Background and Purpose

Program Growth

Supporting Research

GE Tenets/Classroom Practices

Program Staff

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Great Expectations is a professional development program that provides teachers and administrators with the skills needed to create harmony and excitement within the school atmosphere, elements that are basic for inspiring students to pursue academic excellence. With a focus on the human quality of teaching and learning, Great Expectations provides renewal and inspiration for teachers who may have lost their way and forgotten why they became teachers in the beginning.

Great Expectations is an answer for all schools, regardless of size, geographic location, student demographics, or economic base. Great Expectations creates an infrastructure that promotes improved student self-esteem, attendance, discipline, and parent participation - all of which result in improved academic achievement.

Drawing from many learning theories, professional development is grounded in the belief that all students can learn, no matter what labels have been placed on them. Rather than teaching WHAT to teach, Great Expectations methodology focuses on the learning climate and the HOW of teaching.

Great Expectations teachers understand it is their responsibility to reach every student. Building self-esteem and motivation is the key to helping students believe they are capable of learning.

Great Expectations teachers set high expectations for students, and they inspire and motivate students to reach upward to attain them. A climate of mutual respect is established that empowers students to take necessary risks to grow academically, and to be willing to make a few mistakes in order to do so. Mistakes are regarded as opportunities to learn in a Great Expectations classroom, and students' ideas and efforts are valued and appreciated.

Great Expectations teachers are facilitators of learning who encourage and believe in their students. They are caring, but require excellence in every detail. They provide an atmosphere of constant praise and affirmation. They teach mastery level and beyond by encouraging students to use their imaginative and creative abilities.

From Little Acorns . . .

The Great Expectations Foundation was founded in 1991 by Charlie Hollar, a retired insurance executive from Ponca City. The Foundation dedicated itself to developing a teacher training model and disseminating this information to teachers throughout Oklahoma. To sum up the Great Expectations philosophy about children, education reform, and the program itself, the Foundation adopted a slogan: "Tall Oaks from Little Acorns Grow."

With blessings from state education leaders and donated space from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Great Expectations held its first Summer Institute in 1991. This week-long training session was attended by 175 elementary teachers and administrators.

"From the very beginning, we knew that the dream of Oklahoma
classrooms with Great Expectations would be classrooms filled
with bright futures for all children. I have seen this spirit and
dream move throughout the state."
-Sandy Garrett, Oklahoma State
Superintendent Of Public Instruction

During the program's first six years, enrollment grew steadily to 775 participants. Workshops were free, funded through private donations. By 1998, the Great Expectations Board of Directors had convinced state legislators of the program's merit. Subsequently, they appropriated funds for Great Expectations scholarships. Even though the scholarship funds were limited, enrollment increased to 3,135 with institutes on two Oklahoma college campuses, Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. The next year, teachers and administrators lined up before dawn at the State Department of Education building vying for the coveted $1,000 scholarships. Since 1999 Great Expectations has enjoyed an attendance of over 4,000 educators each summer at multiple sites in Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri.

The Oklahoma legislature has continued to support the program on a limited basis; however, tremendous program growth can be attributed more to the successes that teachers and students experience as the result of Great Expectations and the word-of-mouth advertisements of these successes.

"It changed my life," said Montie Sisco, a third-grade teacher at
Nichols Hills Elementary School in Oklahoma City. "I'd lost my
passion. I didn't want to teach any more." But the summer of
1999, at the insistence of her principal, Montie attended a Great
Expectations training institute for teachers. "It changed my life.
I couldn't wait to get back to the classroom."
-The Daily Oklahoman, July 1999

Branching Out . . . .

Success of the program has begun to spread across the nation as evidenced by teachers traveling from other states to attend Summer Institute sessions.

According to Pete Eldridge, a representative from the Secretary
of Education's office in Washington D.C., the program may soon be
a model for national education. Eldridge spent a week observing
the Summer Institute at UCO last week. He said word had gotten
back to the nation's capitol about Great Expectations and officials
thought the program merited an official visit.

"I can't mandate curriculum," Eldridge said, "But I can recommend
programs to people looking for ways to help their schools and teachers.
After seeing what I've seen here this week, I will tell them they don't have
to look any further."
-Daily Oklahoman, July, 1999