Running head: CREATING A POSITIVE SCHOOL CULTURE 1

Creating a Positive School Culture

David C. Heffner

December 9, 2013
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Creating a Positive School Culture

Introduction

Many schools have problems with implementing ideas and strategies. Differentiation is

the hardest to implement. Some teachers believe it is a waste of time, while others want to

implement it quickly. The problem with this is that faculty and administration learn and work on

a differentiated scale of their own. This paper will suggest strategies that will develop a

professional learning community (PLC) that can be able to use differentiation in professional

learning, as well as academic success.

The primary factors in classroom climate are intellect, emotion, social, and physical

attributes. These are all what stimulates a classroom experience. How teachers interact with

students is important to making a learning experience positive. The atmosphere, such as music,

pictures, and even lighting can produce either a positive or negative experience in class. So,

students must be comfortable in their environment in order to produce a way for students to show

their skills in learning. Teachers can use pictures to set a culturally diverse setting. Teachers can

also meet and greet students as they come in to class. They can place a survey on the desks with

questions related to background and learning profile as well.

These same factors can help in providing professional development to teachers by

actually using the same method as in the classroom. By having a good attitude and open mind,

other teachers tend to feel comfortable. Also helpful, is the use of different pictures and asking

teachers to reflect on each to show how it would relate to differentiation in the classroom.

Developing ways to produce a Professional Learning Community (PLC) involves time. There

are many factors that have to be considered. Without a PLC, a school can be insufficient in
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differentiated strategies that are vital for student learning outcomes. The main factor in student

learning outcome is a PLC with a positive school culture.

Objectives

The objectives for creating a positive school culture starts with the faculty. “The culture

of the school facilitates or inhibits its evolution into a professional learning organization”

(Chapman & Gregory, 2013, p. 9). The initiative to evolve school culture comes from the

“values, beliefs, assumptions and norms” (p. 9) that is determined by the faculty. This means

that team work is at play. For each member of the team there is respect, open-mindedness,

opinions, and influence that support the culture.

Differentiation becomes easier with time. There has to be a way to initialize

differentiated teaching in a school that is new to the strategy. The first objective is to get

teachers involved. By organizing in small groups, there is collaboration on the ideas. When a

teacher shares their ideas with others, they can organize them in a way that they all agree works.

This helps in building curricular ideas. It is much easier to contemplate strategies in groups, and

organizing attributes with these groups takes out confusion on what might and might not work.

One objective is to find out what is needed to implement the PLC. For this, teachers need

to know what influences schools’ capacity and academic achievement. Gregory (2008) provides

three essential elements: “student achievement, teachers’ sense of competence and confidence,

and quality staff development in a professional learning community and a supportive school

culture” (p. 4). With these ideas in mind, a focus can be established to help implement a

differentiated PLC.
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Another objective is to get teachers working together. “In a PLC, all teachers work

collaboratively in Learning Teams to attain high levels of student learning and positive student

outcomes in alignment with school goals” (Ministry of Education, 2012, para. 1). To be able to

work together for the common good of the school and students is a task that will take time. It is

also problematic to find time for teams to work together.

Strategies

Comprising strategies that allow for the proper amount of time so that the teachers can

work collaboratively is an objective that will take some time to achieve. There needs to be

special times set aside just for each team, as well as for the entire staff, to put together

brainstorming ideas and collaboration of what to use for differentiation. There are faculty

families and school events that need to be worked around, in order to allot for the proper amount

of time. This will probably take a few different strategies and assessments, in order to be able to

be sufficient in the goal of differentiation.

Another objective is enabling teachers to categorize attributes to organized effects. For

example, if a teacher has ideas about eliminating barriers to student participation, a list of

organized ideas would be put in to this group. For instance, one teacher had a new idea of

using cue cards. These go to a small group and where other teachers have the same idea, or

they agree what is on the cue card is a good idea. This would then go in to a category called:

eliminating barriers to student participation. It would ultimately be used as a baseline for

teachers to develop.

