Independently prepare a Professional Learning Plan for understanding school culture/climate for the school leadership team. Use the??Learning?Forward and Shaping?the School Culture?reso

56 www.naesp.orgPrincipal n March/April 2008

School Culture, School Climate: Steve Gruenert

School leaders who want to address morale in their buildings

must know the distinction between culture and climate.

They Are Not the Same Thing

Principal n March/April 2008 57Phil Boorman/PunchStock

School Culture, School Climate: i n B r i E F

This article links staff performance to feelings of overall happiness, arguing that school culture, or a common set of expectations, can only be altered by addressing the climate.

What is School climate? School climate is a term that has been used for many decades. Its early use denoted the ethos, or spirit, of an organization. More recently, school climate is thought to represent the attitude of an organization. The col- lective mood, or morale, of a group of people has become a topic of concern, especially in our new age of accountability. It seems that a happy teacher is considered a better teacher, and this attitude influences the quality of instruction.

If happy people truly perform better, then leaders must create conditions in which happiness thrives. Unfortunately, some leaders do not research the most effective strategies for creating a happy school climate, instead relying on extrinsic rewards. Bringing doughnuts to the faculty lounge on Fridays may help a few teachers wake up quicker, but this act will not affect the morale of the building.

Activities designed to address low morale by creating a more positive cli- mate need to be scrutinized using the following criteria:

n How much of an investment of time, money, and energy is involved?

n How much time will elapse before the activity begins to make a difference?

n Is the activity designed to impact an individual or a group?

n Is the activity built around intrinsic or extrinsic rewards?

n What will the culture say about it?

The last criterion is significant because an organization’s culture determines its climate.

culture always Wins Whenever a group of people spend

a significant amount of time together, they develop a common set of expecta- tions. These expectations evolve into unwritten rules to which group mem- bers conform in order to remain in good standing with their colleagues. Groups develop a common culture in order to pass on information to the next generation. That information, however, represents a set of beliefs that have been passed down by imperfect humans with personal preferences.

In schools, new teachers arrive with their own ideas about how to do their jobs. Through their schooling, they will have been immersed in theories of best practices and cutting-edge methodolo- gies. If the culture of their first job does not embrace these new ideas, they will soon learn that to fit in they will need to assimilate. Because new teachers want to fit in and to feel like experienced teachers, they are vulnerable to the school’s culture and all the unwritten rules that have been passed on through the decades.

An organization’s culture dictates its collective personality. Continuing

many school leaders believe that organizational culture and organizational climate are the same thing. The distinction that I will describe is not

an exercise in semantics. Although these two terms have similar characteristics, they express two separate concepts. Once educators understand the difference, they will develop the capacity to be more precise in their diagnoses and treat- ments of the two.

58 www.naesp.orgPrincipal n March/April 2008

this analogy, if culture is the personal- ity of the organization, then climate represents that organization’s attitude. It is much easier to change an organi- zation’s attitude (climate) than it is to change its personality (culture).

comparing climate with culture The relationship between culture

and climate can be observed through our perceptions of the days of the week. Typically in U.S. schools, Mon- days are perceived as miserable and Fridays are thought of as fun. This viewpoint reflects the business model’s values and, thus, we learn that we are not supposed to want to come to school on Mondays. Teachers and students often talk about the weekend or the next holiday or vacation, often counting down the days. To come in on Monday morning, happy about being there and not looking forward to the weekend would challenge the exist- ing climate. As a result, we can expect the climate to be less positive on Mon-

days than it is on Fridays. Placing a higher value on weekends

is a particularly American phenom- enon. There are many societies, or cultures, that do not place value on the day of the week. Cultures create the negative stigma of Monday morn- ings and we teach this preference to each generation—it usually takes hold around the fourth or fifth grade for students. When the climate is negative, as is the case on most Monday morn- ings, it is the culture that dictates how members of the group are supposed to feel. The culture tells us that we’re sup- posed to feel miserable on Mondays. Table 1 provides some examples of the

differences between climate and culture and how culture influences climate.

Shaping culture through climate

Climate is the main leverage point for any culture, which means that if school leaders want to shape a new culture, they should start with an assessment of the climate. If the culture is ineffective, there are probably climate issues that were missed before they became rooted in the culture. In the doughnut example, if the principal brings doughnuts to the teachers’ lounge on Friday, the climate might change that day. If the principal brings doughnuts every Friday for a year, that behavior will become part of the culture, an unwritten expectation. The first Friday the principal doesn’t bring doughnuts, however, the climate might change that day. You can replace dough- nuts with a smile, formal attire, tardiness, a walk around the building, or practically anything.

