Trust is the magic ingredient in schools.

I've just begun to dig into this report about Jon Saphier's "The Black Box of Collective Efficacy," which I read about in a Marshall Memo summary.

The "black box" of the title refers to a secret ingredient in school culture that makes teachers want to be part of an effort to improve practice.   The big takeaway for me so far is that the black box is about trust.  Marshall Memo shares  a list of things that Teachers Look for to Trust Administration.  

This is a list of 10 great ideas, like:

           • I trust that you think I am a worthwhile person because you consistently notice and comment on the things I am doing well and are interested in my life outside of school.          

 • I trust that you will make it safe for us to make mistakes by making yourself vulnerable; acknowledging what you don’t know and where you need help; righting wrongs, apologizing, and making restitution; acknowledging mistakes; showing loyalty by giving credit freely, acknowledging others, and not bad-mouthing anyone behind their backs; holding yourself accountable and sharing how you’ll communicate what you’re doing; and being a constant, visible learner with us.

The 10 ideas are comprehensive and a bit intimidating; many of the statements have a large number of bullet points.  It's a bit like "be a good person, a caring person, a character-filled person" in 50 easy steps or so.  There are many many facets.

Though intimidating, this list, if Saphier is right, is essential.  It's the oxygen in a reaction:  not enough of these things and the essential combustion will slow.  

My first takeaway is that I should put this to immediate use and get feedback from my staff about how I'm doing.  The article suggests the same.  I should also hang the list on my wall of my office.  There's a lot to work on!

My second takeaway is that there's probably something similar going on in the relationship between teachers and students.  These components come before any list of pedagogic tools or content knowledge tools.  "Building relationships of trust" might even contain content knowledge -- or at least represent "enough content knowledge for teaching high school."  What would be the list of Ten Things that Students Look for to Trust Teachers?