There are many strategies that are suggested as a way to help get the faculty involved,

such as the six-column framework. It is foremost a checklist of things to watch for. Are the

students entering a classroom that is safe and stress free? A dysfunctional classroom creates
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stress. Things, such as rules for the classroom, that are not being followed, or student/teacher

conflict creates a stressful climate. “Educators’ caring is just as important – and in some cases,

even more so – than larger structural conditions that influence student learning” (Bode & Nieto,

2012, p. 255). By insuring a climate that induces learning styles and profiles, while eliminating

stress, is a large benefit of the framework.

The framework creates a list of ideas that the teacher can use to differentiate the

classroom. Knowing the learner represents the students’ background and how they learn.

Learning preferences, gender, and learning profile are important to differentiation. Assessing a

student gives direction to the abilities the student has learned. Adjustable assignments,

instruction strategies, and curriculum approaches are lists of different ways in which a teacher

can adjust for the students, in order to create an effective differentiated classroom. Gregory

(2008) states, “there are multiple elements that we need to explore and be conscious of in out

planning and teaching” (p. 34). The framework is a tool that can help remind teachers what

needs to be done, and what may still need to be learned.

Marina Harvey and Elaine Huber put together a report on a case study on how a PLC was

established at a university. This case study follows Gregory’s (2008) four characteristics. First,

is the presentation of theory in which Harvey and Huber (2012) state:

This strategy could be realized as active alumni provided the potential to: maintain

connections established in the foundations program establish and sustain new

connections across the various cohorts and build organizational capacity in enhancing

learning and teaching quality and scholarship (p. 19).

The alumni used a participatory action research frame work to produce the model. “The

Par approach offers the benefit of an emphasis upon flexibility, collaboration and collegiality,
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essential to a multi-level interdisciplinary project” (Harvey & Huber, 2012, p. 20). This

uses willing parties to reach out with their perceptions. This leads to other professionals’

interests. With the involvement of practice and feedback, coaching, and peer interaction, the

educators were able to find new ideas and issues that pertain to learning and teaching, find

innovations to help with education, and find support within the school culture to create a better

learning environment.

There are ways to create time for teachers to get together to work on collaboration,

brainstorming, and study groups. One school found a way to be able to work together during

school hours. “Teachers meet while students have lunch, study hall, and a recreation period.

Paraprofessionals – usually parents – come in during that time and oversee the children” (Curtis,

2000, para. 8). These teachers meet to discuss what is going on, new ideas, and assessments for

students. This relives midday brain freeze that can cause teachers to miss vital differentiation

strategies that can help students.

To create the midday teachers’ collaboration time, the schools’ teacher leader must work

with both the administration and community, in order to gain this time. Many schools are very

large and working out a schedule that enables an hour to one and a half hours is tricky, but

manageable. If the teacher leader first comes up with enough volunteers to take the time to

forego the challenge of watching the children and then taking this to the administration; there is a

great chance that the administration will allow the time for teachers.

Implementation of the Development Plan

All of the time, objectives and strategies come together in the development plan. To get

the teachers involved requires a starting point. This starting pint comes in the fore of a survey.

The School Culture Triage Survey (see Fig. 1) contains questions that relate to collaboration,
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collegiality, and efficacy issues. This survey goes out to parents, faculty, administration, and

students to get an overall assessment of the school through the eyes of everyone that is a part of

it. “Several authors and researchers (Levine & LeZotte, 1995; Sizer, 1988; Phillips, 1996;

Peterson & Deal, 1998, Frieberg, 1998) agree and refer to school climate, and more specifically

to school culture as an important but often-overlooked component of school improvement”

(Wagner, 2006, P. 41). The best way to access the environment and climate, which make up the

culture, is a survey.

After assessing the survey, a brainstorming activity is created to identify which problems

need to be addressed. These are put in to categories. These categories are then addressed

separately with a four corners approach. “Four corners also promote dialogue and interaction

among learners and can be used as a focus activity at the beginning of a new topic or as a review

before a test” (Gregory, 2008, p. 30). This strategy will align study groups within the teachers,

as well as practice for the classroom. Teachers can differentiate instruction with the four

corners, as well as work with staff.

