Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning - Introduction

Introduction Recently we read an account of a person who blindly followed the directions on his GPS, drove directly into the path of an oncoming train, and was nearly killed. This event reminded us of a school leader who is following a reasonable, research-based plan of school improvement only to be blindsided by opposing reactions that seem to come from nowhere and are often fatal to school-improvement efforts. As baby boomers move closer to retirement, the new generation of school leaders has fewer experiences, more pressure to improve student achievement, and less patience from the community to wait for results. Although some new leaders are better equipped to lead instruction than their older colleagues, most are still being prepared in university programs that have changed little since the baby boomers were trained to be administrators. A positive and supportive school culture is the only ground in which school improvement can be nurtured and can flourish. Improving a toxic culture is one of the most difficult challenges any school leader faces. The experienced leaders who contributed to this book and to our earlier book, From At-Risk to Academic Excellence, What Successful Leaders Do, spoke often about the complexities of improving school culture. They also expressed concern for their younger counterparts as they attempt to lead this important work. As one successful leader put it, “The stakes and expectations are high, patience and time are short.” We wrote this book to remind the seasoned leader about the complex issues around improving the school culture and to give the new leader a sense of direction to avoid the “train wreck” that derails so many school-improvement efforts. We hope the insights of the successful leaders in this book will support the development of school cultures that nurture quality teaching and increase learning for all students. The story that follows is a clear indication that the effort to meet the needs of all students is not a new one.

The Animal School: A Fable by George Reavis Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a new world, so they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, ◆ xv

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

climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects. The duck was excellent in swimming, in fact, better than his instructor. But he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Because he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn, and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so nobody worried about that, except the duck. The rabbit started at the top of the class in running but had a nervous breakdown because of so much makeup work in swimming. The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down. He also developed a “charlie horse” from overexertion and then got a C in climbing and D in running. The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class, he beat all the others to the top of the tree but insisted on using his own way to get there. At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceeding well and also run, climb, and fly a little had the highest average and was valedictorian. The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to a badger and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful private school. This story was written by George Reavis when he was the assistant superintendent of the Cincinnati Public Schools back in the 1940s. Although “The Animal School” is more than 60 years old, we feel it is just as relevant today as it was when it was written. That it maintains its relevancy says a great deal about the lack of authentic change that has occurred in education in the last 60 years. It is true that the quality and diversity of the tools available to educators has increased exponentially since the 1940s, and one would think that those tools would have provided for continuous and sustained improvement of the profession. However, the truth of the matter is that even the finest tools are of little use in the hands of the unskilled or the unwilling. When a story written about the shortcomings of public education in the middle of the last century is still an accurate depiction of many schools today, it is a clear indi-

xvi ◆ 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

cation of the impediments to substantive change that exist in the educational community. One such impediment is often school culture. There are several ways to improve schools. The authors believe that the following three are most critical. 1. We need to change the way schools and school districts choose and train leaders. 2. We need to examine and change school culture. Schools are going through dynamic change affecting parents, students, the communities, and student learning. The data indicate that increasing numbers of youngsters are not being served by the schools they attend. School culture needs to support student learning, parent, family, and community involvement and staff and teacher participation. 3. We need to create high-performing classrooms. The business “cascading model” doesn’t work in a school environment where the “worker bees” have as much education and frequently more experience than the school leaders. We endorse a model where innovation percolates from the classroom as well as cascading down from the administrative offices. Creating high-performing classrooms “where the rubber hits the road” is a critical piece in school improvement. Many schools have examined their school culture, uncovered challenges and weaknesses, and made the necessary changes. Unfortunately, the data indicate that far more needs to be done. Let’s look at some data: n Fifteen percent of high schools have been labeled “dropout factories” graduating less than 50% of their entering freshman class. n Fifteen states produce almost 80% of all school dropouts. n Almost 46% of all teachers who leave the profession in their first 5 years do so because of a lack of administrative support. n Parents are under increased financial pressure working two or more jobs to feed, clothe, and house their children. They frequently are unable to visit schools or get involved with their child’s education. As in our previous book, From At Risk to Academic Excellence: What Successful Leaders Do, we sent surveys to school leaders across the country and asked how they addressed the issue of school culture. From those who replied (see the list of contributors) we were able to gain valuable insights, and these have been displayed throughout this book. Site visits were paid to a number of the schools so that the authors could see for themselves how the schools addressed the issue of improving their culture. In addition, several tools for efIntroduction ◆ xvii

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

fecting cultural change are included throughout the text of the book. Our intent is to highlight excellent school cultures and to provide readers with enough tools to assist them in their effort to improve their own school culture. Scores of metaphors have been used to describe the complexity and ever-changing nature of school culture, but one of the most descriptive, and appropriate, is Richard DuFour’s metaphor of school culture as a garden. Like a garden, a school’s culture is always changing; it is dynamic and is in constant need of care. A school’s culture is influenced by both external and internal factors. Indeed, like a garden, if left untended, a school’s culture degenerates into a disheveled mess of weeds and waste where little, if any, of the original crop ever makes it to maturity and bears fruit. In such instances, it is imperative that the gardeners, the school leaders, are intimately aware of what they are trying to grow so that they know the proper kind and amount of nutrients, herbicides, pesticides, and watering to use. It is important to note that with the proper amount of fertilizer, any garden can flourish; however, too much can kill everything. It is the hope of the authors that the content of this book will provide insight, practices, and concrete examples that will help any school leader answer the age-old question, “How does your garden grow?”

xviii ◆ 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