Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning - Chapter 1

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Creating a New Focus At its core, the culture of an organization is the behavior of its leader. Leaders get the behaviors they exhibit and tolerate. —Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

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Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

Bertrand Russell once said, “The fundamental concept in social science is power, in the same sense in which energy is the fundamental concept in physics.” Changing a school’s culture, or reculturing, is the type of social science endeavor that requires an enormous amount of power—the type of power that is unlikely to ever be wielded by one man or woman. Reculturing involves deep and profound changes that require commitment and internalization by those responsible for the change. Leaders can inspire change by providing compelling evidence for the effort, but reculturing cannot occur from the top down. Reculturing is a product of collectively internalized acceptance that engenders a motivation for change. As such, it must occur from the bottom up. Understanding this requires a bit of a change in perspective for some leaders. However, that will be addressed later in the book. First it is important to ensure that it is clear what is meant by school culture.

Origins of School Culture A school culture doesn’t just appear—it starts slowly and evolves over time. It is guided by leaders, adopted by staff, and influences the people who work in schools every day. It is often an ongoing, collaborative effort that ebbs and flows against the daily operation of a school or district. John Siskind, Director of Alternative Education at Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, North Carolina stated: 1. Every school has a culture. 2. In every school/district, the leader sets the direction. 3. Principals/superintendents need to hire professional staff who support the school culture they envision. Accepting that every school has its own culture means that a school across the street from a high-performing school with the same pool of parents, students, and staff may not be high performing. Initially it is the role of the school leader to determine the culture of the school and the way its workers interact with parents, students, and the community. School values and policies are established, most often informally, during the early life of the school. The leader’s own approach and behavior are often reflected in the general behavior of the school’s working staff. However, as the school matures, it becomes necessary to formally define and clearly communicate the organization’s cultural values and the behavior expected from its employees. The school principal’s leadership style is often based on previous educational and personal experiences. Some of the leader’s values and characteristics become rules that are followed by the staff. These values form the basis of the school’s culture and can become important factors that generate Creating a New Focus ◆ 3

Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

long-term performance of the school. The school’s performance is determined by its culture and all the topics concerning school improvement.

Defining School Culture Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition) defines culture as “the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts and depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.” This definition of a societal culture contains important ideas that should be included in any clear definition of school culture. Let’s spend a little time analyzing the meanings in this basic definition of culture and apply them to the school setting. 1. Integrated pattern—The word integrated is important to the understanding of the complexity of culture. Understanding that to change one part of the culture is to impact many or all other parts of the culture is critical if one is to successfully implement change. The Law of Unintended Consequences states that any purposeful action will produce some unintended consequences. A classic example is a bypass—a road built to relieve traffic congestion on a congested road—that attracts new development and with it more traffic, resulting in two congested streets instead of one. Changing one part of a school organization will impact other parts of a school organization in unforeseen ways. l Question: Describe a change process that you entered into as a principal and were surprised to find that “push back” came from an unexpected source. How did this unexpected “push back” impact your plans for change? How did this experience impact your approach to later change efforts? l Question: How do you gather data on all of the integrated parts of the culture that may be impacted by a change effort? Do you gather this data every time you anticipate a change effort of some size? 2. Human behavior—It is amazing how many times educators try to change the school culture without realizing that they are really trying to change human behavior. Patterns of human behavior form the basis of all cultures and especially those in a school setting. Human behavior, particularly when it has become part of daily, monthly, and yearly ritual, is extremely difficult to change. Schools are by and large a system of human behaviors that have been set in stone by daily ritual and habit and that often span years and even generations. 4 ◆ Creating School Cultures that Embrace Learning

Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

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Question: Describe an example of human behavior that stood in the way of a change effort in your school. How did you approach change in this case knowing that human behavior is very difficulty to change? l Question: Describe the normal approach you take to insure that any major change effort in your school takes into account that human behavior is the foundation of culture. 3. Thought, speech, action, and artifacts—The structure of a culture is succinctly defined using these four words. Knowing that a culture includes how people think, speak, and act, and also includes those things they create as a result of their thoughts and actions, is necessary to understanding culture. A school leader must also understand that both failure and success in changing a school culture lie in the effective understanding and use of these very aspects. Understood in this definition is that thought, speech, and action and even the creation of artifacts come from individual and group beliefs. l Question: Richard Elmore (2004) recently theorized that to change a school culture, we must first change human behavior. Dr. Elmore states that one cannot will, dictate, command, or even cajole change, but that only by changing human behavior, tasks, and ritual can we hope to impact change in the school culture. He says first change the faculty’s habits and gradually the culture will change when the people see the benefits of the change in their practice. Describe an incidence of change when you proved in your school that this is true or not. 4. Depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations—This part of the definition speaks to the idea that cultures are dependent on man’s ability to carry from one generation to the next the mores, actions, beliefs, and artifacts created by earlier generations. If a culture is dependent on this ability to create order and stability, then it stands to reason that trying to change the culture goes against man’s natural ability to sustain the very culture he helped to build. Change is a threat to what has become the norm and by human nature will be resisted. If the school experiences a great deal of turnover, important elements of the culture may be lost. If those who leave take negative elements of the culture with them, then the leader is ahead in changing the culture for the better. However, often leaders are perplexed to find that after massive

