Shaping Positive School Cultures: A Key to Success

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Shaping Positive School Cultures A Key to
Success

• Dr. Kent D. Peterson
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 1025 W. Johnson Street
• Madison, WI 53706
• kpeterson_at_education.wisc.edu

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• Dear Diary,
• Please allow every teacher to realize what
  awesome power they hold in their hands and that
  they are the doors through which whole new worlds
  of possibility can open for their students. That
  by understanding students, day to day, and not
  judging them or shutting out the many
  opportunities for their success teachers can, and
  often do, make all the difference. Sandi
  Redenbach (Diary of a Dropout)

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Culture is a Powerful Force

• School culture influences
• how people think, feel, and act.
• Culture is a key determinant of staff
• focus, commitment, motivation, and productivity.

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• the only real thing of importance that
  leaders do is create and manage culture and the
  unique talent of leaders is their ability to work
  with the culture. (Schein, 1985 p.2)

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• Effective leaders know that the hard work of
  reculturing is the sine qua non of progress.
  (Fullan, 2001, p.44).

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Culture is a powerful force that exists in any
organization in which people share some history.
It develops as people work together, solve
problems, cope with conflicts, achieve
successes, and deal with tragedy.(Schein, 1985
Deal and Peterson, 2009)
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Culture and Effectiveness

• At a deeper level, all organizations,
  especially schools, improve performance by
  fostering a shared system of norms folkways,
  values, and traditions. These infuse the
  enterprise with passion, purpose, and a sense of
  spirit. Without a strong, positive culture,
  schools flounder and die.
• (Peterson and Deal, 2002, p. 7)

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Performance and Spirit

• The key to successful performance is the heart
  and spirit infused into relationships among
  people, their efforts to serve all students, and
  a shared sense of responsibility for learning.
  Without heart and spirit nourished by cultural
  ways, schools become learning factories devoid of
  soul and passion.
• (Peterson and Deal, 2002, p. 7)

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Key Roles of Cultural Leaders

• READ the Culture Historian and
  AnthropologistASSESS the Culture Analyst and
  EvaluatorREINFORCE or TRANSFORM the
  Culture Visionary, Symbol, Potter, Poet, Actor,
  and Healer (Deal and Peterson, 1994 2009)

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Types of Culture

• Positive--Negative
• Coherent--Fragmented
• Strong--Weak

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School culture is reflected in

• How teachers teach and why
• How students and parents experience school
• What is discussed in the teachers room
• How staff dress
• Parking lot traditions
• Attitudes towards work, staff development and
  personal growth
• Stories told to visitors, newcomers
• The physical environment
• Rules, policies and procedures
• Rituals, Traditions, and Celebrations
• Room and teaching assignments
• Parent/community school gatherings
• Decision making practices
• How data are used
• Communication approaches
• How individuals work together (or dont)
• What organizational members value
• What organizational members will or will not do
• How information travels within an organization

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Elements of Culture

• Norms, Values and Beliefs that underlie thinking,
  feeling and acting
• Symbols and Artifacts that Communicate Meaning
• Stories that Herald Values
• Cultural Network
• Heroes and Heroines
• Rituals, Traditions, and Ceremonies
• Culture is the way we do things around here!

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Elements of Toxic Cultures

• Negative Values and beliefs hold sway in toxic
  cultures.
• Sense of purpose is spiritually fragmented.
• Relationships are negative and destructive.
• The cultural networks most powerful members
  negaholics (Carter-Scott, 1989)
• The only heroes are anti-heroic.
• Few positive rituals, traditions, or ceremonies
  exist to develop a sense of community and
  hopefulness.
• Deal and Peterson (2009)

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Norms, Values, and Beliefs

• Norms of Collegiality, Performance, Improvement
• Values of Achievement and Equity
• Positive Relationships and Trust
• A Shared Sense of Purpose
• Beliefs about student ability, the community,
  staff collaboration
• Everyone shapes these elements of school
  culture.

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Identify What is Important?

