Clearing weeds, pruning hedges, planting flowers, and picking up garbage in fields and parking lots are all student-friendly methods to improve the appearance of a school's campus. From teachers to parents to students, COVID-19 has had an impact on everyone involved in creating a positive school culture. Ultimately, they need to encourage engagement by all. Explore Unified Solutions Featured Solutions Behavior Support Attendance Intervention Schoology Learning Naviance Unified Operations For more articles about education, please sign up for my emails here (below), and follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn. But like many organizational leaders, principals may get stymied when they actually try to describe the elements that create a positive culture. Having students work to correct their own wrongs helps encourage them to take responsibility for their actions. School culture does matter. When students believe that the rules are fair and consistently enforced, it goes a long way toward building trust. But of course, students will push the limits and youll still need consequences. When students and staff arrive at school, they should feel a sense of pride, ownership, and community. Lets face it; traditional learning methods can sometimes make students uninterested. These teachers must be trustworthy professionals who will do their job and make positive contributions to the school environment. Educators can take several steps to establish and reinforce positive school culture. Establishing purpose in the workplace can take the form of: Posting your company mission statement Circulating your company core values Setting clear expectations for team members Specifying project timelines A school leader who routinely recognizes that a staff members success is a feather in everyones cap promotes the interconnectedness of the work. In his bookHow to Say the Right Thing Every Time: Communicating Well With Students, Staff, Parents, and the Public, Robert D. Ramsey says that Whenschool leaders communicate effectively, students learn, parents and community members understand and support what the school is doing, and the process of teaching and learning moves forward. If youve already started efforts to build a positive school culture but arent seeing the results you expected, dont worry. This makes teachers the most responsible for creating a positive school culture. It can increase students interest in learning, improve academic outcomes, reduce problematic and risky behavior, limit school suspensions, strengthen student-teacher relationships, and boost attendance rates. Go beyond parent-teacher meetings and organize workshops where teachers and parents can discuss homework, study skills, and tests. Instead of constantly putting out fires, trying a more proactive approach to discipline. You cant hold kids accountable for something youve never told them, says Erin Green, Director of National Services Operations at Boys Town. Here are eight ways for improving school culture based on the Boys Town Education Model, which has helped hundreds of troubled schools turn their school culture around. That means those looking to improve school culture need to understand the importance of choosing teachers; teacher accountability; and teaching quality, including attitude, practical skills, and motivation. An example of a ceremony recognizing students for outstanding achievements -- in this case, Waresboro Elementary recognized 17 students for excellence in "scholarship, responsibility, leadership, and service." In the long run, more students will enroll in your campus to have a fruitful academic journey. Establish purpose One of the most basic ways to improve team culture is to show what your company is about by establishing purpose. When schools embed social-emotional learning (SEL) into their classrooms and curriculum, students and staff learn to be mindful of emotions, challenges, stresses, and traumas and make room for academic learning. Every school community should have a unique mission statement that speaks to the beliefs, values, and aims of the learning community. Remember: this change process starts with you. You can ask parents to be on event committees or to participate in school fundraisers. A schools mission should be regularly revisited and reflected upon to ensure the school and its members are genuinely living the mission. ThoughtCo. These programs promoted achievements at school, and reduced substance abuse and emotional distress. Set up regular times to ask for feedback, hear out concerns, and get suggestions for improvement. Once principals understand what constitutes culture once they learn to see it not as a hazy mass of intangibles, but as something that can be pinpointed and designed they can start to execute a cultural vision. School is no longer solely about the three Rs. This can start with visuals like photographs of staff and students, quotes that represent the schools beliefs about learning, student work on the walls, or even a mission statement clearly displayed. But its not enough for a mission to live in a file folder or to sit unnoticed on a school web page. You might even consider Restorative Discipline as a school-wide program. Image source: Waresboro Elementary School. It starts by first understanding what contributes to a schools culture. Also, going to college today does not guarantee a great job right after graduation. College is not the best fit for everyone and is not the only pathand thats okay. For example, if certain teachers never hear directly from their principal, an administrator is continually excluded from communications, or any groups of staff members are operating in isolation from others, it will be difficult for messages about shared beliefs and commitments to spread. That means developing consistent school rules and ways of defining and meeting student behavior. Conversely, when interpersonal relationships are weak and trust is lacking, fear and failure will likely start to define school culture. School principals and leaders are models for how to react and cope with stress, setbacks, and disputes. For example, why not try game-based learning? School culture plays a major role in the success and development of staff in a school. At school, students learn by watching just as they learn by doing. build trusting relationships with students, M.Ed., Educational Administration, Northeastern State University, B.Ed., Elementary Education, Oklahoma State University. College can be critical especially for certain trained skills and potential future earnings, but it is not the single journey to success today. Resilient leaders, however, do more than bounce backthey bounce forward. For example,Hollibrook Elementary in Spring Branch, Texas, developed a "Parent University" to get parents more actively involved in the school -- helping build trust and rapport between the school and the families of the students. 