Expectations, Teacher and Student Cultures

School culture is key to establishing a high level of expectation for teaching and learning. A healthy culture is believed to improve student learning. Identified norms of a healthy school culture include collegiality; experimentation; high expectations; trust and confidence; tangible support; reaching out to knowledge base; appreciation and recognition; caring, celebration, and humor; involvement in decision making; protection of what's important; traditions; and honest, open communication.

Culture can be described as the under-the-surface systems of norms, values, beliefs, traditions, and rituals that have accumulated over time as people work to solve problems and confront challenges. Culture can be further described as responses to three questions: (1) what we say we believe in relation to what we believe, (2) what we say we do in relation to what we do, and (3) what we actually do in relation to what we believe.

Establishing high expectations for teacher and student performance involves shaping the culture of the school and increasing the collective capabilities of the faculty and staff. The principal plays an important part by engaging in, displaying, and modeling the behavior expected of teachers and students. Principals are the chief learning officers and are expected to create an environment that supports collaboration among teachers; provides time for teachers'professional development; and recognizes, rewards, and celebrates the concept of teacher leaders.

In developing and sustaining healthy cultures, principals and school district leaders (a) challenge current cultural norms, (b) protect and reinforce the important values of the culture, (c) use collaboration, (d) support and embed professional development within the school, (e) use mandates to enhance, not contract, school programs, and (f) communicate regularly with all stakeholders.

Criteria have been identified that can guide the principal and teachers toward developing a school culture committed to high achievement for all students. The criteria include (a) the principal and teachers agree on indicators of quality, (b) the principal provides the necessary support for teachers to assist those students who need additional help in achieving challenging standards, and (c) the principal and teachers work cooperatively to define and defend a curriculum based on the belief that students are capable of working intelligently and producing quality work.

Specific guidelines for the principal include (a) developing broadly conceived program standards that describe the educational purposes for which students need particular knowledge and skills, (b) designing major performance assessments as benchmark grades for all students, and (c) designing learning projects that support the program standards.

Developing a culture conducive to teaching and learning for teachers and students involves the following assumptions: (a) with the appropriate conditions, schools have the capacity to improve themselves, (b) when the need, the purpose, and the conditions are present, adults and students alike learn, and each energizes and contributes to the learning of the other, (c) what needs to be improved about schools is their culture, the quality of the interpersonal relationships, and the nature and quality of learning experiences and (d) school improvement is an effort to determine and provide, from without and within, conditions under [Page 370]which the adults and students will promote and sustain learning among themselves.

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