The Power of Autonomy:
Building Self-Efficacy, Connection, and Inner Motivation
By Michael Fisher Pacific Ridge School • Carlsbad, CA
With the best intentions, educators everywhere challenge students with assignments, tests, and curriculum designed to cultivate rigor. Particularly in independent schools, we feel pressure from parents, administrators, and ourselves to meet high standards. On one level, we are sure that this is what excellence requires. But on another level, we see and hear the pressure students are under, which echoes our own experience. Too often, rigorous standards translate into hoops they must jump through. Learning and mastery become a slog, a relentless pursuit of As( or Bs), which, depending on who you ask, are easier or harder to extract these days from well-meaning teachers.
Having transitioned recently from a SEL and mindfulness-based middle school in San Francisco to a more academically-oriented middle and high school in Carlsbad, California, I feel this dilemma daily. Most teachers and school leaders agree that student well-being matters, and that the matrix of indicators buried within this phrase should be core to all learning. Yet the demands of high school and college are real. So in practice we often sacrifice high-minded principles and whole-child education in the race to prepare students for the next steps ahead. In doing so, we lose the forest through the trees. More specifically, we forget that what students need most from schools are environments that support selfefficacy, connection, and inner motivation.
Page 2 Summer 2025 CSEE Connections