8 Strategies to Improve School Culture Having a healthy relationship with peers and teachers is essential for students' overall school experience. TheNational School Climate Centernotes that empirical research has shown that when school members feel safe, valued, cared for, engaged, and respected, learning measurably increases, and staff satisfaction and retention are enhanced. Here are eight ways to cultivate a vibrant school culture starting now. For example, the Mooresville Intermediate School in North Carolina pairs each new teacher with a mentor at the beginning of their career at the school. School staff members work hard to ensure the best possible outcomes and experiences for their students. Instead, focus on ways to improve the situation and work with a team to move forward. Creating a safe and supportive school culture is one of the most difficult tasks principals face as fearless school leaders. You can make it happen, though, even in the most challenging school environments. Within that weak or strong structure, what exactly people believe and how they act depends on the messages both direct and indirect that the leaders and others in the organization send. Theyre also developing their social skills, and learning how to become successful adults. These meetings will help the whole teaching staff to brainstorm and implement new ideas, bringing teachers into the process of building your school culture. He helped me understand that recognition for hard work cannot only be recognized by the principal. These general strategies are not the end all be all solution, but they can aid in the development of a positive school culture. Tough decisions will have to be made. His discipline could include having to write a letter of apology to the student he hurt, and then to take a shift as hallway monitor. The following steps are in part designed to build trust, mainly by giving teachers, staff, and students some say in the processand leaders who guide the process must never miss an opportunity to prove themselves trustworthy and to facilitate trust-building between stakeholders. No one flourishes in constant negativity. This is default text for notification bar, Some schools have such a positive school culture that you can see and feel it as soon as you enter the building. Student performance is closely linked to teaching quality, which means teachers have an important role to play in creating a strong school culture. To establish an effective school culture, you must consider every little nuance in a school. Students spend the largest amount of their time at school in the classroom. When talking with teachers, encourage them to try new methods of teaching. They learn and grow together. The leader is the main role model for an organization. When kids are taught with a proactive, praise-heavy approach, they tend to do better, says Erin Green of Boys Town. This means more than the occasional "good job.". When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Problem solving can also be used retrospectively (with the luxury of hindsight) to help students make better decisions in the future. Having a positive school culture has an impact, not just on the attitudes of students and teachers, but on the entire learning experience. How to share, how to listen to others, how to disagree respectfullythese are the kind of essential social skills we expect our students to have. Yes, having a welcoming culture in your school will make the bond among students strong, regardless of their race, nationality, sexuality, and religion. School culture has no easy definition, even though most educators agree on the importance of having a positive culture. However, broadening the range of discipline methods can help encourage a positive school culture. Most teachers simply want the go-ahead to move forward with ideas so that they can grow. 3 Ways to Develop Positive School Culture Just By Being You. They may look at you oddly at first, but the future wins can be immeasurable. Working to improve school climate is challenging and takes a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach that includes building supportive and safe environments and policies and working to support student and adult social, emotional, and behavioral capacity to create a safe, engaging, and supportive school community. While a school culture is heavily influenced by its institutional history, culture also shapes social patterns, habits, and dynamics that influence future behaviors, which could become an obstacle to reform and improvement. Still, teachers have a tough job. @uknowhgse. Every hallway smile and hello that staff and students receive sinks in and builds up their self-efficacy and sense of belonging. Set aside time every few months to analyze your school culture. Students are much more likely to recognize and resolve them appropriately when we teach them how to do so. Live your vision mission Every school community should have a unique mission statement that speaks to the beliefs, values, and aims of the learning community. A toxic school culture has been described as a place where staffs are extremely fragmented, where the purpose of serving students has been lost to the goal of serving the adults, where negative values and hopelessness reign. (Realizing a Positive School Culture, 1998), Anthony Muhammad -- a high school principal and theauthor of Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff-- describes a toxic school culture asan environment where schoolstaff "fails to figure out what's needed to cultivate the characteristics necessary for student growth and learning.". So, make an effort to mimic the behavior and attitudes that you want to see displayed in your school. [My] professor was very direct with me. That means when you interact with teachers and students, you need to be an example of the behavior that you want to see in your school. A good culture arises from messages that promote traits like collaboration, honesty, and hard work. Schools that help students develop essential social skills are preparing them on an even deeper level for their future after graduation. Classroom rules communicate your expectations to your students. SODAS is an acronym for the following steps: S Define the SITUATION. Fortunately, the latest online technology, paired with some best practices, can solidify your school's culture and help ignite even more positive learning outcomes. 1 For example, Safe and But, the one thing you should never do is to make their education a competition. Over the past few weeks, I have formulated my own definition. Also, be aware of any negative factors that have started to seep in, and take decisive action to remove those. Fostering a positive school culture takes a lot of time and hard work. How important is school culture? The following seven broad strategies can help guide the process of improving school culture. In a weak culture, sparse interactions make it difficult for people to learn the organizations culture, so its character is barely noticeable and the commitment to it is scarce or sporadic. For example, having a student serve detention for misbehaving on the bus isnt necessarily the best consequence. Teachers who feel like their administrators have their backs are generally happy teachers, and they are more likely to operate a productive classroom. End with your request. Connections are key, so they should identify those who arent connecting, figure out why not, and then adjust accordingly. All Rights Reserved 2014 - 2023 Template.net. Include input from high school juniors and seniors and have them assist in the design of a program. Equally important, they need to be delivered with empathy, not in anger. Also, its good to make sure that you as the school leader are aware of what your teachers think and feel in their work. Consider these 12 suggestions on how to improve your school culture. School culture is a mindset that can either be positive or negative. Many factors impact a child's education, from state and federal requirements to school boards and funding.