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Recent research has identified teacher expectancy as the key motivational factor distinguishing schools with improved student performance from schools in which student performance failed to improve.

A recent study by UW-Madison education professor Carolyn Kelley and colleague Kara Finnigan (University of Rochester) illuminates specific factors in schools' organizational context that predict higher levels of teacher expectancy and, therefore, greater improvement in student performance under school-based performance award programs.

Their findings offer help for policymakers and administrators who seek ways to motivate teachers to achieve accountability goals for schools.

Teacher expectancy can be enhanced by (a) providing student assessment data that can help teachers meet their school goals, (b) fostering principal support of accountability goals, and (c) developing a professional community within the school.

Educational Administration Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 5 (December 2003), pp. 603-–634.