• What makes a good day?
• What makes a good week?
• What makes a good year?

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Symbols and Artifacts in the School

• Communicate values
• Reinforce culture
• Build success through commitment
• Symbolize the mission

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Walk the Halls and Talk to the Walls

• Imagine you are new to the school. Walk outside
  and leave your To Do List at home.
• Now, walk through the school.
• What to you hear, see and feel? What messages
  are sent by what is on the walls and what is
  going on in the classrooms?
• What does this tell you about the culture?
• What should be kept and what should be changed?

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Ways of Reading Your Culture...

• List Six Adjectives to describe your school.
• Think of a song that depicts your culture.
• Create a metaphor If my school were an animal,
  it would be a _______ because_____________________
  ____.
• Conduct a school history.
• Interview a schools storytellers.

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Conduct a School History

• Major Events
• Key Formal and Informal Leaders
• Ideas about Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment
• Key Successes and Challenges
• Rituals, Traditions, and Ceremonies
• Students, Community, and Locale
• Major Events and Changes
• People and Personalities
• Clothing, Hairstyles, Music of the Time

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Positive Informal Network

• Gossips
• Spies, Counterspies, Moles
• Heroines and Heroes
• Storytellers
• Compasses
• Keepers of the Dream
• Navigators

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Toxic Informal Network

• Anti-Heroes and Anti-Heroines
• Pessimistic Storytellers
• Rumor Mongers
• Keepers of the Nightmare
• Negaholics and Naysayers
• Prima Donnas
• Space Cadets
• Martyrs
• Deadwood, Driftwood, Ballast
• Saboteurs
• Rogue Pirates
• Resource Vultures

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Making the Informal Network Effective

• Know who resides in each role.
• Provide stages for storytellers.
• Recognize heroes and heroines
• Use Gossips to pass information
• Work to decrease the negative impact of hostile
  roles.

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Language of the Culture

• What programs, people, and events have special
  names?
• How do these keep your culture vibrant and
  interesting?
• What are the acronyms for programs or places?
• Write a Dictionary of key words. (For unit,
  district, or school)

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Stories and the Culture

• Stories are the foundation of a culture.
• Stories communicate purpose, reinforce success,
  and maintain traditions.
• What are the history, myths, and stories of the
  culture?
• Discuss the key stories to tell newcomers and
  reinforce the culture.

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The Importance of Ceremonies and Celebrations

• Reinforce Values
• Build Culture and Community
• Recharge Motivation
• Communicate Purpose
• Celebrate Success

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Types of Celebrations

• Welcoming Staff
• Beginning of Year
• Fall Solstice
• End of Winter Break
• Spring Fever
• Ethnic Events
• Recognition Ceremonies
• Retirements
• End-of-Year
• Large and Small Successes

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Elements of Ceremonies

• A special and value-linked purpose
• Symbolic clothing and adornments
• Symbols, signs, banners, flags
• Stories and sagas
• Music
• Appropriate setting
• Food and drink
• Special language and tone
• Message of hope and recognition

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Ceremonies over the Year

• August through June
• Consider times without gatherings
• Identify the messages of the ceremony
• Be sure to celebrate and have fun

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Map Your Ceremonies and Celebrations Over the Year
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Analyzing Ceremonies and Celebrations

• As you examine your map, what are the core
  values and beliefs communicated in the ceremonies
  and celebrations? Are new messages needed?
• Are new ceremonies or celebrations needed to be
  scheduled?

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Discuss Key Ceremonies in Your School
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A NOTE OF CAUTION

• Nurture your culture or it can slide into
  negativity and eventually toxicity.

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Elements of Toxic Cultures

• Negative Values and beliefs hold sway in toxic
  cultures.
• Sense of purpose is spiritually fragmented.
• Relationships are negative and destructive.
• The cultural networks most powerful members
  negaholics (Carter-Scott, 1989)
• The only heroes are anti-heroic.
• Few positive rituals, traditions, or ceremonies
  exist to develop a sense of community and
  hopefulness.
• Deal and Peterson (2009).

