Culture, School

Importance

Organizational cultures, or in this specific instance, strong, positive, shared, professional school cultures, are enormously important, as they provide the constructive underpinnings and foundation of how people think, feel, and act. Research on successful businesses points to a clear and shared culture as central to longterm productivity and survival. School culture and climate have also been associated with higher student learning in “effective schools.” In studies of school restructuring, students demonstrated higher achievement when structural changes were combined with particular cultural features such as shared purpose, collegiality, a sense of responsibility for student learning, and reflective inquiry. School improvement and instructional reform efforts have often been more successful when schools have been characterized as professional learning communities (the term professional communities also appears in literature). But some studies have identified negative cultures as well. When schools do not possess positive, professional cultures or have what researchers describe as “toxic cultures,” reform programs are difficult to implement, staff development may be ineffective, problem solving may be nonexistent, and student learning can suffer. In sum, a positive school culture remains a key factor in whether the school will succeed in serving all students or not.

The Development of School Culture over Time

A school culture is developed over time as members of the staff, both certified and noncertified, work together. They develop expected patterns of behavior that become normative. These patterns are built up over time as people work together, solve problems together, deal with tragedy, and celebrate success. Eventually, approaches to incidents and routine interactions become the expected, “normative” pattern of behavior. These expected patterns of behavior are taught to new members of the school through socialization and feedback. For example, how a school copes with continuing low student performance (going into denial, blaming the background of the students, or active problem solving) eventually becomes the accepted approach to the situation. New staff who join the school are expected to act in “acceptable” ways or they are sanctioned by other staff. Eventually, these new staff may ultimately conform, isolate themselves, try to change cultural norms (which is difficult), or leave.

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