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Assessing the school's culture for sustained improvement: a model
By Christopher R. Wagner, Ph.D. & Penelope Masden, Ed.D.
How educators assess their school's culture has for years been bogged down in lengthy data collection procedures, endless analysis, and frequently with no clear plan for maintaining valuable assets while correcting problematic areas. One school culture assessment model has been successfully implemented in selected public schools of North Carolina, Florida and Kentucky.
The first phase of this assessment process is the school culture assessment and involves extensive but not time consuming data gathering. Both qualitative and quantitative types of data are collected through interviews, observations and a short survey. After these data have been analyzed, a school culture profile is produced. Information contained in the profile is shared with the school's stakeholders. This open sharing of the profile sets the stage for the development of a continuous improvement philosophy with maximum school-community involvement.
The process can be applied to a particular school or for systemic purposes to an entire school district. School based decision-making councils, school improvement teams, administrators and community groups have successfully implemented the process over the past decade. The school culture profile process is that it provides immediate results, is cost effective, and recognizes both strengths and challenges.
It is important to be very clear about what it is we are assessing. Culture influences everything that happens in a school. One definition of school culture submitted by Phillips (1993) states that it is "the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors which characterize a school" (p. 1). People in any healthy organization must have agreement on how to do things and what is worth doing. Wagner (1999) conceptualizes school culture as shared experiences both in school and out of school (traditions and celebrations), a sense of community, of family and team. Staff stability and common goals permeate the school. Time is set aside for school-wide recognition of all school stakeholders. Common agreement on curricular and instructional components, as well as order and discipline are established through consensus. Open and honest communication is encouraged and there is an abundance of humor and trust. Tangible support from leadership at the school and district levels is also present.
What specifically are we looking for in a school culture assessment?
Measuring the degree to which following three behaviors are present in a school or school district are most helpful in assessing the school culture according to Phillips (1993). These behaviors include:
· Professional Collaboration - Do teachers and staff meeting and working together to solve professional issues e.g. instructional, organizational or curricular issues?
· Affilliative/Collegial Relationships - Do people enjoy working together, support one another and feel valued and included?
· Efficacy or self-determination - Are people in this school here because they want to be? Do they work to improve their skills as true professionals or, do they simply see themselves as helpless victims of a large and uncaring bureaucracy?
These three components of a school culture assessment parallel the design elements for actions that stress student achievement in a healthy environment. The National Staff Development Council's Standards for Staff Development clearly support these components through all of the standards and particularly in the context of "learning communities," where the processes of "collaboration" and "learning," as well the concepts of "equity," "quality teaching," and "family involvement." True learning communities support the learning of all through collaboration, reflection, and continuous evaluation of tools and methods. They recognize the need to equitably listen to and support each other. They promote the learning of all members of the school community.
So, what happens during the school culture profile process?
The school culture profile is generated from the collection and analysis of data gathered using three disparate techniques: interviews, a survey, and unobtrusive observations on the school site. Each technique provides a view of the school from a different vantage point and through the process of triangulation, the three are combined to obtain a clear and more accurate composite of the school's culture.
The interview
The interview is conducted by at least two facilitators who meet with focus groups of randomly selected faculty members, parents, students, classified staff, and administrators. These groups of 5-8 people are asked a series of questions relating to the culture of their school. Facilitators pay particular attention to dominant emotions from key participants in the group. These data will begin to yield the emotional position or status for each group. A typical beginning question in the interview may be: "When you awoke this morning and thought about another day in this school (as a teacher, student, custodian, etc.), what was the dominant feeling or emotion you experienced?" A follow-up question may be: "What are some of the determinants of this emotion?" Examples of other follow-up prompts include: "Think of the previous week in terms of emotional peaks and valleys. Please identify some peaks of bliss. Identify some valleys of despair." Or, "Imagine a peak of emotional bliss next week as a teacher (student, administrator, etc.). How would you set it up for yourself? Who could you get to help?" Facilitators of the interview must identify sources of dominant emotions and find possible hints for improvement from the "imagined bliss" question. It is important to note that participants are not required to answer questions
Another interview question attempts to identify levels of improvement or aspirations for improvement in people. Question: "As a teacher (student, administrator, etc.), recall one way you have improved in the past year? What is something you are doing differently or better?" Information gained from this question reveals: What is important here, how people improve, and do these responses reflect the formal curriculum or staff development goals? Do improvement areas reflect the silent curriculum and unstated or spin-off outcomes? Follow-up questions may include: "What were the major forces or who were the people contributing to your improvement? What is one way you would like to improve in the next 12 months? How could you make this happen?" The facilitator notes responses where people are learning from each other or in more formal settings such as planned staff development sessions.
Another interview question that gets to the heart of the differentiated instruction/student achievement issue is: "How have students changed over the past few years?" Typically the floor is flooded with responses detailing the lack of study habits, poor parenting and a limited gene pool. The follow-up prompt is most revealing and asks, " Since we all agree that students are not the same as they were a few years ago, how have you modified your teaching to reach every child?"
