to be happy with small victories.” In a sense, these teachers
intuitively realized that small victories, consistently gained over time, achieved large
results. Often these victories extended beyond classroom boundaries:
It’s not a class . . . its tons of individuals. And it doesn’t stop all day. It’s a lot of languages. A
lot of different kids. A lot of different needs. It’s exhausting in that way. It’s [also] exciting . . .
when they realize something that they thought was difﬁcult, but you show them how, and
they get it [and respond], “Oh, I can do this”.
These teachers seemed to possess an overall sense of the importance of seizing the
moment. They expressed an understanding that small successes were rooted in
providing students multiple opportunities for success.
Encouragement of students. Encouragement of students was an important teacher
trait. These teachers encouraged students, often acting as cheerleaders, mentors, and
coaches. They recognized that students in this multi-cultural high school needed
encouragement, higher aspirations, and deepening levels of conﬁdence. “I think the
ones [effective teachers] who help the most are the ones who give the kids extra if the
kids need it . . . and allows the kids to mess up but try again. They don’t give up.”
For some, encouragement was simply a part of teaching, “I hardly ever sit at my
desk because I constantly go around. I just make circles around my classroom. ‘Doing
okay? Got any questions?’ [I] sit down and work through the problems with them.”
Encouragement was synonymous with accessibility. One teacher said, “[I] would not
turn a kid away . . . If they want to talk or come see me at lunch or if they want to before
or after school. Unless I absolutely can’t be there, I will be there.”
Encouragement and accessibility were at the core of life transformation stories of
those perceived as effective teachers. One teacher, for example, shared the story of a
young girl who skipped school and spent school time with her boyfriend. The teacher
contacted the parents. The mother and her daughter came to MHS several times for
conferences, leaving in frustration because of the daughter’s continued unwillingness
to leave her boyfriend. Toward the end of the school year, the daughter decided to
return to school. She asked the teacher for help. The teacher responded:
Of course, I said, “I’ll help you . . . We’ll catch up and you’ll make it.” She came back. She is
doing great. She has straight A’s. She is working so hard. That’s a nice thing . . . You know
you made at least a little tiny difference.
Encouragement was the basic strategy used by effective MHS teachers. As part of their
strategy, they were accessible. They moved beyond the classroom connecting with
students when the student was in need and available.
Formation of meaningful relationships with at-risk students. Forming meaningful
relationships with students was an important attitude and trait. At the heart of
building a meaningful relationship with students was the desire to form connections
with students, parents, and the community. Relationships were formed at the personal
level through individual interactions. These teachers understood that relationship
building with students was often the precursor to greater student achievement, “All
those other things I do with the kids . . . And for me it is my way of making connections
with the kids.” The desire to become personally involved gave the appearance of a
missionary zeal, “A couple of kids . . . if I had not picked them up every day, would not
have graduated. If I had not done something else, they might have gone hungry.”
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Building meaningful relationships with students was a common phrase among these
teachers in this urban setting.
Projection of an attitude of caring. Noddings (1995) suggested that caring for and
the development of people is an essential act of teaching. Caring is a reciprocal activity
where the caring teacher lays the foundation for a trusting relationship with the
student. One counselor described caring as the central trait of effective MHS teachers:
The kids know if we care . . . they are going by not what is said but by body language, eye
contact, and tone and inﬂection in the teacher’s voices . . . I think the kids are not easily fooled.
And, I think that they really do know who cares and [who] is willing go that extra mile for
them.
Another counselor described caring by equating it to teachers’ commitment to the
students’ success:
To understand and to take the time to see what is being communicated beyond the words . . .
there’s a group of teachers here that really care . . . I think just the willingness to learn more
about that person’s culture. A willingness to maybe try some of the language even though we
know we’re not from that culture.
Teachers with effective attitudes and traits were able to link an espoused theory of
caring to a theory-in-use where their words and actions overlap. They expanded caring
to include forgiving, acting consistently, and treating students fairly. One
administrator at MHS described these types of teachers:
When kids know the teacher cares . . . When kids know that the teacher likes being here and
they enjoy teaching and they enjoy the kids . . . They do home visits. They communicate with
parents. They’re always thinking how they can get parents involved in our school . . . They go
to their activities that they are invited to . . . They’re always in the halls greeting [students]
with a smile and saying hello.
