Culture Shock

I’ve thought a great deal about school culture, even before receiving the syllabus for this course.  When I was hired, the principal gave me a copy of School Culture Rewired: How to Define, Assess, and Transform It by Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker, she stated that the school’s culture was focused on the needs of the teachers and that she wanted to refocus it on the needs of the students. The principal said that we, the leadership team, were going to read it as a book study; however, that never happened as she was relocated and another principal was appointed. The book is still sitting on my kitchen counter, but I have done little more than skim through it.

I found a TEDTalk given by Dr. Mark Wilson, former principal of Morgan County High School and the 2009 National Principal of the Year. In the talk, Dr. Wilson discusses the elements that it takes to build a culture of success in a school: vision, unity, and empowerment. Dr. Wilson spends the majority of the segment discussing the positive impact that these three components can have by highlighting several of MCHS’ successful initiatives. As I watched it, I considered my perception of those three components in my current school.

I’ve been at my school for about nine weeks, and those have been the longest nine weeks of any school year so far. At the pre-pre-planning leadership meeting, our principal began the process of crafting a vision; it’s something that - to my knowledge - had yet to be done at the school. I can’t really recall how much time we spent in each group crafting statements, but there were several that were created; after sharing each of them, we wrapped up the activity with the principal indicating that we would be coming back to the process over the course of the year.

So far, that’s not been the case.

The overwhelming majority of our students do very well on their own. This fact is why a large number of the faculty see no sense in creating PLCs are looking at student data. Some departments may share common assessments; however, there is no discussion of standards or proficiencies or instructional practices. Teachers do not see a purpose in doing so. I guess it’s the old perpetuation of the old adage “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it”; in other words, as long as our students excel on their own, we don’t need to change anything. I don’t think my peers see what this mentality is doing.

The final component of Dr. Wilson’s culture of success in schools is empowerment. I believe that without the first two, there can be no authentic empowerment - among students or faculty. Dr. Wilson cites Daniel Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, in which Pink presents research that demonstrates our intrinsic need to be engaged in authentic tasks. The traditional approach to school - the sit-and-get - does not engage students. If a student’s grade is to mean anything beyond an average of points, then he or she needs to be actively involved in complex learning experiences and tasks. In doing so, students will be empowered to take charge of their learning. For teachers to do more than simply collect a paycheck, they also need to be engaged in complex tasks, and for most that comes in the form of designing and implementing lessons that meet the needs of all of their learners.

My school needs a culture shift, and I believe that it begins, as Dr. Wilson states, with vision. Once we have a vision then unity and empowerment will not be far behind.