Patrick B. Forsyth

Toward a Theory of Professionalization

A model of professionalization based largely on the power view is presented. As a test of a portion of the model, professional power is defined in terms of two dimensions of attitudinal autonomy. Autonomy from client and autonomy from employing organization are studied in a sample of 1,000 students representing eight different occupations (medicine, law, education, nursing, social work, librarianship, engineering, and business administration) in order to discover a systematic empirical referent for the concepts true, semi-, and mimic profession. As hypothesized, distinct attitudinal power profiles did emerge as characteristic of individuals socialized to various occupations.

Trust‐effectiveness patterns in schools

Purpose – To investigate the consequences of relational trust, especially parent measured trust, for desirable school outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – Using a US Midwestern state sample of 79 schools, parent and teacher trust data are used to derive a trust‐effectiveness typology. Trust was conceptualized as one partys willingness to be vulnerable to another party based on the confidence that the latter party is benevolent, reliable, competent, honest, and open.Findings – Findings derived from the extraction of canonical correlation variates support the prediction that a complex and extensive trust environment is predictive of internal school conditions and consequences, even after accounting for socioeconomic status of the school community. Four theoretical trust‐effectiveness patterns emerge from the interpretation.Research limitations/implications – The research design was planned as a school level study. Perceptual data collected at the individual level were intended for aggregation thus, neste...

Proximate sources of collective teacher efficacy

Purpose – Recent scholarship has augmented Banduras theory underlying efficacy formation by pointing to more proximate sources of efficacy information involved in forming collective teacher efficacy. These proximate sources of efficacy information theoretically shape a teachers perception of the teaching context, operationalizing the difficulty of the teaching task that faces the school and the facultys collective competence to be successful under specific conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of three contextual variables: socioeconomic status, school level, and school structure on teacher perceptions of collective efficacy.Design/methodology/approach – School level data were collected from a cross‐section of 79 schools in a Midwestern state. Data were analyzed at the school level using hierarchical multiple regression to determine the incremental variance in collective teacher efficacy beliefs attributed to contextual variables after accounting for the effect of prior aca...

Isolation and Alienation in Educational Organizations

Power and friendship networks in academic organizations are exam ined to see what effects selected dimensions of interaction have on the work alienation of educators. Findings suggest that interaction with friends and respected coworkers is more important to professional educa tors than contacts with those in authority. Patrick B. Forsyth is Assistant Professor of Educational Administra tion, Oklahoma State University; Wayne K. Hoy is Professor and Chair- person of the Department of Educational Administration, Rutgers Uni versity.

Revisiting the Trust Effect in Urban Elementary Schools

More than a decade after Goddard, Tschannen-Moran, and Hoy (2001) found that collective faculty trust in clients predicts student achievement in urban elementary schools, we sought to identify a plausible link for this relationship. Our purpose in revisiting the trust effect was twofold: (1) to test the main effect of collective faculty trust on student achievement after controlling for free and reduced-price lunch and prior achievement, and (2) to determine if self-regulated learning mediates the collective trust-achievement relationship. Data were collected from 1,039 teachers and 1,648 students in 56 urban elementary schools. Results confirmed the hypothesized main effect of collective faculty trust and the hypothesized mediating effect of self-regulated learning. Mean math and reading achievement were higher in schools with a stronger culture of collective faculty trust. Schools with a stronger culture of trust also had students with more self-regulated learning.

Willower, the professor and UCEA

Describes Willower’s considered and valued role as a professor and reviews aspects of his career. Notes how Willower advocated bringing the work of the practitioner and the scholar closer together and the need to blend knowledge, values, and method. These characteristics contributed to Willower’s substantial role in the foundation and continuing development of the University Council for Educational Administration.