Within the broader context of accountability imposed from beyond our schools, this mixed methods, multi-site case study investigated the development of relational trust and trustworthy relationships as internal accountability structures within three independent schools replicating responsible independence on the scale of the school as trustworthy freedom on the scale of the individual. Interviews, observations, artifacts, sociograms, and surveys were analyzed to identify teacher and administrator perceptions of structures supporting relational trust, accountability to community standards, and sustainable trust-based cultures. Survey data were also analyzed for corresponding evidence of organizational conditions associated with school improvement: teacher orientation to innovation, teacher commitment to school community, peer collaboration, reflective dialog, collective responsibility, focus on student learning, and teacher socialization. Structures found to support responsible freedom at these schools included their historic honor systems, programs for character education, strategic planning, and policies and schedules guiding daily life. Neither structure nor freedom alone was found to be sufficient to sustain cultures built on relational trust and mutual accountability. Inflexible structures or inauthentic, coercive, or incompetent leaders diminished social capital over time at all three schools. Schools enjoying the best organizational conditions for school improvement built capacity by fostering macro-micro feedback loops of honor and trust between the scales of the individual and the school as a professional learning community. Findings were applied to develop a model for individual and organizational capacity building, relating the dimensions of relational trust and accountability to standards. The two-dimensional model for capacity building identified four categories of school capacity based on levels of both relational trust and accountability to standards: low capacity schools, compliant schools, complacent schools, and high capacity schools. The model further developed associated strategies for moving schools in each category towards developing or sustaining high capacity.

This book samples recent and emerging trust research in education including an array of conceptual approaches, measurement innovations, and explored determinants and outcomes of trust. The collection of pathways explores the phenomenon of trust and establishes the significance of trust relationships in school life. It emboldens the claim that trust merits continued attention of both scholars and practitioners because of the role it plays in the production of equity and excellence. Divided into four parts, the book explores trust under the rubrics of learning, teaching, leading and bridging. The book proposes a variety of directions for future research. These include the simultaneous investigation of trust from the prospectives of various trusters, and at both the individual and group levels, longitudinal research designs, and an elaboration of methods.

This study seeks to examine what happens when a principal, working in a challenging context, attempts to take up issues of relational trust and group dynamics in an attempt to create the conditions necessary for professional learning communities to serve as vehicles for transformational learning. The study utilizes reflective journaling, interviews, and document reviews to collect data on the impact of the actions of the principal and the school's leadership on the effectiveness of professional learning communities as vehicles for practitioner reflection and growth. The study documents the challenges faced in trying to foster trust in this environment. Reflections of leadership lessons learned, recommendations for practitioners responsible for implementing professional learning communities as a reform mandate, and implications for future research are included in this study.

Kochanek links the growth of trust with positive outcomes that benefit schools, such as increased participation, greater openness to innovations, boosts in parent outreach, and higher academic productivity.

Make your school soar by escalating trust between teachers, students, and families Trust is an essential element in all healthy relationships, and the relationships that exist in your school are no different. How can your school leaders or teachers cultivate trust? How can your institution maintain trust once it is established? These are the questions addressed and answered in Trust Matters: Leadership for Successful Schools, 2nd Edition. The book delves into the helpful research that has been conducted on the topic of trust in school. Although rich with research data, Trust Matters also contains practical advice and strategies ready to be implemented. This second edition expands upon the role of trust between teachers and students, teachers and administrators, and schools and families. Trust Matters: Leadership for Successful Schools also covers a range of sub-topics relevant to trust in school. All chapters in the text have questions for reflection and discussion. Engaging chapters such as "Teachers Trust One Another" and "Fostering Trust with Students" have thought-provoking trust-building questions and activities you can use in the classroom or in faculty meetings. This valuable resource: Examines ways to cultivate trust Shares techniques and practices that help maintain trust Advises leaders of ways to include families in the school's circle of trust Addresses the by-products of betrayed trust and how to restore it With suspicion being the new norm within schools today, Trust Matters is the book your school needs to help it rise above. It shows just how much trust matters in all school relationships—administrator to teacher; teacher to student; school to family—and in all successful institutions.

The culmination of nearly three decades of research, Collective Trust offers new insight and practical knowledge on the social construction of trust for school improvement. The authors argue that collective trust is not merely an average trust score for a group, but rather an independent concept with distinctive origins and consequences. The book demonstrates that schools are organizations that require environments characterized by high levels of collective trust to be effective. Including an historical overview, an exhaustive review of the empirical research, and implications for school reform policy and leadership, this is the most comprehensive resource to date on the issue of collective trust.