Creating a New Focus ◆ 5

Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

turnover, they are at square one with a change effort because those who had embraced change are no longer in the culture. We tried to make small changes to the culture, but it seemed that every small change necessitated many others. We had to step back and decide exactly where we needed to go. Then we had to decide how to get there. Huxford Elementary

Integrated Patterns of School Culture There are three truths that we want to examine as we look at school culture as an integrated pattern. n Schools, like all human endeavors, are complex systems in which one part of the system is tied to another. n Schools, like all systems, have structures that have been built by scaffolding one structure onto another over time. n Schools, unlike other systems, have more emotional strings attached because the well-being of children is inextricably tied to the success or failure of the systems. The school principal who fails to understand these simple but potent truths will fail in his attempts to alter the system to improve the culture. Principals with good intentions have been surprised to find that one small change can bring many concerns from multiple stakeholders. Often, those with concerns were the last people the principal thought would be upset about the change. Most often the reason for this concern is that educators understand that one change begets many others because school systems are so linked. A principal, who decides that because most core subjects are taught in the morning, announcements should occur at the end of the day rather than at the beginning, may have a concerned coach, music teacher, cafeteria manager, parent, and librarian all at his office door. This is a simple example, but if every change attempted by the leader is met with challenges from multiple camps, much time will be lost, and little change will occur. The effective leader understands that what appears to be a simple change is always more complex. Because schools have systems that are built by scaffolding one structure onto another over time, to impact one part of the structure is to impact several parts. Planning, collaboration, and dedication to the change are necessary for any real change to occur. One must 6 ◆ Creating School Cultures that Embrace Learning

Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

also be ready to deal with collateral damage that is not expected as a result of the change. It will always happen and must always be expected.

Collateral Damage It seemed that everyone at Columbus High School agreed that having final semester exams before the winter holidays was a good decision. The students could enjoy their break without having to study during holiday vacation. Teachers could use the holidays to finish grading and to prepare for the end of the semester. Students would not forget things over the holidays. After many meetings and much discussion, it was decided that moving exams was a good decision. And so, in July, well before school began, Dr. Jones, principal at Columbus High School announced the change. All was well. Or so it seemed. About a week into the new school session, Mr. Philpot, head of the guidance department came in to remind Dr. Jones that as discussed in June, the junior college tour, which had traditionally taken place the second week of December needed to be rescheduled. Because Dr. Jones always went with the juniors on the college tour, she asked Mr. Philpot to meet with her assistant and arrange a new time for the tour. The next morning, Mrs. Alexander, the choral director, stopped Dr. Jones as she arrived at school. “I have a real problem!” Mrs. Alexander started. “Mr. Philpot has scheduled the junior college tour the week of our holiday concert. I already moved my concert from the usual time because of the new exam schedule. How can I have a concert if my students are on a bus with you and Mr. Philpot?” Calming Mrs. Alexander, Dr. Jones assured her that the college tour could be rearranged again. Dr. Jones stopped by Mr. Philpot’s office to discuss the concert–college tour conflict. Mr. Philpot informed Dr. Jones that the only week the colleges on the tour could schedule the tour was the week of the holiday concert. Later in the day, Coach Sims knocked on Dr. Jones’ office door. “Dr. Jones,” he said, “The state athletic association has just sent us a memo that the regional basketball playoffs will be December 5 through 10 this year. Because some of the schools in our region are starting school earlier, the association made the decision to move the district playoffs from the usual November time to the new December dates. What are we going to do?” Dr. Jones assured Coach Sims that there was a solution and that she would sit down with him with the calendar and with faculty members who had conflicts and work out the basketball schedule. Dr. Jones began to wonder if moving the exam schedule was worth it.

