Purpose: Research shows that trust is significantly related to academic achievement. This study expands knowledge of this connection in two ways. First, because a stratified, random sample of elementary schools from an entire state was used, the results have considerable generalizability. Second, this study tested the relationship between trust and achievement and assessed whether links between academic achievement, socioeconomic status (SES), and racial composition are mediated by the levels of trust teachers report in students and parents. Data Collection and Analysis: Schools were systematically randomly selected and stratified by location, prior achievement, SES, and size to represent all traditional public elementary schools across Michigan. Teachers responded to surveys measuring the levels of trust in schools. A path analysis was conducted at the school level to model variation in trust and the proportion of students passing the state mathematics and reading assessments. Findings: Using path analysis and controlling for measures of school context, greater trust was associated with increased school achievement in mathematics and reading on state assessments used for accountability purposes. Also, school SES, racial composition, and size were indirectly related to achievement through their associations with trust. However, racial and economic disadvantage were not directly related to achievement after controlling for prior achievement and trust. Conclusion: Because racial and economic disadvantage were related to achievement only indirectly through their negative associations with trust, trust relations appear to mediate the relationship between school disadvantage and academic achievement. Future researchers may wish to study whether programs seeking to increase trust in schools can effectively minimize the academic disadvantage typically associated with poverty and racial composition.
Adams, C.M., & Forsyth, P.B. (2006, April). Promoting a culture of parental collaboration and trust. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco .
2.
Baier, A. (1986). Trust and antitrust. Ethics, 96(2), 231-260.
3.
Bryk, A.S., & Schneider, B. (2002). Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement . New York: Russell Sage.
4.
Bryk, A.S., & Schneider, B. (2003). Trust in schools: A core resource for reform. Educational Leadership, 60(6), 40-44.
5.
Cohen, D.K., Raudenbush, S.W., & Ball, D.L. (2003). Resources, instruction, and research. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 25(2), 119-142.
6.
Coleman, J.S. (1990). Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
7.
Fisler, J.L., & Firestone, W.A. (2006). Teacher learning in a school-university partnership: Exploring the role of social trust and teaching efficacy beliefs . Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1155-1185.
8.
Forsyth, P.B., Barnes, L.L.B., & Adams, C.M. (2006). Trust-effectiveness patterns in schools. Journal of Educational Administration, 44, 121-144.
9.
Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
10.
Geist, J., & Hoy, W.K. (2004). Cultivating a culture of trust: Enabling school structure, teacher professionalism, and academic press. Leading and Managing, 10(4), 1-17.
11.
Goddard, R.D., Tschannen-Moran, M., & Hoy, W.K. (2001). Teacher trust in students and parents: A multilevel examination of the distribution and effects of teacher trust in urban elementary schools. Elementary School Journal, 102(1), 3-17.
12.
Hoy, W.K., Hannum, J., & Tschannen-Moran, M. (1998). Organizational climate and student achievement: A parsimonious view. Journal of School Leadership, 8, 336-359.
13.
Hoy, W.K., & Tschannen-Moran, M. (1999). Five facets of trust: An empirical confirmation in urban elementary schools. Journal of School Leadership, 9, 184-208.
14.
Johnson-George, C., & Swap, W. (1982). Measurement of specific interpersonal trust: Construction and validation of a scale to assess trust in a specific other. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 1306-1317.
15.
Kee, H.W., & Knox, R.E. (1970). Conceptual and methodological considerations in the study of trust. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 14, 357-366.
16.
Mayer, R.C., Davis, J.H., & Schoorman, F.D. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709-734.
17.
Meier, D. (1995). The power of their ideas: Lessons for America from a small school in Harlem. Boston: Beacon.
18.
Murnighan, J.K., Malhotra, D., Weber, J.M. (2004) Paradoxes of trust: Empirical and theoretical departures from a traditional model. In R. M. Kramer & K. S. Cook (Eds.), Trust and distrust in organizations (pp. 293-326). New York: Russell Sage.
19.
Smith, P.A., Hoy, W.K., & Sweetland, S.R. (2001). Organizational health of high schools and dimensions of faculty trust. Journal of School Leadership, 11, 135-150.
20.
Sweetland, S.R., & Hoy, W.K. (2000). School characteristics and educational outcomes . Educational Administration Quarterly, 36, 703-729.
21.
Tschannen-Moran, M. (2001). Collaboration and the need for trust. Journal of Educational Administration, 39, 308-331.
22.
Tschannen-Moran, M. (2003). Fostering organizational citizenship in schools: Transformational leadership and trust. In W. K. Hoy & C. G. Miskel (Eds.), Studies in leading and organizing schools (pp. 157-179). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
23.
Tschannen-Moran, M. (2004). Trust matters: Leadership for successful schools . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
24.
Tschannen-Moran, M., & Hoy, W.K. (1998). Trust in schools: A conceptual analysis. Journal of Educational Administration, 36, 334-352.