The two concepts are also related in that they are both concep-

TABLE 1

Contrasting Climate with Culture

CLIMATE CULTURE

Monday versus Friday Gives Mondays permission to be miserable

Attitude or mood of the group Personality of the group

Provides a state of mind Provides a (limited) way of thinking

Flexible, easy to change Takes many years to evolve

Based on perceptions Based on values and beliefs

Feel it when you come in the door Members cannot feel it

Is all around us Is part of us

The way we feel around here The way we do things around here

First step to improvement Determines if improvement is possible

It’s in your head It’s in your head

tual. Everything around you, including what you see, hear, feel, and smell, are all artifacts of the culture. Reaction to each of these senses is influenced by the culture because culture taps into belief systems and helps to decide preferences, dislikes, who to trust, when to go home, what to wear, how fast to drive, and how to teach. The culture will provide you with informa- tion about customs and how you should react to certain situations. How we behave in the light of student misfortunes is deter- mined by the culture; conversely, how we reward student success must also fit within the social architecture of the group.

A holistic view of the state- ments in Table 1 reveals that changing the climate can be accomplished without much effort, suggesting that it is some- what out of our control. For example, events may transpire that will affect the attitude of

“it is much easier to

change an organization’s

attitude (climate)

than it is to change its

personality (culture).”

Principal n March/April 2008 59www.naesp.org

teachers before they get to school. If happy teachers are better teachers, should we be concerned about what they are happy about? Or for that mat- ter, what might make them sad? Would a teacher who won $10,000 from a lottery ticket on his or her way to work do a better job of teaching that day? Would a teacher who slipped on ice outside his or her home do a worse job of teaching that day? The answer lies in what the culture expects them to do. Perhaps all that school leaders can do is attempt to create optimal conditions for staff and remain vigilant over those aspects that may sabotage their efforts.

Understanding the differences and similarities between culture and climate gives us a more precise instrument by which we might improve our schools. To implement a strategy designed to change our mood, or climate, is certain- ly not the same as one that targets our

belief systems, or culture. Real school improvement has been boiled down by many authors as simply changing the way teachers teach. This will not be accomplished by bringing doughnuts to school.

Steve Gruenert is an assistant professor

in the department of educational

administration at Indiana State

University. His e-mail address is

[email protected]

“understanding the

differences and similarities

between culture and

climate gives us a more

precise instrument by

which we might improve

our schools.”

Web ResouRces

Articles from the fall 2007 issue of NAESP’s Leadership Compass, which focused on school climate, can be accessed on the NAESP Web site. www.naesp.org/contentload. do?contentid=2386

Renee White-Clark explores the role of teachers’ attitudes in closing the achieve- ment gap among minority students in her article, “Training Teachers to Succeed in a Multicultural Climate.” The article, from the March/April 2005 issue of Prin- cipal, is available on the NAESP Web site. www.naesp.org/contentload. do?contentid=1511

Donna Marriott’s article, “Managing School Culture,” from the September/ October 2001 issue of Principal, is avail- able on the NAESP Web site. www.naesp.org/contentload. do?contentid=707

P

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 479 930 EA 032 257

AUTHOR Peterson, Kent D.; Deal, Terrence E.

TITLE The Shaping School Culture Fieldbook. The Jossey-Bass Education Series.

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AVAILABLE FROM Customer Care Center, 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256 ($29). Tel: 877-762-2974 (Toll Free); Fax: 800-597- 3299 (Toll Free); e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.josseybass.com/.

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ABSTRACT

This guide is designed to help educational leaders reflect on their actions, intentions, and understanding to hone leadership skills as they work to improve their students' learning environment. It provides activities to develop cultural leadership, and deepens and makes concrete the concept of school culture by connecting it to school and student success. Three key processes for shaping cultural ways and traditions underlie the chapters. Leaders must: (1) read the culture; (2) assess the culture; and (3) reinforce or transform the culture. Each chapter begins with a discussion of the features of culture and roles of symbolic leaders. These discussions are often followed by a set of examples to illustrate the ideas. Next, the book provides specific activities that individuals or a team of teachers or other group can use. Some are specifically designed as group activities, with suggestions for how to organize the session. Others are meant to stimulate reflection; they are often posed as questions for the reader. Almost all the activities can be used with groups, in which case the questions can become topics for dialogue or group brainstorming. Ideas of interest are interspersed that provide the reader with additional issues to consider or use with staff. (Contains 12 references.) (RT)