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Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

As Coach Sims left the office, Dr. Jones’ phone rang. It was Rabbi Shwartz from the local temple expressing his concerns that because the exam schedule had been moved, the Jewish students at Columbus High would have to study for exams during Channukah. Dr. Jones felt overwhelmed. How could so many problems have been overlooked when considering the exam schedule change? All concerns expressed to Dr. Jones about conflicts with the exam schedule would certainly have been expressed with passion because students were involved. Educators are passionate about adult decisions that impact students. Schools, unlike other systems, have more emotional strings attached because the well being of children is inextricably tied to the success or failure of the systems. Changing the exam schedule is a pretty big decision with many possible consequences. However, Dr. Jones might have had similar kinds of collateral damage if she had simply chosen to move the morning announcements to the afternoon or had changed a couple of teacher’s assignments. The successful leader understands the complexity of change in the school culture. Russell Ackoff, one of the pioneers of systems management, has written about the implications of changing culture. Dr. Ackoff has said, “Imagine that there are 280 different car companies and that you put all of the different cars into a huge garage. You assemble the world’s best engineers and have them identify the best parts from each of the cars. You have the engineers remove the parts and reassemble them into one car. Will you have the best car if you have the best parts from each of the cars? The answer is no, because it isn’t the best parts that comprise the best car but the interaction of the parts that produce the best system.” The mantra of our faculty was “maintain the status quo. We’ve always done it this way and I will protect my colleagues even if they are wrong.” The resistance to change did not begin to lessen until I clearly communicated expectations to every person in the school. Lowell Elementary

Paradigm Shift and Resistance to Change Any change can engender a reflexive resistance from those being asked to change. That resistance, in part, is a product of trying to change paradigms. Joel Barker describes paradigms as the lens through which we see things. In other words, our personal histories and experiences color our view of reality and help define what is seen as the right way to do things. Any attempted 8 ◆ Creating School Cultures that Embrace Learning

Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

changing of a paradigm is often seen as being antithetical to “the way we do things.” The paradigms associated with public education are some of the strongest in existence because they were formed, and continually reinforced, during the formative years of youth. It should come as no surprise that such paradigms are very hard to change. However, the paradigms surrounding education are further strengthened by an unhealthy dose of nostalgia and the belief that things were “so much better yesterday.” Leon Botstein (1997), in his book Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of America’s Culture, refutes the usefulness and accuracy of such nostalgia with the following passage: Adults make and buy the silly movies and vacuous journals and television shows. Adults break the laws. Adults manufacture and buy automatic weapons. Adults fail to compete in the new worldwide economic system. And adults elect our leaders. Adults have no one to blame but themselves. If there really had been such a good school system in the past, the adult world would not leave so much to be desired. (p. 52) Clearly, in Botstein’s eyes, there is little reason to hold on to the unhealthy practices of the past. That does not make changing a paradigm any easier. But why does change cause so much distress? The following section, “Introducing Change to a Faculty,” may help to provide answers to that question.

Introducing Change to a Faculty This activity is a simple one that can be completed in any faculty meeting and can introduce the idea that it is human nature to resist change. n Ask the faculty to pair with a colleague. Tell them to face each other and to study the person opposite them for a minute. Memorize how the person looks, what they are wearing, and so forth. n Ask everyone to now turn their backs to their partner. n With their backs turned, ask each person to physically change three things about themselves. Note: It is important to use the word change in these instructions. Simply repeat that each person is to change three things about themselves while their back is to their partner. n When everyone has made their changes, ask the partners to turn and again face one another. n Ask each pair to guess what is different about their partner. Note: This will be fun and will be loud. It is also a great way to break the ice about change. Creating a New Focus ◆ 9

Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

Now ask how many of them got all three changes, then two changes, then one change. n Now ask how many of them removed one or more articles from their person to make the changes (you should have many hands raised). n Explain that people will almost always remove things from their person when asked to do this exercise because humans equate change with loss. Even if Mardi Gras beads, or sunglasses, or cheap pins are placed within their reach, the participants, in most instances, will take something off before choosing to put something on. People will automatically think about removing something because the instructions were to “change” three things. n Finally ask how many of them undid the changes as soon as the activity ended because of their desire to return things to “normal.” Then ask them what this indicates. n Now you are ready to have a discussion with the faculty about the normal resistance to change. Part of the discussion that follows this exercise should focus on the fact that change is not only about losing something, change is also about letting go of something of limited value and replacing it with something of much greater value. Replacing is the most important word in the last sentence. It is understood by scientists that nature abhors a vacuum and the laws of nature work to eliminate them. Social science looks on vacuums with equal disdain. Consequently, one cannot expect to just get rid of a paradigm: One paradigm must be replaced with another. If one subscribes to Botstein’s premise that the history of public education is not as rosy as some portray, then it stands to reason that the paradigms that drive school cultures, and by extension education as a whole, must change. To determine to what degree paradigms must be shifted, it is important to understand how they were developed in the first place. n

Why Do We do Things This Way? In most of today’s public schools, staff and administrative turnover is a given. Statistics indicate that somewhere between 35 and 45 percent of all teachers leave the profession within their first five years. The constant turnover, or churn, has resulted in schools where many students have been there longer than most of their teachers. In such schools there is often little understanding of why things are done in a particular way. The Monkey Scenario that follows can be found on numerous Web sites, including that of the U.S. Naval 10 ◆ Creating School Cultures that Embrace Learning

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Safety Center. The scenario provides an interesting insight into the danger of accepting the premise “that’s how we do things around here.”