The implementation of a strategy called a reverse debate can help in organizing results

from the four corner strategy. As groups are put together, they can use a reverse debate system to

identify with each other, and with the faculty, as a whole. As each study group passes their ideas

and innovations to the next group, they can create a positive/negative list. These lists are then

debated by the faculty as a whole. After the debate, the sides are changed and done again. “This

is a way to legitimize the naysayers and also and also solve problems around some of the

genuine concerns and barriers up front” (Gregory, 2008, p. 124). This strategy allows teachers

to look at the concerns in a different perspective, allowing for new brainstorming innovations

to occur.
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Management and Support

Managing and supporting the implementation takes a great deal of mental and

psychological endurance. Managing is like an accountant – always taking in the assets and

liabilities to find ways for improvement. Supporting is like a psychologist working on the

emotional barriers that are in the way of moving forward toward goals. Both of these are time

consuming and stressful. Gregory (2008) states, “Encouragement and support are needed during

the process of implementation” (p.129). By managing what is being achieved and what is not, a

better flow of support can be had to improve the trouble areas.

The key to managing an implementation of change, such as creating a PLC, is to do it in

phases. “Break the project into smaller phases if the ‘big-bang’, all-at-once approach” (Sumner,

1999, p. 302). This was concluded through assessment of seven projects of change. By allowing

all the people associated with the change to engage and learn each step instead of flooding them

with strategies and change, a smoother change will occur. It would seem that by finding the

proper strategies and taking the time to fully implement them, a better success rate of the change

will happen. This means keeping track of progress is crucial to implementing strategies.

One continuous strategy is using a concerns list. Gregory (2008, fig. 80) shows a

concerns list that can be introduced as an assessment of strategy progress. Given to the teachers

at different stages of the implementation process, a determination of whether to progress to the

next phase is comfortable to everyone involved. For example, if during early use of the

implementation, a concerns list is given and the expressions portions of the concerns comes up

with little or no concerns, then it would be satisfactory to upgrade to the maturing use strategy of

implementation. It is relevant not to stay in any stage too long, because then the people involved
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could become complacent about the implementation. The idea with management is to get the

people involved to think of ideas and create an interest among them.

When it comes to supporting the people involved with the implementation, it is necessary

to prevent an implementation dip or cause complacency. Gregory (2008) explains that:

“There are twelve cultural norms that support growth in a positive culture:

collegiality, experimentation, high expectations, trust and confidence, tangible

support, reaching out to the knowledge base, appreciation and recognition, caring,

celebration, and humor, involvement in decision making, protection of what is

important, traditions, and honest open communication. (pp. 129-130).

All these provide support that for the people which, in turn, create a positive culture. This

culture is the end proof of any type of implementation process that is done correctly.

The coach to the implementation is the foundation of the implementation process. The

coach needs to be influential to the teachers, students and administration. A study developed a

conclusion that, “The study suggests that coaching can change teachers, instruction, and students,

but a coach’s level of success depends on his or her ability to build rapport and trust” (Obara &

Sloan, 2009, p. 12). In order to gain the assistance needed by everyone, the coach (leader) has to

be mentally and emotionally connected to both the project and the people.

The support, especially during implementation dips, needs to be acknowledged to

individuals, due to the stress that causes burnout “When asked to implement new curricula, it is

likely that teachers who have these psychological experiences in the work place, and who

perceive low levels of support for the innovation, will be most vulnerable to poor

implementation quality” (Domitrovich, Greenberg, Jacobson, Ransford, Small, 2009, p. 510).

By creating a walkabout, going room to room watching teachers, a sense of how the teacher is
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doing can be assessed. There area also incentives such as teacher appreciation day, awards for

conduct, and even a day that teachers get a free lunch. There are many ways to become grateful

for the teachers’ work and build a rapport with those teachers.

