Faculty: Pamela Hallam

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are being recognized as effective in improving teacher collaboration and student achievement. Trust is critical in effectively implementing the PLC model, and the school principal is best positioned to influence school trust levels. Using five facets of trust, this research sought to clarify the impact of trust among PLC teachers on their team’s collaborative practices. Findings suggested ways that members of successful PLCs built trust. Findings also suggested ways that principals influenced team members’ trust. Successful and unsuccessful PLCs emphasized different facets in describing development of trust, the principal’s role in building trust, and the role of trust in collaboration.

Students perform better academically in schools with high levels of trust. Yet school leaders primarily responsible for building cultures of trust may not know how to effectively build trust. This research examines how visibility of Ugandan headteachers is related to teachers' perceptions of headteacher trustworthiness. Using grounded theory, we interviewed 28 Ugandan secondary school teachers in eight schools in Mukono District, Uganda. Findings indicate teachers' perceptions of headteacher relational trustworthiness were related to headteacher visibility, with perceptions of both relational and competence trustworthiness being moderated by teacher and headteacher personal characteristics. Findings are comparable to U.S. based research.

Research indicates that mentoring programs help increase the retention of beginning teachers. School administrators may be presented with competing mentoring models, with various sources and types of support, aimed at improving beginning teacher retention. This study collected both qualitative and quantitative data under the rubric of a comparative case study method to investigate mentoring models in the Asher and Dane School Districts (pseudonyms). Using this approach, the authors explored the two distinct models related to beginning teacher retention. Although both districts used collaborative teams, in-school mentors, and principals within the context of professional learning communities to participate in the mentoring of beginning teachers, only the Dane School District employed district “coaches.” Findings from this research suggest that these “coaches” were not as effective as in-school mentors or collaborative teams in increasing retention, possibly because of lack of proximity and personal relationship. Additional findings describe and explain mentoring characteristics and different sources of support that benefited the mentoring experience and subsequent retention of beginning teachers.

As new school leaders acclimatize to a new role, their liabilities of newness are easily exposed. As a result, they must be strategic in both their actions and decisions if they are to lead effectively. This research suggests that new headteachers who seek advice, communicate, build relationships, and strengthen the school’s image may be more effective at addressing the challenges of their liabilities of newness and their specific educational context. Ministries of education, universities and other providers of leadership preparation, as well as new headteachers themselves, may benefit from this research to improve their educational systems. These better informed and more contextually sensitive efforts will better enable both the academic performance and economic viability of schools, particularly in contexts such as Uganda.

The development and role of trust in school performance has been built upon educational research in the United States. The problem is that the resulting theory of trust may not accurately reflect the development and role of trust in schools in other global contexts. Researchers broadly agree that the implications of trust dynamics filter into every aspect of the school?s organization. However, trust is often either oversimplified or made to seem overly complex, whereas reality is likely somewhere in the middle and depends largely on specific national and regional circumstances. The resulting problem for school administrators globally is a lack of role clarity regarding their leadership responsibilities related to trust and school performance. This chapter synthesizes two research studies to compare and contrast the role and development of trust in U.S. and Ugandan schools. The purpose of this chapter is to examine more contextualized notions of trust, taking into account the different environments of these schools, specifically in terms of accountability and goal tangibility. This chapter argues that while both the construct and facilitation of trust are indeed highly contextualized, a broader theoretical model grounded in leadership, network and organizational theories can provide insights about the role and development of trust to educational leaders in both U.S. and Ugandan schools.