2. “Nothing is more
important to
success in school than the
quality of the relationships
between and among
students, staff,
and parents.”
-
Dr. James P. Comer, M.D.
3. We must first identify
what is the difference
between positive and
negative school
culture.
Make an inventory
Survey, interview and
assessment
Plan intervention that
will poster positive
school culture
4. Dr. Kent D. Peterson : "School culture
is the set of norms, values and
beliefs, rituals and
ceremonies, symbols and stories that
make up the 'persona' of the school.
Every school has underlying
assumptions about what staff members
will discuss at meetings, which teaching
techniques work well, how amenable
the staff is to change, and how critical
staff development is, adds Peterson.
That core set of beliefs underlies the
school's overall culture.
5. Glossary of Education: Patterns of
meaning or activity
(norms, values, beliefs, relationships
, rituals, traditions, myths, etc.)
shared in varying degrees by
members of a school community.
Fullan(2007) School culture as the
guiding beliefs and values in the way
school operates.Thus school culture
can be used to encompass all the
attitudes, expected behavior and
values that impact how the school
operates.
Culture shapes a school’s
motivation,
commitment, effort, expectations,
and focus (Peterson, 1999).
6. Petrson says “There's an informal network of
heroes and heroines and an informal
grapevine that passes along information
about what's going on in the school... A set of
values that supports professional
development of teachers, a sense of
responsibility for student learning, and a
positive, caring atmosphere" exist.
A positive school culture—what many people
call “school climate”—is the cornerstone of all
good schools. It is the foundation for school
improvement. Nevertheless, it often goes
unmentioned and unaddressed in school
reform and assessment.
7. No Child Left Behind
Every Child a Reader Program
And Creating Child Friendly School
D.O. no. 40s, 2012 (CPP)
Charles Elbot and David Fulton: “A school’s
culture has far more influence on life and
learning in the schoolhouse than the state
department of education, the
superintendent, the school board, or even the
principal can ever have.”
Focus on character(moral and performance
character states NSOC and CEP
8. A positive school culture broadly conceived includes the school’s:
social climate, including a safe and caring environment in which all
students feel welcomed and valued and have a sense of ownership of
their school
intellectual climate, in which all students in every classroom are
supported and challenged to do their very best and achieve work of
quality; this includes a rich, rigorous, and engaging curriculum and a
powerful pedagogy for teaching it
rules and policies that hold all school members accountable to high
standards of learning and behavior
traditions and routines, built from shared values, that honor and
reinforce the school’s academic and social standards
structures for giving staff and students a voice in, and shared
responsibility for, solving problems and making decisions that affect
the school environment and their common life
ways of effectively partnering with parents to support students’
learning and character growth
norms for relationships and behavior that create a professional culture
of excellence and ethics.
9. in a toxic school
environment, "teacher
relations are often
conflictual, the staff
doesn't believe in the
ability of the students
to succeed, and a
generally negative
attitude"
prevails, notes
Peterson(2012)
10. Performance excellence and ethical
excellence are born from a culture. As
Ron Berger observes in his book An
Ethic of Excellence, students’
achievement and character are shaped
by the culture around them.
Regardless of their background, when
students enter a culture that demands
and supports quality work and moral
character, they tend to work to fit into
that culture. Once they enter a school
culture with a powerful virtuous
ethic, that ethic becomes their norm.
It’s what they know.
Students themselves testify to this
power of school culture to change how
they experience school and approach
their work.
11. These case studies of positive school cultures are supported by broader
research investigations comparing schools that score differently on
measures of school culture. Elbot and Fulton cite findings such as these:
Of the 134 secondary schools in England that were part of the 2004 Hay
Group study, “the successful schools had a much more demanding
culture—hunger for improvement, promoting excellence, holding hope
for every child—while less successful schools had less of a press on
improvement.”
In a study of Chicago’s public schools, the top academic performing
schools scored high on a measure of “relational trust,” a central feature
of school culture which assesses how well each stakeholder
(students, parents, teachers, and administration) believes that members
of the other groups are fulfilling their role obligations.
A review of research on school success finds that high staff productivity
and student achievement are both linked to “positive school climate.
12. 1. Schools need measures of success and areas for improvement that go beyond
test scores. Clearly, schools must be held accountable to external standards, and
standardized testing is part of that accountability.
