A few slides on the impact of educator beliefs on learning.

1. Educator Beliefs
The collective
efficacy of school
staff has one of the
highest effect
scores: 1.57

2. Educator Beliefs
Contributing Factors to the Performance Gap
When educators don’t believe that students with
disabilities can achieve grade level standards they may:
• Provide instruction and remediation that does not
address the grade level standards
• Provide less feedback than they provide other
students
• Assume that when students do poorly it is the best
the student can do (reinforces low expectations)
• Be less likely to change instructional strategies
because they don’t think it will make a difference

3. Educator Beliefs
When educators at the secondary level don’t
believe that students with disabilities can
achieve the grade level standards they may
provide instruction or remediation that they feel
is more appropriate for the student. But the FSA
and EOCs assess the grade level standards. All
Tiers of instruction must align with the grade
level standards or you end up with performance
gaps.

4. Educator Beliefs
Effective educators:
• believe their fundamental task is to evaluate
the effect of their teaching on students'
learning and achievement
• have high expectations for all students
• see assessment as feedback about their impact
• focus more on learning than teaching
• build strong personal connections with
students and colleagues

5. Educator Beliefs
Resources
• John Hattie's Mindframes - https://visible-
learning.org/2014/08/john-hattie-mind-frames-
teachers/
– Includes a video on Hattie's 8 mind frames.
• The Impact of Collective Efficacy on
Student Achievement -
http://www.eobservations.com/impact-
collective-efficacy-student-achievement-part-1/
– The power of collective efficacy; the culture of
expectations shared by the teaching staff.

6. Educator Beliefs
Data Sources – You can use the following resources to collect
data addressing educator beliefs in your school and/or district.
• Middle/High School Survey
– http://www.tlc-mtss.com/assets/middlehigh-
beliefs_survey.pdf
• Checklist for Visible Learning
– http://bit.ly/2Dg36ZX
• Educational Practice Activity
– https://www.moedu-sail.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/07/Leadership-Handout-
Packet.pdf

7. Educator Beliefs
Hypothesis - The problem is occurring because:
–instruction for students with disabilities is different
from the instruction for students without disabilities
–students with disabilities are provided remediation
that is not aligned with the standards that will be
assessed
–instructional staff respond different to students with
disabilities because they expect a lower level of
achievement
–instructional staff don’t believe that what they do to
change instructional strategies will make a difference
for students with disabilities