Sports fans believe in miracles?

Today is the anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. Thirty years ago today, the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team stunned the world with a victory of the powerful Soviet Hockey Team. ESPN named the Miracle on Ice the greatest sports moment of the 1980s. Some equate the victory to “a high school football team beating the Philadelphia Eagles.”

Researchers and physicians believe in miracles?

USA Today reports on recent research findings that indicate “When it comes to the placebo effect, it really may be mind over matter.” Once placed in the same category as magic and hocus pocus, increasing evidence has led researchers to conclude that placebos “have an actual biological effect in the body.”

“The doctor-patient relationship, plus the expectation of recovery, may sometimes be enough to change a patient's brain, body and behavior, experts write.”

The Miracle on Ice and the research on placebos is not as much about the idea of miracles as it is about believing. Simply put, this research tells us that, if we believe that our health will improve, it improves. The question is, is the reverse true? If we have no hope or if we give up hope, does our health deteriorate?

Do educators believe in miracles?

One of my saddest moments in recent memory came last year when I read On the Front Lines of Schools. I have spent the better part of the last decade trying to convince educators what I had learned from my teachers and students--given time, all students can learn and achieve at high levels and, and that despite seemingly insurmountable barriers, teachers, students, and schools can beat the odds.

I knew that we still had work to do. I just didn’t know how much work was yet undone. If someone had asked me, I would have guessed that less than 20% of the teachers and school leaders still held on to old attitudes believing that only a select few students could really be expected to achieve at high levels.

I was stunned when I read the report. In fact, months later, I remain shocked. Apparently, all the talk about high expectations amounts to no more than a waste of time. According to the report, two-thirds of the teachers and two of five principals do not believe that all students can or should be held to high standards. The report concludes that our so-called achievement gap may, in fact, be an expectation gap. We hear about miracles in science, medicine, and sports everyday, yet many educators refuse to believe that our students can learn and achieve at high levels.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to have a private conversation with some high-ranking officials in the U.S. Department of Education on the topic of school reform. I was asked my opinion on what was needed. Without hesitation I told them that, based on my personal experience, unless educators truly believed that students and schools could succeed, it would never happen. Author Michael Fullan agrees. He writes that most educational reforms are short-lived or doomed to failure because they fail to account for the most important, third dimension of change—beliefs. Fullan believes that change is 25% ideas and 75% beliefs.

Implications for school leaders

Based on my conversations over the past five or six years with school leaders from all over the country, I have concluded that raising student achievement is less about what needs to be done and more about how to do it. As it turns out our challenge may be less about our students and more about winning the hearts and minds of our teachers—changing beliefs. Students cannot exceed the quality of their teachers nor will many students exceed their expectations.

I have tremendous confidence in the power of teachers to inspire and motivate students. From my viewpoint, if a teacher does not believe that students can achieve, they won’t.

Who is going to get them to believe?

There are no victims here, only volunteers. School leaders, it is up to us. We are in the position in order to make a difference. We want to offer every student the promise of a quality education and the prospect of a good life. We cannot raise student achievement unless we all believe that we can. We cannot raise student achievement unless we believe that each and every student, if given time, can learn at high levels. In our every waking moment, we must do everything in our power to pass on our unwavering belief in the unlimited potential of our students to our teachers, counselors, administrators, and parents. If we don’t, who will?

Finally, let’s make some minor changes in the USA Today article on placebos to read “the teacher-student relationship, plus the expectation of learning, may be enough to change the student’s brain and behavior.”