Caring is critically important in an urban setting where researchers suggest that many
at-risk urban students come from a home and/or community environments that lack
nurturing, empathy, or caring (Brown, 2003). The effective teacher’s ability to express
caring is exhibited in a genuine interest in the student that resonates from a
non-judgmental attitude toward students, parents, culture, or community.
Difference making. An important attitude and trait of teachers was the
self-perception of being a difference-maker with colleagues, students, and
stakeholders. Making a difference with students brought meaning to teaching for
these teachers. When asked to describe how teachers knew they were making a
difference, one teacher explained, “I think a lot of time when you succeed in the class is
when you’ve made those connections outside of the class as well. The kids here at MHS
have more of a need.”
Difference making, in some ways, can be associated with Frankl’s (1984) “will to
meaning.” MHS’s sparse walls, prison-like demeanor, and isolation in a high crime and
low socioeconomic environment, might be enough to cause many teachers to choose a
different assignment or leave teaching; however, those who saw themselves as
difference makers had a deep sense of personal and professional meaning:
I actually want them to know I care about them and want the best for them and that’s why I’m
here. It’d be easy for me to go somewhere else. I stick it out because of kids . . . I like being here
and I want to be here.
Attitudes and
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One teacher framed difference making in a religious sense, “I was reading a devotional
[piece] this morning, and it said, ‘God didn’t make one person he didn’t love.’ When I look at
these kids, I try to look at them from His perspective, even when they’re being obnoxious.”
Teachers who viewed themselves as difference-makers made an effort to see the
good in students and related at a personal level, “[I make a] huge extra effort . . . talking
to kids. You know they know who the kids are. The teachers I think that make the most
difference are not the hard ass kind.”
Difference making is a way that MHS teachers create a sense of personal meaning.
Having a sense of meaning is the basis for emotional, psychological, and spiritual
health. It is based on a free will choice to choose a course of action that benefits others
as well as oneself. As Frankl (1984) states, “Man [sic] is ultimately self-determining.
What he [sic] becomes – within the limits of endowment and environment – he [sic]
has made out of himself” (p. 157). These teachers made heroic efforts at great personal
cost, to transform the lives of their students.
Results on non-supportive teacher attitudes and traits
The research team’s primary focus was to discover the effective attitudes and traits of
teachers and what they were doing that encouraged student learning and motivated
at-risk students to remain in school. Four sub-categories surfaced that mitigate the
heroic efforts of these teachers: blaming and racism, co-dependency, bureaucratic
rigidity, and inflexibility.
Blaming and racism. Blaming and racism are inextricably linked in this multi
cultural urban school setting. It was a prevalent attitude expressed by many teachers
who did not acknowledge personal responsibility and found it convenient to blame
students, the students’ parent(s); the community; and the bureaucracy of the school
district. Blaming, when coming from White teachers and directed toward minority
students, their parents, and community, was clearly racial in nature. These teachers
justified their unwillingness to change often turned blaming into excuse making and
self-righteous indignation:
Who cares? You know I really don’t. Do they get what I give them . . . and that is if they do
that’s fine. If they don’t, then I’ve been in this long enough that I’m not going to hit everyone. I
accepted that a long time ago.
When self-righteous indignation was not a strategy, it was often replaced with a litany
of obstacles:
There are so many obstacles. Sometimes you think to heck with it, there are attendance
obstacles, cultural obstacles, remediation obstacles, so many obstacles, that you might want
to give up and teach your thing, if they don’t get it, then, too bad.
These teachers blamed the students’ culture and surrounding community for the lack
of educational success. They were either unwilling or unable to understand the
students’ culture or believe that parents wanted their children to succeed. Preconceived
opinions reinforced these teachers’ beliefs that the multi-cultural at-risk student
population did not want to succeed and that their parents did not value education.
One teacher indicated that there was a fear of success inherent in families and their
representative culture:
A lot of kids will frequently say no one in my family has gone to college; I am the first one to
graduate from high school . . . They may not want to be that different from their family. They
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may not feel accepted; there is a fear of success. It costs money in their families for them to go
to college because they are not contributing to the family income.
