THE STEPS TO CREATING A POSITIVE SCHOOL CULTURE

Motivation, success, and feeling valued are what drives individuals, at any level and
in any profession. In the school setting, it is critically important that we celebrate and
recognize the outstanding things that our school community accomplishes, both
inside and out of our buildings. Here are some of the main contributors to creating,
building, or sustaining a positive school culture.

Invest in People, Build Relationships

Relationships are perhaps the most important part of establishing a school culture
that is perceived as and breeds caring. When people feel valued, staff and students
alike, they are likely to work harder, stay the course, and enjoy their work. When
students feel liked and respected by their teachers, they find more success in school,
academically and behaviorally (Lewis, Schaps & Watson, 1996). It should be the goal
of all staff in a school to foster and forward positive relationships with students and
among peers. This can become contagious, and can become the mantra of a school
building; one which promotes and celebrates kindness among all.

I am a proponent of investment in people. The dividends to be had when a building

becomes a place where people want to come to work, want to work hard, and
transfer those feelings to students, is powerful beyond measure. “Programs are only
as good as the paper they are written on without the people who implement them. A
school culture doesn’t exist because of a program. It exists because of the people
within the building. That includes aides, secretary, food service, teachers,
administrators, parents and most importantly students (Whitaker, 2011).” A building
(or classroom, or district) where this culture exists is a strong foundation for positive
experiences and learning to take place.

Have a Shared Vision

Another component of creating or sustaining a positive school culture is having a

consistent, shared vision for your school. School staff and students need to feel that
they are being treated in the same manner as everyone else, regardless of their
differences. Generating school and classroom rules, expectations, and having
leadership that will follow through consistently with discipline and consequences can
create a sense of trust and support; for staff to feel as though they are supported to
do their jobs well, and trust among all school constituents that the rules are followed
and enforced consistently.

Along these lines, consequences for bad choices should be developed with the input
of school stakeholders, and should be fair relative to the offense. Being too firm, or
the opposite, can elicit a lack of trust from students and parents. Aligning your
discipline processes, procedures, and consequences to infractions in a fair and
consistent manner can have the ability to serve its purpose while building character
in students as they move forward after the incident. Balance, follow through, and
consistency are key components to this process in order for it to have its greatest
effect.

Be a Role Model, Set the Tone

As is best practice in instruction, modeling is key to understanding with anything in

school buildings. Therefore, it is important to model these behaviors. School
leadership and staff alike should lead by example. Students notice and can learn
from our behaviors and the way we handle ourselves in daily situations. Be a role
model! Show students how to be kind, caring, and that you value them. The return
on that investment can be a group of students who are respectful of all; their
teachers, school staff, and most importantly, each other.

Think about how you handle things and reflect on what the messaging of those
choices have for students. Are you modeling the behaviors you want to see in
students if put in a similar situation? You, as an educator and a role model, set the
tone of your classroom and your school building by showing and modeling how you
want your students to behave and react to situations on a daily basis. Showing
kindness, caring, and acceptance are powerful and lasting characteristics for
students to observe and ingrain.

Praise and Celebrate

What do leaders do when these things are happening? How do we sustain this or
build on it? We need to praise appropriately and celebrate victories; large and small.
Recognition is one way in which people feel valued. As a school leader or teacher,
there are a variety of ways to do this. Hand-written notes, creating a certificate, a
bulletin board, a phone call home, or a school or class newsletter are all avenues that
can recognize students and/or staff and make them feel appreciated. Ignoring these
things do nothing in terms of appreciating people, and can portray a lack of caring
and respect. The power of praise in changing student behavior is that it both
indicates teacher approval and informs the student about how the praised academic
performance or behavior conforms to teacher/school expectations (Burnett, 2001).
Supplying students with positive feedback and showing them that you care speaks to
the first portion of this process, building relationships and the investment in people.

