The importance of having high expectations for students is thrown about so often that it’s lost any real meaning.
It rolls off the tongue like a royal decree.
“Thou maketh high expectations!”
On cue, everyone nods along—Oh yes, yes, so important—while afraid to ask what it means in practice. The assumption is that it’s simply a push for student improvement.
You must “set the bar” like reading at grade level, writing a five-sentence paragraph, or reaching 80 percent on the math exam.
This is fine, I suppose. It helps a teacher consider what they want, which is good, but the application of it slips right through the fingers.
It doesn’t translate into what you’re actually supposed to do.
The result is that real success remains elusive. For high expectations to mean anything at all, there must be a clear target and a path to get there.
Our definition here at SCM gets to the heart of what it means in the truest, most applicable sense. It addresses the granular, the reality of what you actually need to do.
It also provides clarity for students.
A word of warning, however. It is high expectations. High, meaning a challenging target, and expectations, meaning it must be accomplished.
The SCM Definition
For teachers, high expectations means that everything you teach must be proven by students independently. Therefore, for students to be able to do the work as taught, your lessons need to be exceptional.
For students, high expectations means that everything that is taught must be then performed all on their own.
This requires that they understand the truth (that is often hidden from them, appallingly) that if they are to grow strong academically, only they can do it.
The Result
The result is that teaching and learning improve dramatically. They also become much more enjoyable for both teacher and students.
As for criticism that our definition is unrealistic, two points:
First, it’s being done right now in classrooms all over the world. And yes, even in the most difficult schools and among “low performing” students.
Second, it’s called high expectations. Nodding along and saying that you believe in them but teaching as if you don’t means that you don’t believe in your students.
They can’t do it.
They have obstacles, learning issues, attention problems, difficult home lives, etc. Therefore, you have no choice but to handhold them over the lowest rungs on the bar.
Forgive me, but this is a lie from the pit of Gehanna and the reason nearly 75 percent of eighth graders can’t read or do math proficiently.
The truth is, they can do it, all of them and at a high level. But you have to expect it in the true sense and practice of the word, one lesson at a time.
And so do your students.
PS – Check out my new book Unstressed: How to Teach Without Worry, Fear, and Anxiety.
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