2. Educators must have a comprehensive understanding of what “school
culture” is. While there is a growing understanding and evidence of the
importance of school culture, we still need to develop a common national
vocabulary for defining and discussing it. Many educators and researchers use
the term school climate as the foundation for the conversation about school
improvement.The National School Climate Council (NSCC) has created School
Climate Standards that are helping to inform a federal discussion aimed at
creating new benchmarks in this area for public schools.22
The NSCC uses the phrase school climate broadly as the umbrella term to cover a
wide range of aspects of the schooling experience for both students and faculty—
just as this paper uses the term school culture. Its frameworks describe an
environment of safety, respect, support, and challenge for all school members
across a full range of domains: physical, emotional, social, ethical, civic, and
intellectual.CEP agrees wholeheartedly with this comprehensive conception.
13. 3. Finally, schools need tools for developing and
assessing school culture, and must be held
accountable for their school cultures. Many
schools do not intentionally shape their cultures
because they lack the tools for doing so. Many
such tools exist and are described in detail in
resources such as the frameworks of the
National School Climate Council and books such
as Building an Intentional School Culture, An Ethic
of Excellence, Smart & Good High Schools, and
Leading a Culture of Change, to name just a few.
14. Dimensions Major Indicators
Safety
1 Rules and Norms Clearly communicated rules about
physical violence; clearly communicated rules about verbal
abuse, harassment, and
teasing; clear and consistent enforcement and norms for
adult intervention.
2 Sense of Physical Security Sense that students and adults
feel safe from physical harm in the school.
Teaching and Learning
3 Sense of Social-Emotional Security Sense that students
feel safe from verbal abuse, teasing, and exclusion.
15. Support for Learning
4Use of supportive teaching practices, such
as: encouragement and constructive
feedback; varied opportunities to
demonstrate knowledge and skills; support
for risk-taking and independent thinking;
atmosphere conducive to dialog
and questioning; academic challenge; and
individual attention.
5 Social and Civic Learning Support for the
development of social and civic
knowledge, skills, and dispositions including:
effective listening, conflict
resolution, self-reflection and emotional
regulation, empathy, personal
responsibility, and ethical decision making.
16. Interpersonal Relationships
6 Respect for Diversity Mutual respect for individual
differences (e.g. gender, race, culture, etc.) at all levels of the
school—student-student;
adult-student; adult-adult and overall norms for tolerance.
7 Social Support—Adults Pattern of supportive and caring
adult relationships for students, including high expectations
for students’ success,
willingness to listen to students and to get to know them as
individuals, and personal concern for students’ problems.
8 Social Support—Students Pattern of supportive peer
relationships for students, including: friendships for
socializing, for problems, for academic
help, and for new students.
Institutional Environment
9 School Connectedness/Engagement Positive identification
with the school and norms for broad participation in school
life for students, staff, and families.
17. 10 Physical Surroundings
Cleanliness, order, and appeal of
facilities and adequate resources
and materials.
11 Leadership Administration that
creates and communicates a clear
vision, and is accessible to and
supportive of school staff and
Staff development.
12 Professional Relationships
Positive attitudes and
relationships among school staff
that support effectively working
and learning together
19. Promoting a Safe and Orderly Environment
Maintain buildings in good physical condition
Reward students for appropriate behavior
Enforce consequences for inappropriate behavior
Use contracts with students to reinforce behavioral expectations
Post behavioral policies on bulletin boards; periodically announce them over the public
address
system
Initiate anti-bullying, conflict resolution and peer mediation programs
Engage students, staff and parents in planning school safety activities
Increase number and accessibility of counselors, social workers, and mentors
Create anonymous tip lines or suggestion boxes for reporting potentially dangerous
situations or
providing ideas to improve school climate
Provide more in-school options to “blow off steam”
Develop strategies to ensure safety during lunch periods and between classes; provide
more
structured activities during lunch hour
Provide accommodation or time-out rooms throughout the day
Provide in-school suspension programs with academic supports and consistent staffing
20. Facilitating Interaction and Relationships
Build smaller middle and high schools
Reduce the impact of size in larger schools13 14 by dividing large
middle and high schools into
smaller self-contained units; organizing students into cohorts that
move through classes as a
group; and reducing the number of teachers interacting with each
student in middle school by
assigning home room or a second subject to a subject area teacher
Use smaller teacher-student ratios (no more than 80 students per
teacher in a secondary school)
Use team teaching
Provide for small group activities
Provide multiple and varied opportunities to participate in
extracurricular activities
21. Promoting a Positive Affective Environment
Use summer school rather than retention in
grade for failing students
Promote cooperation rather than competition;
avoid winners and losers
Assure that every student has an active
connection to at least one adult in the school
Provide professional development on such
issues as cultural and class
differences, emotional needs of other
children, parental involvement, and bullying and
harassment
