There does not seem to be an exact definition of school culture. In the education world, the term school culture has no consistent definition; various researchers have created their own working definition. While researching school culture, I came across a lot of different words used to describe the same thing. The article, Leadership for an Improved School Culture, defined it as:
“…how people treat each other, how they value one another, and how they work and get along together in both a professional and personal sense. Every school has its own unique culture that is embedded in the ritual and traditions of the school’s history and practice.”
While the article quotes Terrence Deal and Kent Perterson as defining school culture as, “the deep patterns of values, beliefs, and traditions that have formed over the course of the school’s history,” the article also quotes Paul Heckman and his statement that school culture is “the commonly held beliefs of the teachers, students and principals.”
Every school has a culture. This culture can be a positive one that fertilizes the growth of each member of the community, or it can be a negative one that seemingly sucks the life out of the things inside it that are trying to grow. School culture can be defined as simply as the saying “that’s how we do it around here.” Every person involved in the school environment has an idea of what to expect. Teachers know whether or not to speak up at a staff meeting, (if they don’t know right away, they soon will learn). Parents know if they are welcome in classrooms as volunteers. Every member of the school community has an expectation of how things will go and what their own role is.
School culture is shared perceptions on things such as beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, values, history, and tradition which are held by a majority of the people. School culture is determined by the above traits and is the reason why “we do things this way around here.”
It is important to say that a school’s culture is not set in stone. It is something that is always changing, and is something that all schools should be continually working to improve. When a school has a positive culture many positive things come along with it: the staff is happy, strong and working collaboratively; students’ test scores are high and the students are excited about learning; and parents are active and visible. Administrators can walk with their heads held high for having created such a strong culture in their building.
Schools with a positive culture have a certain feel. There are things going on in and around these schools, which cannot be overlooked. Staff is in each other’s classroom, talking in the hallway and working together because they are trying to get better at their craft. Everyone holds the belief that all children can learn and know that their opinion means something. Parents are actively involved in the PTA, parent-teacher conferences, lunchroom, and various places throughout the building. Kids are actively engaged in hands on learning experiences, they are excited to be at school, are developing a love of learning, know what is expected of them, and know that their teachers care about them.
It is the school administrator’s job to ensure that all of the above and more are taking place. The school administrator is the person who sets the tone for the entire building. When one takes over as an administrator at a school, it is their job to analyze the culture of their new building. They need to be an observer and an investigator to find out what traditions are already in place and what hidden rules may be in place. It is their job to get to know the culture as it is currently and it is also their responsibility to make small changes if the culture is not positive, or nurture the positive environment that may already exist. Administrators act as role models for each member of the school community to follow. If they conduct themselves as a person of integrity and value, their employees, students, and their families will inevitably follow suit. On the contrary, if they cut corners, have a negative attitude, and act unprofessional, they are clearing the path for others to do the same.
As school leaders, principals have the power to affect school culture in positive ways. Principals can influence all aspects of the school community. They are able to work with teachers, students and parents to create and share the vision of the school. It is the principal who upholds the tradition, celebration, commitment to student learning, and the implementation of the school’s vision. They do this by volunteering to camp on the roof overnight if the kids meet their reading goals, greeting parents by name, celebrating milestones in the lives of their teachers, doing something as simple as putting the school bumper sticker on their car, standing up for what they believe in, and remembering that they are working with people and building or breaking relationships based on how they act and each decision they make. By doing all these things they are contributing to the positive culture of their school.
The correlations between a positive school culture and student achievement is astounding. In recent times, studies have been conducted that show a direct correlation between a positive school culture and greater amounts of student achievement. Many researchers suggest that struggling schools need to take a step back and really analyze what is going on in their schools. They suggest if student achievement is low, the school’s main improvement goals should be people based not curriculum based. If schools first focus on creating positive relationships, test scores will inevitably begin to rise. According to DuFour’s, article Leadership for an Improved School Culture, “Creating a collaborative culture has been described as the single most important factor for successful school improvement initiatives and represents the first order of business for those seeking to enhance their schools effectiveness.” The article presents a research project, conducted by Jerry L. Thacker and William D. McInerney, which correlates with Dufour’s statement. The two studied the effect of school culture on student achievement. Steps were presented to improve school culture at an elementary school. When the study was complete they reported a 10% decrease of students failing the statewide assessment. When a school has a positive culture, both teachers and students, are more motivated to work for success.
Having a vision is important because it also gives us a set of common language that we can use to set expectations about character and student success. It keeps everyone on the same page and gives us a common goal to work toward. We have a district wide vision but nothing specific to our school. I really feel that our school culture could become even better than it is by creating, sharing, and implementing a vision specific to our school. As a staff we should sit down and collaborate on a vision that is written in a language that all the children can relate to and understand. This vision then should be shared with parents and students. It should be posted in every classroom, in the main entrance, and used in our daily activities. It should be used as the reason behind our already successful character counts program. This school specific vision statement should be the reason why “we do it this way around here”.
In the article Leadership for School Culture, a principal, Jane Arkes, was interviewed. She said that administrators should, “work on team building; put your agenda second; know that you don’t have all the answers-everyone has limitations; learn from students and staff; put people before paper.” The last part of that really struck me. Put people before paper. As educators we are in the “people” business. Schools are a place where relationships, positive or negative, are formed. A positive school culture is directly related to student success. It is our job as administrators to create a school culture that is positive and supportive. If, as administrators, we create a supportive school culture, where kids and learning are the center, and teachers are excited to be there and teach, student achievement will most definitely make huge gains.
References
MacNeil, A. and Maclin, V. Building a Learning Community: The Culture and Climate of Schools. http://cnx.org/content/m12922/latest/
Stolp, S. (1994) Leadership for School Culture, Eric Digest 91
Wagner, C. (2004) Leadership for an Improved School Culture: How to Assess and Improve the Culture at your School, Center for Improving School Culture