Typically, these teachers operated within a deficit model that is rife with traditional
stereotypes (Sautter, 1994), “They [the students] are needy. They’re very, very needy.”
One teacher blamed poverty, “I think what we’re finding at MHS that poverty is
becoming probably a lot more of an issue than the race.” In either case, the
non-supportive teacher attitudes embraced the deficit model.
Another teacher viewed non-English speaking and low socioeconomic status of
parents as liabilities:
Certainly the immigrants who are not English [speaking] have problems, but we also have a
lot of kids who have been here for a long time that because of poverty don’t have the home
situation to make homework effective. [They] don’t have the parents who know that they
need to check on their homework and encourage them . . . so it’s one of the trials I guess that
we face at Mendoza.
The lack of respect was identified, in many cases, by comparing the teacher’s social
value and norms to those of the MHS community:
They have to sit down and do their homework or they have to do their chores first before they
go play . . . they don’t have that authority in their life. So on the one hand, yeah, I do want the
best thing for them all, but I can’t . . . they don’t have the same advantages that my kids have
. . . But, we don’t have the ability to give them the same advantages that we are giving our
own . . . sometimes I wonder how realistic that is.
An underlying belief in parent liabilities was held by some teachers who saw parents
as lacking ability to help their children:
We called the mom and she wasn’t real helpful because she’s pretty helpless and that’s the
situation. You know, it’s just you’re part of a whole and for every kid the whole is different.
And, so you’re just kind of like doing your little piece . . .
Bureaucratic rigidity. The school-driven bureaucracy negatively influences the work
of teachers. One teacher expressed the desire to be allowed to do her job, “Let us do
what we say we are going to do. Don’t just keep changing programs before we’ve had a
chance to see if it works.” The teacher wanted the administration to, “Give us time to
plan, give us time to work together.” The teacher did not want the administration to
change in the middle of implementing a new program or instructional strategy, “You
put us on it. Don’t pull it out from under us when somebody comes in with a different
idea.” Many teachers felt caught by the demands of reform and central administration
efforts to meet state requirements:
Last year we had comprehensive school reform going on. A speaker came in and blew us
completely out of the water, and we had to start over. It was 180 degrees and it didn’t matter if
it was right or wrong.
Another teacher wanted to “Eliminate redundant paperwork and reinventing the wheel
year after year. If I didn’t have to do so much documentation, maybe I would have more
time to teach.”
Another teacher commented on the need to work around barriers that hinder
student success:
Attitudes and
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I try to eliminate barriers and go around them. I think we focus too much on rules and not
about kids having needs. Sometimes the rules aren’t number one. I can give them a break
because life happens, and can be overwhelming, and school may be stopped for one day if
need be.
Co-dependency. Another problematic area was the appearance of an expressed
co-dependency by some teachers toward their students. There is a fine line between
codependent and caring behavior. In the statements reported below, the research team
observed the non-verbal behavior and voice tonality of teachers during interviews and
focus group and reported a type of “savior mentality” accompanying a seemingly
caring statement that led the research team to report findings in this area.
The notion of co-dependency is of particular importance in a school setting where
teachers may view students as in need and gain a measure of self-efficacy from
co-dependent behavior. Fischer et al. (1991) defined as the antithesis of caring as the
co-dependent person smothering the person he/she is attempting to help and thus,
taking away the person’s freedom to make decisions. These teachers enjoyed rescuing
students and at times relished the status of students in their subservient role. As one
teacher stated, “We need to understand that some of our ESOL [English speakers of
other languages] students have come to this country illegally. They have risked their
lives, hoping somehow their lives will be better. We have to appreciate that they want
to succeed, so we should help them.”
Several teachers said that a successful teacher needed to be patient and giving. One
teacher commented:
To get to those kids, it almost requires an infinite amount of patience . . . the back of your
head your brain is saying he’s not going to graduate; he’s probably not going to be here next
week. But, I guess I’ll pick him up today [but] he’ll probably skip once I get him to school. You
come back and try it with another kid.
The recognition of the importance of the teacher’s contribution hinted at the connection
to co-dependency, “I know that there are a couple of kids that if I had not picked them
up every day they would not have graduated. If I had not done something, they might
have gone hungry.”
