Note: This article is part of a series that focus on topics in schools and leadership in education.
Schools everywhere have boasted of holding high expectations. This is nothing new. Nor is it surprising. No one goes around claiming to hold low expectations as a selling point, yet it sure seems like we end up having repeated conversations about deteriorating campus cultures and the “soft bigotry of low expectations” (as I often hear it described).
What may help is to back up a step and find out both what we do mean, and should mean, when we use the term expectations. Because we fail to define what we expect, we replace true expectations with mantras, cliches, and wishes. In fact, this swap is rampant in public education and has been for a long time.
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Let’s start with the basics. An expectation, by definition, is something anticipated to such an extent that one not only hopes for it but trusts it will happen. Expectations are so certain in our minds that we will make plans accordingly. An obvious example of a real expectation is our confidence that the sun will set this evening and rise again tomorrow. Most of us, outside of extenuating circumstances, also believe that our car will start when we turn the key or that we will still have a job tomorrow if we have been employed for a while.
I cite the above examples because they all illustrate the nature of actual expectations. We arrange our life around them. That is how sure we are of them occurring. An expectation is a belief that moves one to the point of acting.
There is a simple litmus test to see if what you think is an expectation actually is one. Anytime an expectation is not met, there are consequences. Let’s take an example of a commute to work. The average person probably has a regular route to work they use on a daily basis and they have a general idea of how long it takes to arrive on time. This anticipated trip is an expectation. One fully believes it to occur as it has all the other days. Plans are based on this commute, including what time to wake up, where to eat breakfast, what time to leave home, etc. But the real test comes with what happens if the expectation cannot realistically be met.
For instance, let’s say the traffic lights along the road are malfunctioning one particular morning or there is a significant car accident that has a part of the route blocked. In either of these cases, the employee has to decide what to do differently. Do they take an alternate route? Do they wait it out and call the office? Do they turn around and work remotely for a while (if they have a job that allows for that)? In any case, the person had to change plans and do something different.
How I know I truly hold an expectation is that my original plan will be insufficient and must change. Again, whether plans have to change when the expectation does not occur is the determining factor of whether it is really an expectation. If failure to meet an expectation does not change my plans at all, then it is not an expectation. This is true for any arena of life: personal, family, health, work, and especially our work with students in our schools.
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What I will contend is that more often than not, while we say we hold and act on expectations in our schools, in reality, we have wishes. A wish precisely deals with wanting things to be different than they really are so it does not deal with reality. Common examples of wishes are what we do while blowing out candles on a birthday cake or buying a lottery ticket. In either case, a person does not change their schedule or plans for the next day merely based on what they closed their eyes and wished to be true. Wishing for a new car or winning a huge cash prize is not their current reality so there is no need to act on it by calling the auto insurance company or quitting one’s job.
A wish does nothing for me. We act in accordance with expectations and contrary to wishes. Expectations guide our plans because we are so sure they will happen. Wishes guide nothing but only offer a distraction from the reality we face.
With the stage set by clearly defining our terms, let’s look at a couple of school scenarios to determine whether we are dealing with expectations or wishes. I predict we will discover that our actions often betray our words when it comes to our claims about holding high expectations.
Scenario 1: A teacher encourages her students while passing out a unit test. She states, “I have faith in all of you. I know you will all do well and I am confident everyone in here will pass with flying colors because you have learned all of the material.” Written on the board behind the teacher is the date and time and policy for test re-takes for students who receive failing grades.
Scenario 2: Students enter class after greeting the teacher at door. Most students take their seats and begin working on the warm-up. The teacher notices two boys standing near their desks with no supplies out. They are conversing about a movie they saw over the weekend. The teacher approaches and says, “You know the routine for how we start class every day. Now, instead of taking roll, I am over here addressing you. Tell me, what is your assigned task right now?” One boy rolls his eyes and mumbles, “Do the warm-up.” The teacher replies, “Good, please get started on that.”
Scenario 3: It is a staff development day and the school’s first PD presentation is scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM. The admin team is in the front office at 8:55 finalizing preparation for the presentation. One person notices the time and says, “We better get down there to get started.” Another administrator responds, “We still got five minutes. Besides, you know half of the staff will come late anyway. There’s no rush.”
In each of these scenarios, what constitutes an actual expectation? What is a wish? Why does it matter?
Here are a few more items to consider. In your own mind, categorize each one as an expectation or a wish for you.
Students should be in class before the tardy bell rings.
Students need to address adults with “sir” and “ma’am”.
Students need to be responsible for their own learning.
Teachers should have their classroom procedures posted.
Teachers should assign homework.
Moving Toward a Culture of Expectations
I have a wish (not an expectation). I wish an axiom could be posted above the front doors of every school building: “People cannot be held responsible for information they do not have.”
With all of our talk about learning targets, we stress the importance of clearly defining our expected outcomes. The point is for a teacher and student to know when they have met a particular objective and shown mastery of it.
The same is true for social behaviors as well as academic behaviors. To identify misbehavior, a student must first be able to identify the expected behavior. Someone cannot know they missed a target unless they are able to locate the target.
A step in the right direction is to spend more time on expectations. With a wish we are told, “Don’t tell anyone or it won’t come true.” The opposite is the case for expectations. If we don’t tell everyone, then it won’t come true. The mistake we make many times is assuming people already know and understand our expectations. We complain when they don’t meet our expectations on a regular basis, but nothing substantively changes within our system, so the expectations quickly translate into meaningless wishes.
Schools cannot improve by wishing. It is what we expect that matters.
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