TECHNOS

January 6, 2009

Great Expectations for Students Becomes Great Teacher Professional Development Program

“I will use each day to the fullest.”
“If better is possible, good is not enough.”
“Think like a person of action, act like a person of thought.”
“A mistake, if understood, is but a step toward wisdom.”
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

These are some of the Quotations of the Day used by Great Expectations-trained teachers. These teachers believe that by using creeds and famous quotations in daily conversations, they can change their dialog with students and in turn change the dynamics of the classroom. Rather than fostering a critical and harsh environment, GE teachers change the classroom climate to a respectful, encouraging one. But this is only one facet of the GE program.

The slogan of Great Expectations (GE) is “Tall Oaks from Little Acorns Grow”—and the teacher professional development that sprung up from Oklahoma has developed strong trees with numerous branches in 13 other states.

What is this phenomenon? The program began with the Great Expectations Foundation, established by Charlie Hollar, a retired insurance executive from Ponca City, Oklahoma. The Foundation dedicated itself to developing a teacher training model for pre-service and practicing educators and disseminating this information throughout the state of Oklahoma. The first GE Summer Institute, a week-long training session for 175 elementary teachers and administrators, was held at space donated by Northeastern State University in Tahlequah in 1991.

GE is designed to build the knowledge and skills needed to motivate, inspire, and challenge students to achieve excellence in learning and living. It focuses on the HOW of teaching, not the WHAT. While curriculum is certainly important, it’s the delivery of the information from teacher to student that is the critical element in the educational process. Positive reinforcement and respect for all people in the school are cornerstones of the GE program.

The GE Implementation Rubric is extensive, but easily followed and practiced.

It begins with the GE Life Principles, the cornerstones that provide opportunities for teachers to interject character precepts and life lessons into classroom discussions, activities, and thoughtful reflections. GE teachers help students develop the qualities of good character by showing them ways to develop themselves. The 22 GE Life Principles are:

RESPECT—Feeling honor
SELF-DISCIPLINE—The ability to choose and control one’s own actions
RESPONSIBILITY—Making the choice to be reliable and dependable
HONESTY—Truthfulness
COURAGE—Strength to act even when afraid or uncertain
COMPASSION—Ability to share another’s feelings or ideas
PERSEVERANCE—The ability to persist or continue striving to the end
LOYALTY—Faithfulness to another
EFFORT—Doing your best in an endeavor
FRIENDSHIP—Caring for and trusting one another
COOPERATION—Working together
COMMON SENSE—Thinking before acting, using good judgment
FLEXIBILITY—The ability to make adjustments or alter plans
INITIATIVE—Taking action, originating new ideas
CURIOSITY—The desire to learn, to explore, to investigate
PATIENCE—The ability to wait calmly
PROBLEM-SOLVING—Creating solutions, finding answers
JUSTICE—Being fair, right, and upholding what is right
COMMITMENT—The keeping of a promise or pledge
ESPRIT DE CORPS—Devotion for each other among members of a group
CITIZENSHIP—Behaving in a responsible manner as a citizen of a community
SERVICE—Giving of one’s time and energies to help others

GE classrooms are well-managed and provide a predictable environment in which students know what is expected of them. Rather than determining punishments for specific wrongdoings, GE teachers proactively teach procedures and establish expectations that build self-esteem and make the classroom place where students are immersed in a “character”-rich environment:

We will value one another as unique and special individuals.
We will not laugh at or make fun of a person’s mistakes nor use sarcasms or putdowns.
We will use good manners, saying “please,” “thank you,” and “excuse me” and allow others to go first.
We will cheer each other to success.
We will help one another whenever possible.
We will recognize every effort and applaud it.
We will encourage each other to do our best.
We will practice virtuous living, using the Life Principles.

GE continues with six basic Tenets and 17 Classroom Practices, which provide guidelines for program training and implementation and serve as standards for evaluating GE schools/districts. The Tenets are:

High Expectations
Teacher Attitude and Responsibility
Building Self-Esteem
All Children Can Learn
Climate of Mutual Respect
Teacher Knowledge and Skill

The Classroom Practices—intended to assist students in becoming self-directed learners, productive citizens, effective communicators, critical thinkers, and cooperative contributors to the classroom as well as society—are:

The teacher models desired behaviors and attitudes such as those set forth in the Life Principles and the Eight Expectations for Living.
Students and teachers speak in complete sentences and address one another by name, demonstrating mutual respect and common courtesy.
Students are taught as a whole group, thoroughly and to mastery, with intensive and specific modifications insuring success for all.
Lessons are integrated, related to the real world, reviewed consistently, and connected to subsequent curricula.
Critical thinking skills are taught.
A non-threatening environment, conducive to risk-taking, is evident. Mistakes are okay. Students are taught to learn from their mistakes and to correct them.
Memory work, recitations, and/or writing occur daily. These enhance character development and effective communication skills while extending curricula. Recitations are exuberant and full of expression.
Enriched vocabulary is evident and is drawn directly from challenging writings and/or wisdom literature. Sources should include classic literature, myths, fables, poetry, proverbs, quotes, and other genres.
The Magic Triad, a positive and caring environment, and discipline with dignity and logic are evident.
Every student’s work is displayed in some form. Teachers provide positive commentary through oral and/or written feedback.
Word identification skills are used as a foundation for expanding the use of the English language.
Students assume responsibility for their own behavior. Their choices determine consequences.
A school, class, or personal creed is recited or reflected upon daily to reaffirm commitment to excellence.
All students experience success. The teacher guarantees it by comparing students to their own past performance, not the performance of others. Students are showcased, and past failures are disregarded.
The teacher teaches on his/her feet, engages students personally, holds high expectations of students, and does not limit them to grade level or perceived ability.
Each classroom has a student who greets visitors and makes them feel welcome and comfortable.
Teachers and students celebrate the successes of others.

Does it work? Research upholds the validity of GE techniques. A comprehensive year-long study of GE conducted by Southwestern Educational Development Laboratory in Austin, Texas, during the 1999–2000 school year concluded: “When Great Expectations is fully implemented in a classroom, the teaching behaviors of teachers and the learning behaviors of students are markedly different—in positive ways—from teacher and student behaviors in ‘traditional’ teacher-directed classrooms.” Further, comparisons of third- and seventh-grade Total Composite National Percentile Ranks in 31 GE schools in Oklahoma revealed that 62 percent of the third grades, and 80 percent of the seventh grades, demonstrated increased levels of achievement following the onset of Great Expectations implementation.

In addition, a study done by the University of Oklahoma’s E-TEAM (Educational Training, Evaluation, Assessment, and Measurement) Department in 2003–04 concluded that “[t]hese findings indicate that students in classrooms implementing Great Expectations methodology showed greater gains in student academic achievement during the school year compared to demographically similar students not exposed to GE.” The study of first-, third-, and fifth-grade GE classrooms composite NCE Scores showed that GE students gained an average of 8.6 NCE points during the school year, compared to the non-GE group, who gained on average 3.4 NCE points during the school year.

For teachers interested in GE Training opportunities, there are distance learning, principal cell meetings, regional meetings, Saturday sessions, spring zone meetings, and support personnel training sessions, as well as the annual Summer Institutes (Summer 2006).

Read our Featured Interview with Cheryl Price, Program Director of Great Expectations.