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ISBN 0-7879-5680-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Educational leadershipHandbooks, manuals, etc. 2. School

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6

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ix

The Authors xi

Introduction and Organization of the Fieldbook 1

PART ONE Understanding School Culture

2 The Importance of Culture 7

3 Vision and Values: The Bedrock of Culture 13

4 Ritual and Ceremony: Culture in Action 29

5 History and Stories: The Importance of the Past 49

6 Architecture, Artifacts, and Symbols: The Visual Scene 69

PART TWO Shaping School Culture

7 Assessing and Transforming Toxic Cultures 87

8 Eight Roles of Symbolic Leaders 107

References 135

Index 137

vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As in our previous work together, we have had a lot of help in putting together this fieldbook. We owe a special debt of grati-

tude to the teachers and principals whose fine labors have provided most of the examples herein. Practitioners continue to be our best teachers. We hope this book helps repay at least part of the debt.

At Jossey-Bass, Lesley Iura and Christie Hakim continue to serve as the best ex- amples of editorial assistance in a publishing house. Production editor Carolyn Uno helped in many ways to refine and improve the book. As usual, administra- tive help has been invaluable. Without Homa Aminmadani and Katrina Fox, we would have drowned in the many details needed to pull off a good book. And a special thanks to Erik Peterson, who added illustrations.

We would like to thank the many who have offered support and feedback on our writing and presentations; there are too many to list all of them here. Over the years, Karen Kearney and Laraine Roberts from the California School Leadership

Academy and Al Bertani and Ingrid Carney from Chicago have greatly expanded our understanding of professional learning. We appreciate the colleagueship of Pam Robbins, Paul Bredeson, Fran Vandiver, and Joan Vydra, who have been ex- cellent collaborators during our work with groups in workshops and seminars.

Our students have added insights about school culture and leadership. We would especially like to thank Shelby Cosner for her thoughtful reviews of drafts and insights about cultural leaders.

s ix-

At home, Ann Herrold-Peterson and Sandra Newport Deal provided their usual love and support. Our kids, Erik, Russell, and Scott Peterson and Janie Deal cheered

us on when we needed a little boost.

9 X The Shaping School Culture Fieldbook-

Kent D. Peterson

Terrence E. Deal

THE AUTHORS

Kent D. Peterson is a professor in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of WisconsinMadison. He is found-

ing director of the Vanderbilt Principals Institute and the Principals' Leadership Institute at Wisconsin. He consults on the design of lead-

ership development and regularly leads seminars on school leadership

and culture in the United States and abroad. In addition to the books he has coauthored with Terrence Deal, he has published over ninety other studies and articles.

Terrence E. Deal is an author, teacher, and consultant. He is the Irving

R. Melbo Professor of Education at the Rossier School, University of

Southern California, and a consultant to numerous educational, busi-

ness, military, and religious organizations. He is coauthor of three other

books with Kent Peterson, including The Leadership Paradox: Balanc-

ing Logic and Artistry in Schools (1994) and Shaping School Culture: The

Heart of Leadership (1999), as well as over twenty other books.

Xi

10

The Shaping School Culture Fieldbook

I I

Introduction and Organization of the Fieldbook

When we gathered cases for our book Shaping School Culture,

we focused on providing the best examples of a wide variety

of school cultures. These examples of what is possible piqued the cu-

riosity of others. Over the past few years, interested leaders have asked

us to work with them to learn how to read, assess, and shape their school or district cultures. Drawing on approaches we have used with thousands of principals, as well as new ideas from the leadership lit-

erature, we have pulled together concrete ways to approach cultural

analysis, assessment, and reinforcement.

This guide is designed to help you reflect on actions, intentions, and understand- ing in order to hone leadership skills as you shape a better learning environment. It may legitimate some of what you already know and are doing. It also provides activities to develop cultural leadership, and it deepens and concretizes the concept

of school culture by connecting it to the success of schools and students.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK This guide provides active and reflective approaches for those who wish to improve

their school's professional community. Underlying the chapters are three key processes for shaping the cultural ways and traditions.