The Monkey Scenario Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start climbing toward the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all the other monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result: All the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted. Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with another new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Each time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in beating the newest monkey. After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that’s the way it’s always been done around here. That’s the way it’s always been done around here. Unfortunately, that is the only reason many can give to explain the hows and whys of their school’s culture. In such instances, it is far more likely that the school’s culture is simply the product of decisions made because they were expeditious and not because they were appropriate. Both students and teachers deserve better. Change in education requires risk taking, and many schools would rather succeed in doing nothing than risk failure by doing something. Ed Bales formerly of Motorola describes risk taking in the following way: First are the scouts. These are the people who so desire to make change that they are willing to take high risks. But because they are such high profile they are easy to pick off and are frequently sacrificed.

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Behind the scouts come the pioneers. They are also willing to take risks but are not as outspoken or as high profile and therefore are not likely to be sacrificed. Behind the pioneers come the settlers. These are people who join the change movement once it has been established. They are also risk takers but less so than the scouts or pioneers. The bulk of the populations are in this group. Behind this group are the “cynics.” These are people so comfortable with the status quo that they ask, “Why give up on what we know and are comfortable with for something which will probably not work?” While they are not afraid of change per say, they are frightened by what might happen if they were to change out of their comfort zone. The last groups are the “saboteurs.” These are people who are so resistant to change that they will do whatever it takes to insure that the change process fails. They conspire behind the scenes throwing “monkey wrenches.” They spread rumors about the change organizers. It is important for school leaders to identify the scouts, pioneers, settlers, cynics, and saboteurs. It is also very important to determine how to convince these individuals/groups to support change. Why do we do things this way? Regardless of the answer, “this way” is usually seen as the proper way. Such beliefs are the primary reason that reculturing a school is accepted as being extremely challenging. This may be true, but it is also true that school cultures are continuously changing. For school leaders the question then becomes, “Do you want to guide the change, or be a slave to it?” Sometimes beginning the process of reculturing requires only a small step. I also wanted to eliminate some of their feeling of always being frustrated in order for them to feel more positive about coming to school. I began with eliminating 29 committees that they were required to serve on—2 to 3 committees per person—meeting each week throughout the school year. I collapsed 29 into 5. They met once every nine weeks for one hour on Mondays. Oak Mountain Intermediate School Changing the exam schedule or collapsing committees do not seem like really important tasks, but they can have far reaching repercussions. As in 12 ◆ Creating School Cultures that Embrace Learning

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the Oak Mountain Intermediate quote, eliminating twenty-four committees lent credence to the principal’s stated belief that the important functions of the school occurred within the classroom and that is where teachers need to be. The change also showed that the principal was willing to ensure that teachers were taken out of their classrooms as little as possible. Each perceptual outcome was instrumental in accelerating the reculturing process of the school.

Creating Visible Change Too often leaders who are well intentioned begin changing the school culture by approaching that which is most important but intangible. This approach seems to make sense because the most important elements to change are very often those things that can’t be touched or seen. Really believing that all children can learn, that the adults in the building need to be learners, and that the parents want what is best for their children are all beliefs that must exist in a positive school culture. Leaders will find that changing the unseen is far more difficult than changing those things that are visible and concrete. It was really important to me that things look different so they could be different. I have had more stuff painted, updated, taken down, refreshed, and generally cleaned in six weeks than I care to think about, and there is so much more to do! If we believe that actions speak louder than words, then I owed these folks some serious actions. It also sets the stage for the next hill and/or mountain. Alice Birney Middle School As the quote above indicates, this leader chose to first improve the visible. Letting everyone experience physical change in the building is a great way to say “things are going to be different and better around here!” The wise leader will get everyone’s attention by changing the visible and concrete while working on the intangible. One must caution, however, that far too many leaders spend much energy and effort in changing the concrete and never move to the important changes needed in the intangible. Painting the building will not improve student achievement.

Creating a New Focus ◆ 13

Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com

Chapter Summary School culture is complicated. The school leader who overlooks the complexity of culture when trying to implement change is certain to fail. The successful leader understands that school culture is created by scaffolding patterns over time. These patterns are tightly integrated and tied to human behavior including how people think, speak, and act. People create artifacts which represent the culture. The culture continues as long as people continue to transmit it from generation to generation. This very idea of transmission of the culture makes it more difficult to change. This transmission may also lead to people not understanding why certain things in the culture exist, but simply to accept them as “the norm.”

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Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning. © 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com