There are many contributors to creating a positive school culture and atmosphere.
While these are certainly not exhaustive or all-inclusive, they can provide some
practical ideas to institute or model in your school buildings. A positive school
climate, many argue, is directly correlated to school success. When students feel
safe, supported, respected, and valued in their environment, the foundation is set
for them to learn and achieve their best.
FOUR WAYS TO CREATE A POSITIVE SCHOOL CULTURE

School culture is consistently described as one of the most impactful contributors to

perceptions of a successful school. The culture of a school has far-reaching impacts on
every aspect of the organization. Student achievement, teacher effectiveness, teacher
retention, community support and student enrollment are all affected by the explicit and
implicit cultural attributes of a school. Below are four foundational ways to create a
positive school culture.

1) Teacher Leadership

Create a teacher leadership program that utilizes the strengths of your staff members for
school improvement. Note teachers’ strengths and find creative ways to use those soft and
hard skills as methods to elevating teachers and their roles in the school environment.
Being intentional about teacher leadership opportunities is fundamental to creating a
culture of growth and opportunity. As discussed by Harris (2003), opportunities that align
with true distributive leadership (as opposed to delegated leadership) are most likely to
result in a culture where teachers feel empowered and receptive to peer feedback.  To
accomplish this, leaders should allocate time and resources for training teacher leaders in
how to effectively provide instructional coaching for colleagues. This type of training is an
often-overlooked component of teacher leadership programs. However, as teachers learn
how to effectively give and receive feedback, without emotional bias or interference, there
are lasting, systemic effects creating a foundation for a positive school culture.

2) Student Opportunities 

When focusing on school culture, student perceptions of the school can positively and
negatively influence everything from student behavior to teacher motivation. To create a
student-centered school culture, leaders can strategically create opportunities for student
leadership and seek out unique ways to engage students in non-traditional roles. In one
example from my years as a school principal, we utilized school data to create a service
learning club that enhances students’ social skills at the same time. We recruited students
who needed the boost in social skills and peer interactions, and we used a project-based
service-learning opportunity as a context for social-emotional learning. The result was
improved engagement in the school, increased self-reported social-emotional competence,
improved social perception of these students by their peers and a genuine perception of
school pride by those engaged and those they interacted with.

3) Professional Learning

In conjunction with teacher leadership, professional learning opportunities are a powerful

way to boost school culture.  To generate a culture of learning and growth for all, the
teaching and learning of adults must be an integral part of the learning cycle in the school.
Parent seminars, teacher training, student teacher partnerships and mentoring are all
powerful examples of adult learning, which can model the learning cycle for students, as
well as how to learn from mistakes. One specific idea for leaders is to give your
Professional Learning Community meetings (PLCs) a reboot. DuFour and Eaker (2009)
found that PLCs, when structured effectively, can be one of the most powerful forms of
professional development.  Leaders can create a specific structure for PLCs with a weekly
focus on various aspects of teaching and learning. Use your log of teacher strengths to
provide opportunities for teachers who are particularly skilled with upcoming PLC topics to
serve as discussion leaders. This is a great way to integrate the teacher leadership
program with professional learning.

4) Community Engagement
Go beyond traditional PTA activities and seek to engage members of the school community
that are a diverse representation of skills, talents and activities. From creating a career
day that celebrates community members to recruiting classroom volunteers from the
community to asking parents to serve on an events committee, there are many ways to
engage the school community. When leaders get the community involved, the culture of
the school shifts to one of inclusive ownership.  When leaders build strategic partnerships
with community businesses and organizations, opportunities such as wrap-around services
for students and families in need, financial support and volunteerism can benefit school
culture.  Community perception is the undercurrent for school marketing, school image
and student enrollment, and these all have direct impacts on school culture.

Improving school culture is not a finite activity. Leaders do not complete a school culture
activity, check the box and move on to something else. Every school has a culture – a way
of doing, growing and believing – that is pervasive and perceptible. Ensuring that culture is
a positive one involves an ongoing process of developing and utilizing talents, generating
creative opportunities and establishing a clear focus on learning and growth for adults and
students alike.