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Toxic Non-discussables

• The health of a school is inversely
  proportional to the number of nondiscussables
  the fewer nondiscussables, the healthier the
  school the more nondiscussables, the more
  pathology in school culture. Nondiscussables are
  subjects sufficiently important that they are
  talked about frequently for are so laden with
  anxiety and fearfulness that these conversations
  only take place in the parking lot, the rest
  rooms, the playground, the carpool, or at the
  dinner table at home. Fear abounds that open
  discussion of these incendiary issues at a
  faculty meeting for example will cause a
  meltdown. To change the culture of the school,
  the instructional leader must enable its
  residents to name, acknowledge, and address the
  nondiscussables especially those that impede
  learning.
• (Barth, Roland, The Culture Builder,
  Educational Leadership, 2002)

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Avoid Turning Negative

• Build trusting relationships.
• Reinforce the good that is happening and support
  each other during hard times.
• Recognize those doing good.
• Share successes together.
• Work hard and celebrate often.

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Shaping School Cultures

• Hiring and Socialization
• Recounting History and Telling Stories
• Communicating Vision and Values
• Walking the Talk Modeling
• Transforming Toxic Cultures
• Leaders as Culture Shapers
• Celebrating Accomplishments

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Culture Shaping Roles

• Anthropologist
• Historian
• Visionary
• Symbol
• Potter
• Poet
• Actor
• Healer
• (Deal and Peterson, 2009)

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Finale

• Describe the special accomplishments of the
  school or district.
• Present a story of today and a story for next
  year.
• Identify a song for the future.
• Write an advertisement for the school.
• Announce an award the school should receive in
  the future.

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• "If you want to move people, it has to be
  toward a vision that's positive for them, that
  taps important values, that gets them something
  they desire, and it has to be presented in a
  compelling way that they feel inspired to
  follow." Martin Luther King, Jr.

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• Teachers usually have no way of knowing that
  they have made a difference in a childs life,
  even when they have made a dramatic one Good
  teachers put snags in the river of children
  passing by, and, over the years, they redirect
  hundreds of lives Great schools are made up
  of people who can never really know the good they
  have done. Kidder (1989) Among Schoolchildren

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The Road Ahead

• Paradox versus opportunity, standards versus
  spirit, test scores versus stories--the list of
  dilemmas school and district leaders facegoes
  on and on. But in our view, unless we can restore
  the sacred stature of education, very little will
  help us to achieve our hopes and dreams. Schools
  need once again to believe in themselves and
  relish the opportunities to make a real
  difference. Schools can make a difference by
  restoring hope, faith, and a shared spirit to a
  place called school.
• (Deal and
  Peterson, 1999)

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Resources and Research
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Research on Organizational Culture

• Shaping School Culture (Deal and Peterson)
• Effective Schools Research (Edmonds and
  others)School Change Literature
  (Fullan)Professional Learning Communities
  (DuFour Kruse Louis)Good to Great and Built to
  Last (Collins and Porras)Balanced Leadership
  (Waters, Marzano, and McNulty)Execution (Bossidy
  et al)

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Elements of Positive, Successful Cultures

• a mission focused on student and teacher learning
• a rich sense of history and purpose
• core values of collegiality, performance, and
  improvement that engender quality, achievement,
  and learning for everyone
• positive beliefs and assumptions about the
  potential of students and staff to learn and grow
• a strong professional community that uses
  knowledge, experience, and research to improve
  practice
• an informal network that fosters positive
  communication flows
• leadership that balances continuity and
  improvement
• rituals and ceremonies that reinforce core
  cultural values
• stories that celebrate successes and recognize
  heroines and heroes
• a physical environment that symbolizes joy and
  pride
• a widely shared sense of respect and caring for
  everyone
• Source Shaping School Culture The Heart of
  Leadership (1999). Terrence Deal and Kent
  Peterson, San Francisco Jossey-Bass.