Teacher Efficacy and Disciplinary Expectations in Charter Schools: Understanding the Link to Teachers’ Career Decisions

ABSTRACT

Much scholarly work describes a culture of low expectations in low-income, urban schools, the challenges these teachers face managing student behavior, and why these problems so strongly influence teacher turnover. By contrast, some urban charter schools, particularly those associated with high achieving Charter Management Organizations (CMOs), are becoming well known for a culture of high expectations and seemingly effective yet controversial methods of managing student behavior. While there are many descriptions and critiques of these methods, little is known about how teachers themselves perceive student behavior or disciplinary methods, and how this impacts their career decisions. This exploratory study uses interviews with CMO and non-CMO teachers to describe how their career decisions and sense of success are affected by perceptions of student conduct, support dealing with behavior, and their school’s behavioral expectations. Strict disciplinary methods may benefit teachers in creating an orderly environment, but they can also undermine efficacy and increase turnover in schools that have a negative behavioral climate.

KEYWORDS:

• charter management organizations
• discipline
• no-excuses schools
• student behavior
• teacher efficacy
• teacher turnover
• urban charter schools

Notes

1. All CMO teachers (and many stand-alone teachers) interviewed described working in organizations with a “no-excuses” approach (e.g., longer working days, strict behavioral expectations/systems, etc.).

2. For example, 22.5% of charter teachers cite dissatisfaction with working conditions as the most important reason for leaving compared to just 7% of TPS teachers.

3. STAR and tracking are common behavioral expectations. STAR stands for: “Sit up, Track the teacher, Ask questions, Raise hands” and tracking refers to keeping your eyes on the speaker at all times.

4. All of the CMO teachers and several of the stand-alone teachers in this study experienced and described a “no-excuses” approach to discipline (see Table A1).