Leadership magazine Jan/Feb 2016 V45 No 3 | Page 38

I found the pill:
If you just take this,
we can close the gap!
Teacher efficacy is at
the heart of student
achievement and
changing conditions
for underserved
students. Thus, district
and site leaders must
make it a priority to
coach teachers up.

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Leadership

I have had the opportunity
to travel across the nation supporting districts and schools in school improvement
and building teacher capacity to reach and
teach all students. More recently, education
leaders are aggressively asking for more solutions to closing the multitude of gaps that
continue to exist in our districts and schools.
I have come to the conclusion after hearing their undying need to close the achievement/opportunity gap, our educational
leaders and teachers can’t refrain from wanting a quick solution – “the pill” to solve this
educational crisis.
After I explain what the research says
about how black and brown students learn
and what teachers need to do with their
planning and instructional delivery, the
proverbial dazed look appears. They have a
tendency to think the solution is rooted in
some convoluted double reverse, flea flicker,
Hail-Mary approach. I quote John Hattie’s

meta-analysis research on what impacts student learning. I also share the research of the
self-fulfilling prophecy, Pygmalion Effect
and research from Dr. Wade Nobles, who
is quoted as saying “the greatest barrier to
learning is not what the student knows; it is
what the teacher believes.”
Most educators’ response is “the solution to the problem is not that simple.” So
I have come to the revelation that I must
come at this issue of getting folks to believe
that the current school transformation and
student achievement for students of color is
a changeable condition. As Anthony Mohammad indicated, there is no magic dust to
improving student outcomes.
So I did not look for the dust; I just found
the pill: First and foremost we will have
to change the target. The target of school
transformation is not student achievement.
By Edwin Lou Javius