School Climate
Leading With Collective Efficacy
- Peter M. DeWitt - Corwin Author and Consultant
Co-Publication with OPC
Build a positive school climate to impact students, teachers, and the community!
Is improving school climate on your to-do list? Do you think about it as a top-down directive or as a dialogue to build equity within the school? A healthy school environment should never be seen as an option, but instead supported as a must-have.
Peter DeWitt offers leaders practical high impact strategies to improve school climate, deepen involvement in student learning, and engage a broader family network. In addition to international vignettes focused on community stakeholders and research-based practices, this book features tools such as:
• A leadership growth cycle to help leaders build their self-efficacy
• A teacher observation cycle centered on building collective efficacy
• An early warning system to identify potential at-risk students
• Action steps following each chapter to apply to your own setting
• Discussion questions for use in team environments
Establishing a supportive and inclusive school climate where professionals can take risks to improve the lives of students is vital to maximize learning in any school community.
"This is a fabulous book by a renowned expert in the field of leadership. Peter DeWitt explains the complex and credible in a way that is thought-provoking, challenging and inspiring. I love how he gives insights in what successful collaborative leadership is and shows how we can all build our skills and mindset for leading towards collective efficacy."
—James Nottingham, Challenging Learning author and creator of #TheLearningPit
JN Partnership LTD, Northumberland, United Kingdom
"Where am I going? How am I going? Where to next? Simple, yet aspirational questions we ask our students to answer daily, but are we ready to ask this of ourselves in relation to our leadership of school climate and collective efficacy? Peter Dewitt is comprehensive, yet succinct, producing a practical guide for developing individual and collective efficacy in an inclusive, positive school climate. Research-based strategies, thought-provoking questions and effective tools at your fingertips, ready for immediate use. If you're after a good read, that's exactly what you'll get here....but if you're after an essential resource to empower your school community through the strength of belief that they can make learning happen, you will get that and more."
"Collaborative Leadership: A Collective Efficacy Approach to Improving School Climate is an impressive follow-up to DeWitt’s previous book, Collaborative Leadership: Six Influences That Matter Most. In his latest offering, DeWitt offers practical yet deep advice and strategies for improving school climate for the benefit of students, families, teachers, and administrators. Throughout the book, he communicates by seamlessly combining research with his experiences and the accounts of other professionals in the field. Many ideas can be implemented tomorrow, and DeWitt’s main points are those with which any educational leader could identify. If you are looking for a book to assist you on your journey to advancing your leadership abilities, your school, and/or your district, look no further!"
"School Climate: Leading With Collective Efficacy combines the research, anecdotes, reflection questions, and action steps necessary to become a high-impact, capacity-building school leader. DeWitt's style, all-at-once relatable and grounded in the work of John Hattie and so many others, will prompt readers to consider the essential aspects to our work together to be catalysts for progress in teacher, and community learning, and in student achievement."
