The Importance Of Positive School Culture

Having Steven Covey’s Habit 5, “seek first to understand, then to be understood”, as one of my guiding principles, a first step in the change process at XYZ Middle School would be to hold several roundtable discussions with stakeholders from staff and students to parents and community as a means of comprehending how the complexities of the changing demographics are impacting the school. The school has made some organizational changes to adapt (which may account for the higher test scores at some grade levels), but suspensions and insubordination have risen while teacher retention remains low. This seems to indicate that change efforts need to be focused on the culture of the school through building relationships and capacity to effectively educate the students. Therefore, I would concentrate my change efforts on issues such as staff development that bridge understanding of the intricacies of educating a student population that is 99% free/reduced lunch such as Ruby Paynes A Framework for Understanding Poverty. As a staff, we would, also, evaluate the school’s mission and develop academic and discipline school norms that embody it and a “we do” spirit of efficacy. I believe school

Therefore, establishing a positive school culture is of paramount importance to successfully educating a child. The norms, values, beliefs, and rituals that embody a school’s culture are necessary barometers of the toxicity of a school culture. With that in mind, critical indicators within those categories such as teacher absenteeism, student participation in extracurricular activities, student participation in advanced or honors courses, student dropout rate, and parent participation in school events and clubs can be used as a gauge of toxicity. To accurately monitor these indicators, I would develop SMART Goals so that, if necessary, informed adjustments could be made to enhance the school