Academic Optimism in High Schools

This study contributes to the research foundation of academic optimism (Hoy, Tarter & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006) through incorporating the following three aims: to determine the relationship between academic emphasis, collective efficacy, faculty trust in students and parents, and academic optimism to explore the relationship of academic optimism with state student achievement and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards and to identify the practices in schools that demonstrate academic emphasis, faculty trust in students and parents, and collective efficacy that comprise academic optimism. Qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized to collect quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data on academic emphasis, collective efficacy and faculty trust in students and parents from teachers and principals in one high and one lower performing Midwestern high school, as identified by state and federal standard mandates. This study provides an opportunity to describe how the construct of academic optimism, also linked to student achievement, translates into practice in the high school settin