Inflexibility and frustration. Inflexibility created dissatisfaction in teacher
interactions with students and other faculty. The lack of flexibility according to
teachers, administrators, and counselors, was a detriment to the establishment of
meaningful relationships with students. Inflexibility was expressed as an
unwillingness to change teaching strategies, work with the multi-cultural at-risk
student population or the surrounding community. Inflexibility and frustration were
linked. Frustration was tied to the teacher’s lack of ability to connect with students:
It is very frustrating some days. Frustrating when you have things set up. You’ve got this
really good idea. It’s going to be engaging. And they [the students] are just “Oh, yeah.” Or
they’ll do it in class one day and then there’s no follow through. It’s like starting over the next
day.
The frustration from lack of preparation or knowledge of how to teach students from
non- traditional backgrounds was often overwhelming. Some teachers did not think
there was a solution to their problems; they indicated a type of angst or malaise, “I
think there are things you can do but I don’t know that any one thing is ever going to
solve the problem regardless of how much money it costs or anything else.”
IJEM
19,5
446

Inflexible teachers created cultural problems for the new principal. A cultural
tension existed where the principal’s efforts for change and associated growth were
resisted by inflexible teachers who were unwilling to change and meet the needs of a
multi-cultural at-risk student population.
Implications
The findings provided several implications for future practice and serve as a model to
administrators and teachers in other urban schools with a similar population and
cultural issues.
Caring teachers are important for student success
Students are more motivated to succeed when their teachers authentically care about
them. They will accept constructive criticism and redirect their actions when they
realize the criticism is from someone they trust. Caring among teachers must move
beyond an espoused theory to an everyday, theory-in-use. Administrators can help to
build a caring culture through careful selection practices, public recognition and
rewarding of acts of caring, and through professional staff development focused on
caring.
Attitudes of optimism with multi-cultural at-risk students is important
The challenges in a multi-cultural high at-risk student population must be faced with
an attitude of optimism. Optimism breeds optimism and teachers, counselors, and
administrators need to infuse optimism into their daily discourse, lesson plans, and
interactions In a sense, a cognitive restructuring of the language of teachers, teacher
meetings, and classroom instruction may do more to raise morale and test scores than
curriculum changes. Staff development focusing on communication skills and staff
development grounded in appreciative inquiry is one way to facilitate this change.
Community building is essential in a multi-cultural high student at-risk context
High at-risk urban schools can become more effective by building on the culture of the
surrounding community. In the school in this study, the large Hispanic population in
the area places a high cultural value on la familia or the family. Recreating a culture
that is centered on a family-like structure where common values, beliefs, and attitudes
are shared may engender great community support. Community building requires
developing a sense of mutual respect, identification of common goals, and willingness
to learn more about each other. The administration and faculty can lead the
development of a community based attitude by meeting with parents and students in
local churches, meeting halls, and homes of the parents.
Development of strategies for working with students and parents
Specific strategies for working with an at-risk student population need to focus on the
unique needs of at-risk students. Areas of focus could include developing a stronger
need for language acquisition, help with socio-economic challenges and valuing
diversity in the school’s environment. Moreover, teachers need to become partners with
students and parents in raising the aspiration levels of students as a means of breaking
the cycle of poverty that permeates the surrounding neighborhood. One basis for
raising the aspiration levels of students and parents for their children is to work
through an asset model addressing student, parent, and cultural strengths.
Attitudes and
traits of teachers
447

Conclusion
The research team used an appreciative inquiry model to identify attitudes and traits
of teachers that supported effective teaching at MHS. Teachers, administrators, and
counselors agreed that forming relationships and caring for students was at the core of
the attitudes and traits of effective teaching. Moreover, teachers with effective attitudes
and traits were seen as having the ability to integrate into the school and surrounding
community’s culture to encourage students to succeed in school. The research team
discovered that in the stark physical surroundings of MHS, there are teachers who are
committed to the education of urban at-risk students. They respect the students,
parents, and culture of the multi-cultural community. They work in conditions that, at
times, can be described as disheartening; yet, they transcend these conditions by
becoming difference-makers in their attitudes and traits.
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