When all these strategies, assessments, and principles come together, the teachers will

have built a sustainable PLC. This PLC bleeds out in to the classrooms, creating new and

innovative differentiated instruction. This also causes a deeper understanding of coworkers and

how they can help each other grow and learn. This paper has only opened a door that delivers an

opportunity for growth. This growth is the new, positive school culture that can, in time, grow.
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Figure 1

School Culture Triage Survey

Scoring: 1 = Never 2 = Rarely 3 = Sometimes 4 = Often 5 = Always or Almost Always

Professional Collaboration
1. Teachers and staff discuss instructional strategies and curriculum issues. 1 2 3 4 5
2. Teachers and staff work together to develop the school schedule. 1 2 3 4 5
3. Teachers and staff are involved in the decision-making process with 1 2 3 4 5
regard to materials and resources. 1 2 3 4 5
4. The student behavior code is a result of collaboration and consensus 1 2 3 4 5
among staff.
5. The planning and organizational time allotted to teachers and staff is 1 2 3 4 5
used to plan as collective units/teams rather than as separate individuals.
Affiliative Collegiality
1. Teachers and staff tell stories of celebrations that support the school’s values. 1 2 3 4 5
2. Teachers and staff visit/talk/meet outside of the school to enjoy each 1 2 3 4 5
others’ company.
3. Our school reflects a true “sense” of community. 1 2 3 4 5
4. Our school schedule reflects frequent communication opportunities 1 2 3 4 5
for teachers and staff?
5. Our school supports and appreciates the sharing of new ideas by 1 2 3 4 5
members of our school.
6. There is a rich and robust tradition of rituals and celebrations including 1 2 3 4 5
holidays, special events and recognition of goal attainment.
Self-Determination/Efficacy
1. When something is not working in our school, the faculty and staff 1 2 3 4 5
predict and prevent rather than react and repair.
2. School members are interdependent and value each other. 1 2 3 4 5
3. Members of our school community seek alternatives to problems/issues 1 2 3 4 5
rather than repeating what we have always done.
4. Members of our school community seek to define the problem/issue 1 2 3 4 5
rather than blame others.
5. The school staff is empowered to make instructional decisions rather 1 2 3 4 5
than waiting for supervisors to tell them what to do.
6. People work here because they enjoy and choose to be here. 1 2 3 4 5
Scoring the School Culture Triage Survey
The lowest triage score is 17 and the highest score is 85. After using the triage questions in several
program evaluations, our data suggest the following:

17–40 Critical and immediate attention necessary. Conduct a full-scale assessment of your
school’s culture and invest all available resources in repairing and healing the culture.
41–59 Modifications and improvements are necessary. Begin with a more intense assessment
of your school’s culture to determine which area is in most need of improvement.
60–75 Monitor and maintain making positive adjustments.
76–85 Amazing! We have never had a score higher than 75!

Before engaging in an elaborate and extensive analysis of the school culture, this quick assessment of
current status can assist in determining the wise allocation of time and resources. (Wagner, 2006).
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References

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all (3rd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Ltd./Corwin Press.

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http://www.edutopia.org/treating-teachers-professionals

Frieberg, H. J. (1998). Measuring school climate: let me count the ways. Educational

Leadership, 56(1), 22–26.

Gregory, G. (2008). Differentiated instructional strategies in practice: training, implementation,

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Levine, D., & LeZotte, L. (1995). Effective schools research. In J. A. Banks & C. A. M. Banks

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c=/ast/pagetree&func=view&rid=1069395

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implementation of performance standards. Professional Educator, 33(2), 11-23.

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Sizer, T. (1988). A visit to an “essential” school. School Administrator, 45(10), 18–19.

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Sumner, M. (1999). Critical success factors in enterprise wide information management systems

projects. Retrieved from

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Wagner, C. (2006). The school leader’s tool. Retrieved from

http://www.ksde.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Inqbqt4qtQQ%3D&tabid=4484