In 2009, Transforming School Culture provided educators with a context to understand the behaviors and motivations of their colleagues, and a road map to how to overcome clashes and division. Since 2009, more studies have validated the importance of school culture in student performance; most notably the work of John Hattie and his Visible Learning research in 2012. In this edition, I provide more insight into ways to transform culture in the light of the new challenges and research. The integrity of the first edition remains intact, and the second edition builds on that foundation to provide a modern context.
This second edition has the following additions and revisions.
• New insights into the four types of educators (Believers, Fundamentalists, Tweeners, and Survivors)
• An updated research base, including over thirty new references
• Connections to ESSA and CCSS
• Reflections on NCLB’s impact on education
• Further guidance on what it takes to be a transformational leader and how to redirect Fundamentalists through communication, trust, capacity, and accountability
• A new chapter of frequently asked questions in regard to school culture, leadership, and the four types of educators
Chapter 1 first presents the consistent cultural reform that must take place in the U.S. public school system for schools to arm all students with the 21st century skills they need to succeed in the ever-changing world they face. After that, chapter 2 displays the framework of a modern school culture and identifies the factors—both internal and external—that make school cultural transformation difficult; when educators examine their current behaviors and their school’s conditions, they can better strategize to form a healthy public school environment. Chapters 3–6 identify the characteristics that make each group’s behaviors, actions, and attitudes distinct and that impact a school culture. Chapter 3 addresses the Believers, seasoned educators who make key school decisions and therefore play the largest role in achieving higher levels of student performance and satisfaction. Chapter 4 discusses Tweeners; schools must fortify the bonds built between a school and a Tweener to help growth and reform take place. Chapter 5 next considers the Survivors; their lack of good professional practice hugely impacts the quality of students’ education. Then, chapter 6 covers the type of educator that poses the biggest threat to school culture improvements: the Fundamentalist. Chapter 7 shows readers how to help Fundamentalist educators drop their long-held, unintentionally toxic practices; actively reform their mindsets; and seek a more productive, unified methodology that produces greater student achievement. Chapter 8 covers practical methods that school administrators and teachers can use to foster a collective sense of purpose among leaders, teachers, and students and maintain a healthy school culture focused on student learning. Finally, chapter 9 offers answers to questions I have frequently been asked since the first edition of Transforming School Culture was released in 2009. These questions and answers center on school culture, leadership, Believers, Tweeners, Survivors, and Fundamentalists.
The book includes an appendix that features specific details regarding my formal and informal observations of thirty-four schools across the United States and how the behavior of the schools’ staff supported or hindered student achievement.
As you delve into the following chapters, consider my hope for this book: that educators dedicate themselves to creating schools that provide guidance and support for all students. These schools, that ensure learning for all, are transformational institutions that make the community and our world a better place to live in.
CHAPTER 1
From Status Quo to True Reform
For more than a century, educators, scholars, politicians, and citizens have debated the purpose of our public school system and how best to reform it. Ironically, our public school system has undergone sweeping changes, yet it has remained largely the same, and there is still a lack of clear consensus about what is needed to ensure that all our schools perform at high levels and all our students achieve success.
Education has traditionally been viewed as the best route for social mobility, but for some young people, this route is not accessible. In fact, an abundance of data on the costs of this failure of our education system shows the system is absolutely broken. This is especially true for students from certain demographic groups who have been traditionally underserved by our school system.
Persistent gaps between white and black citizens in critical areas like income, health, and education have been important issues at the center of debates about equity for a long time. A report from the Pew Research Center (2016) finds that these gaps are as large as ever. Specifically:
• African American citizens are twice as likely to be poor compared to white citizens.
• African American median income is half of white median income.
• White median net worth is thirteen times the net worth of the average African American household.
• The nonmarital African American birthrate is twice the white rate.
• African American children are three times more likely to live in a single-parent home than white children.
• The home ownership gap between African American and white citizens is nearly 30 percent.
These statistics are even more shocking considering the fact that these gaps actually increased over the eight years under the presidency of Barack Obama, the nation’s first African American president (Pew Research Center, 2016). President Obama spent a significant portion of his professional career as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago, where he witnessed the poverty and struggles of African American communities with underperforming schools. In fact, he describes the interaction with that community as the epiphany that led him to politics and public service (Obama, 2008). It would only seem logical, based on President Obama’s own words, that this community would expect more policy advocacy under his administration.
The Latino population in America has grown rapidly, and Latinos now represent the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. America’s Latino population is now facing the issues that have plagued African Americans. The same Pew Research Center (2016) report reveals:
• Latino high school graduation rates have doubled since the 1970s, yet they still graduate at two-thirds the rate of white students.
• White students are twice as likely to graduate from college than Latino students.
• Latino median income is 61 percent of white median income.
• Latino citizens are twice as likely to live in poverty than white citizens.
• The home ownership gap between Latino and white citizens is nearly 30 percent.
However, race is just one risk factor. Students from poor families, regardless of their racial group, are experiencing significant difficulties. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that economically disadvantaged white households (those with incomes below the national poverty line) have significant gaps in income, employment, and health compared to national averages, though not as pronounced as African