12

chapter ONE

1

Leaders must

Read the culture

Assess the culture

Reinforce or transform the culture

Initially, it is critical that leaders read their culture. They need to understand where the culture has come fromthe district's or school's historyand under- stand core features todaythe present. During this process, the leader is always interpreting and intuitively determining cultural aspects that are positive, uplift- ing, and motivating or coming to grips with those that are negative, depressing, and draining.

Second, leaders need to assess the culture by holding up existing ways against other possibilities. They need to identify positive, supportive norms, values, rituals,

and traditions. But they should also pinpoint aspects of the culture that may be neg- ative, harmful, or toxic. What positive things need more reinforcement? What neg- ative things need to be changed? As you will learn, you will intuitively begin to assess

different aspects as you are reading a culture or engaging in activities to learn more. Finally, leaders must work to reinforce cultural patterns and ways or transform

them. Even the best district or school cultures can wither and die if they are not nurtured and reinforced through daily routines and meaningful rituals. Similarly, moribund or negative aspects of the culture may need to be transformed, changed, or even shed.

THE FIELDBOOK'S ORGANIZERS: DISCUSSIONS, EXAMPLES, ACTIVITIES, AND IDEAS

This book is organized to provide a wide variety of sources of information, inspi- ration, and suggestions. It can be read and used in a multitude of ways.

Each chapter begins with a discussion of the features of culture and the roles of

symbolic leaders. These discussions are often followed by a set of examples to il- lustrate the ideas.

Next, the book provides specific activities that individuals or a team of teach- ers or other group can use. Some are specifically designed as group activities, with

suggestions for how to organize the session. Others are meant to stimulate reflec-

2 The Shaping School Culture Fieldbook

1 3

tion; they are often posed as questions for the reader. Alinost all the activities can

be used with groups; in that case, the questions can become topics for dialogue or

group brainstorming. Interspersed are ideas of interest, which provide the reader with additional is-

sues to consider or to use with staff. Sometimes there are further suggestions for

activities, reflections, and plans.

Introduction and Organization of the Fieldbook 3

14

Understanding School Culture

15

part ONE

The Importance of Culture

Agreat deal of attention is currently being paid to making schools

better. Policymakers want to know why we cannot get schools to

change more quickly and be more responsive to students' learning needs. The favored response has been to tighten up structures and increase accountability, beef up curriculum standards, test student performance, and provide rewards to schools that measure up and sanctions to those that fall short. In the short term, these solutions may pressure schools to change peripheral practices and raise test scores. In the long term, such external demands will never rival the power of cultural expectations, motivations, and values.

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, pos- itive culture, schools flounder and die. The culture of a school or district serves a

central role in exemplary performance. It is the same in any other setting. Whether it is Starbucks coffee or Nordstrom's

department store, people function best when they passionately hold to a shared set of key values, central norms, and meaningful traditions.

The key to successful performance is the heart and spirit infused into relation- ships among people, their efforts to serve all students, and a shared sense of re- sponsibility for learning. Without heart and spirit nourished by cultural ways, schools become learning factories devoid of soul and passion.

4 6,

chapter TWO

7

Strong, positive school cultures do not just happen. They are built over time by those who work in and attend the school and by the formal and informal leaders who encourage and reinforce values and traditions. Many schools limp along with weak or unfocused cultures due to a paucity of leadership and a lack of concern. But there are just as many other schools that are flourishing because of strong, pas-

sionate cultures. These are supported and nourished by teacher leaders and school

principals who consciously or unconsciously reinforce the best that the school and its staff can become. The first types of schools are barely surviving; the latter are rich in purpose and abundant in tradition and meaning.

The central concern here is the development of meaningful and productive schools. Leaders must shape and nourish cultures where every teacher can make a difference and every child can learn and where there are passion and a commit- ment to designing and promoting the absolutely best that is possible.

WHAT IS SCHOOL CULTURE?

The notion of school culture is far from new. In 1932, educational sociologist Willard Waller (1932) argued that every school has a culture of its own, with a set of rituals and folkways and a moral code that shapes behavior and relationships. Parents and students have always detected the special, hard-to-pinpoint esprit of schools.

Students who have attended several schools can pick up the culture immedi- ately as they work to become part of the mix. They know things are different in a positive or negative waysomething more than just rules or procedures.

Staff members who walk into a new school also pick it up immediately. They consciously or intuitively begin to interpret unwritten rules, unstated expectations,

and underground folkways.