The facilitator should be prepared to make recommendations for strengthening forces that assist in improvement and re-directing forces that are inhibiting improvement. Also, are there untapped forces the facilitator could identify that could be mobilized in this culture?
The observation
Informal observations including discussions with students, faculty, and other stakeholders are the source of important information about the school and the people who work there. Common targets for these discussions are support or classified staff members. Does it appear that teachers and students treat the custodian, school secretary, teacher aide, or food service workers with respect and dignity? If not, we may assume there are sharp divisions among positions and levels of status in the school.
As two facilitators entered a North Carolina middle school, they were met at the door by three seventh grade students. "What are you doing here?" asked one of the students. "We are looking for the best middle school in North Carolina." responded one of the facilitators. "You found it!" exclaimed one of the seventh graders and the others agreed. This chance encounter provided insight about the pride these students had in their school. The "pride" statement begs more questions. "Why do you think this school is so special? Was this school always the best? Who is most influential in making this a great school?"
The goal of data gathering during the observation phase of the assessment is to search for thirteen specific characteristics and determine to what degree each characteristic is present in the school. The 13 characteristics include:
1. Collegiality - the way adults treat each other, i.e., respect and harmony vs. disrespect and discord.
2. Efficacy - feeling of ownership or capacity to influence decisions; i.e., do people tend to live with or solve problems?
3. High expectations - of self and others - excellence is acknowledged; improvement is celebrated, supported, and shared.
4. Experimentation and entepreneurship - new ideas abound and invention occurs.
5. Trust and confidence - participants believe in the leaders and each other based on the matching of creeds and deeds.
6. Tangible support - efforts at improvement are substantive with abundant resources made available by all.
7. Appreciation and recognition of improvement - people feel special and act special.
8. Humor - caring is expressed through "kidding" or joking in tasteful ways.
9. Shared decision-making by all participants - "Anyone affected by a decision is involved in making and implementing the decision."
10. Protect what is important - participants keep the vision and avoid trivial tasks.
11. Traditions - celebrations; identify the rituals that are important to the school "community."
12. Open and honest communication - information flows throughout the organization in formal and informal channels. Everyone is on a "need to know" basis.
13. Metaphors and stories - evidence of behavior being communicated and influenced by internal imagery.
It is important to speak with a good cross section of students and staff during the observation. Facilitators separate and circulate throughout the school for best results. Shaping and interpretation of the facilitators' notes occurs in a debriefing session after the observations have been completed. These data are included in the school culture profile report to the staff and school community with all other collected data.
The Survey
A thirteen-item school culture survey is administered to the teachers, teacher assistants, and school administrators. These items parallel the characteristics sought in the observation phase. Respondents are asked to make two judgments for each item: to what degree is the item present in the school and how important is the item? Responses are tabulated and the difference between the "present" score and the "important" score are analyzed. Results are presented to the school community and discussions are conducted relative to the significance of, and possible explanations for, the most substantive gaps between items perceived as "important" but not "present."
It is important to note that simply conducting a school culture assessment is not a final event. The need to analyze is unquestionable. It is from the analysis of the data that the dialogue of establishing an enculturation of continuous improvement can begin. At this point, there is a need for a facilitated discussion relative to the findings that include all stakeholders of the school community. Suggested questions include:
-What areas of our school's culture (professional collaboration, affiliative collegiality, efficacy/self-determination) appear to be strongest and why?
-What can we do as a school community to maintain and/or improve these areas of strength?
-What areas of our school's culture (professional collaboration, affiliative collegiality, efficacy/self-determination) appear to present the greatest challenge for improvement?
-What can we do as a school community to maintain and improve these problem areas?
-Have we used the information from the analysis to be proactive in
planning the infrastructure for a healthy school culture?
-Have we used the utilized the results of the assessment to support
school improvement and thus student achievement?
Addressing these key questions will provide a basis for sustained improvement that has the potential to involve and secure ownership from the entire school community.
Most schools have not assessed their culture. It has become more common for school people to dwell on raising scores and meeting state requirements rather than examining a holistic view of the school and the working relationships among the people who work, learn, and relate there. Culture represents the bracing for the bridge that leads from previous achievement to future achievement. If the braces are firm and strong, the likelihood of accurately identifying and adequately implementing productive measures is high.
References
Phillips, G. (1993). The school-classroom culture assessment. Vancouver, British Columbia: Eduserv, British Columbia School Trustees Publishing.
Wagner, C. (2000, October 20). School culture analysis. Address presented at the annual meeting of the Manitoba Association of Resource Teacher (MART). Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Dr. Wagner is an associate professor of educational administration at Western Kentucky University located in Bowling green, KY and can be contacted at christopher.wagner@wku.edu or 270.745.4890.
Dr. Masden is an assistant professor of education at Austin Peay State University located in Clarksville, TN and can be contacted at masden@apsu.edu or 931.221.7512 |
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