Abstract
Previous work has underestimated the interdependent meaning system of beliefs, values, goals, and actions that comprise educator mindsets and integrate content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and dispositions to influence educator professional learning, shape practice, and catalyze school reform. The role of collective educator mindsets and the mindset environment has yet to be explored in depth. Using situational analysis, researchers investigated educator mindsets to foster deeper learning across 18 network high schools. Across an extensive body of qualitative data including 186 individual and focus group interviews with teachers, students, and administrators, data illuminate the interactions among educator beliefs, school features, and opportunities for deeper learning. Results indicate a shared educator ideology valuing high performance and continuous improvement where teachers are given collaborative autonomy to provide students differentiated pathways toward deeper learning within authentic contexts. Researchers posit an emerging theory that illustrates how educators’ individual and collective beliefs align within the situation of deeper learning networks to influence educational change. The theory has potential to illustrate the interpersonal, intrapersonal, and contextual mechanisms that influence the role of collectively empowered educators in catalyzing change within schools and broader networks.