TSAS and Provocative Propositions

Now that you've told us where you and collectively your school/district see yourselves on the TSAS/NMTEACH items, what can we do about it? The next step in the process is to seek out the areas of greatest need and address them head on.

BEGINNING ACTION PLANS FOR IMPROVING ON SELECTED TSAS/NMTEACH ELEMENTS

Recall that the TSAS is aligned to the NMTEACH domains and elements, and that the TSAS as a self-assessment scale is aligned to the concept of teacher efficacy. There is a large amount of research on teacher efficacy, including how it changes or can be changed intentionally.  Recall, too, that changes in efficacy very often correspond to performance, so if we feel more efficacious we'll try harder; if we try harder we'll feel more efficacious (which builds on itself in reciprocal fashion). The result, of course, is improved performance on designated tasks.

The most powerful source of influence on one's efficacy is Enactive Attainment, AKA Performance Attainment, OR In NIKE™ lingo…JUST DOing IT!

There are four Principal Sources of Efficacy Information (aka Factors of Self-Efficacy) that can be used to increase one's feelings of efficacy on designated tasks. These sources have all been shown to have influential effects on one's efficacy, however, they are not equal. If one wants to experience a positive change, all one needs to do is get started, try hard, and persist if the going gets tough. These sources are further explained in the table below.

Four Principal Sources of Efficacy Information
Element NMTEACH Element label goes here
1. Physiological States (including mood and emotions)
  • Positive or relaxed/lightened mood enhances self-efficacy
  • Negative or melancholic mood diminishes self-efficacy
2. Verbal Persuasion
  • Being able to persuade persons that they can be successful in designated tasks
  • Based on persuasiveness of the individual
  • Credibility of the persuader
  • How knowledgeable the persuader appears to be of the content and activities
3. Vicarious Observation AKA 'Vicarious Experiences'

  • Based on perceived similarity to models (greater similarity is more powerful)
  • Credible models (e.g. experts or trustworthy colleagues) have also been shown to be effective
4. Enactive Attainment AKA 'Performance Attainments'

  • Highly influenced by mastery experiences
  • Personal accomplishments and failures are most influential and informative because they are based on authentic master experiences
  • Factors affecting are perceived difficulty of the task, amount of effort expended, amount of support, and other circumstances

Definitions. Provocative Propositions, as operationalized here, are hypothetical strategies about how you and your school can plan for lessening issues and/or accelerating progress. We will provide strategy templates based on efficacy research as guidance for addressing issues and opportunities, but the templates are just the organizing framework. We realize that the best solutions will always be organic, that is homegrown and formulated by the experts (i,e. you) within each school and classroom.

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