Your Zip Code Is Not Your Destiny: High Performing Title I Elementary Schools in South Texas

Abstract

This explanatory sequential mixed methods study was designed to explore and understand the factors associated with student achievement scores at high performing elementary schools serving a high percentage of children of color living in poverty in an urban community in south Texas. The quantitative strand and data collection is centered around teaching and collective teacher efficacy and provides empirical evidence through closed surveys analyzed with descriptive statistics and measures of central tendency. The qualitative strand seeks to understand how teachers, instructional coaches, and principals describe their experiences in these high performing elementary schools through semi-structured interviews and explore how their described experiences align with the quantitative survey data. The findings of this study support the association of teaching efficacy and student achievement. The results of this study were used to create a professional development series for educators in schools with similar communities.