Introduction

Last year in Seattle, I was completing an administrative internship at the school in which I taught in for the past

ten years, Aki Kurose. One of the best pieces of advice I received from one of the administrators I admire, Mr.

Howard, was Run your school like you run your classroom. The way I ran my classroom was very strict with

rules, consequences and prizes for following the rules. Students sat in tables of two, facing forward. I planned

minute to minute for them, and I was extremely organized about how I ran my room. For my students who

needed extra help, I gave them extra time and attention by holding their hand and sometimes pulling them

through the year. At the time, I was doing what I knew was best for my students to get them through the school

year. I was not thinking about how my support (which sometimes was coddling) was going to help them in the

future.

While reading Promises Kept, the following quote changed how I have thought about how schools should be

run. This quote has been weighing on me, When you look at some of the really successful schools for African

Americans, there are a lot of rules and carrots and sticks applied to virtually all behavior, says Joshua Aronson,

an associate professor of applied psychology at New York Universitys Steinhart School of Culture, Education

and Human Development, referring to schools that wrest high test scores out of kids but at a great emotional

cost. Theres little freedom; theres extra school; theres Saturday School. To a human being, an organism that

was born to be free and self-determining, this is like putting on handcuffs. And the long-term data suggest that

as soon as these kids get into college, many flounder and drop out because they are now faced with freedom for

the first time-and arent prepared for it (p.165). This quote has led me to think about how I ran my classroom

and how it is not how I would run my school.

Tacoma, Washington, where Summit Olympus (the school I will be leading) will be located, has

disproportionally high rates of suspension for African American students. One of the local reporters writes,As,

in many districts around the country, black kids in Tacoma schools are disciplined at rates disproportionately

higher than the overall student population. Forty percent of Tacomas suspensions and expulsions are black

students; they comprise 20 percent of the district student body. Altogether, Tacoma students are suspended or

expelled at a rate of 8 per 100 students-the fourth-highest rate in the state. Carla Santorno, Tacomas

Superintendent, stated, Students who are suspended or expelled are often the same students who are already at

the academic margins (Cafazzo, p.1). Therefore, my primary job is to not contribute to the disproportionality. I

must create a school culture in which students are held to a high standard, but a fair one, and one in which they

learn and grow from their mistakes.

I thought about students I had helped over the years. They received consequences from me, suspensions from

the administration, behavior plans in which they received prizes for good behavior and a high level of adult

intervention. Three students, in particular, came to mind: John, Sam, and Rob.* One is in jail, one didnt make it

through 9th grade, and one is under house arrest. Now, I know I was just one piece of the puzzle for my

students. However, reflecting on my past 12 years, I know I wasnt helping some of my highest need students to

be self-directed learners; either academically or socially/emotionally. The culture of my classroom was high

expectations and high support, however, the way in which I created that culture was teacher-centered, not

student centered. Therefore, since I will be leading a school next fall, I wish to create a school, unlike my

classroom. It must be student centered in a way that prepares them for their future, not just the present. Overall,

the biggest question on my mind is, how can schools support the growth of students through their approach to

school culture?

My goal for my study was to get to the root of how to create a positive school culture. I am defining a positive

school culture as one in which the beliefs of the staff are aligned, and relationships between members of the

community are respectable (or better yet joyful). Additionally, staff and students are emotionally and physically

safe. The school I am currently in residence at has a positive school culture. The staff genuinely like working

there, they like each other and students are happy to be there. Consequently, I studied this school while keeping

the school I will be leading in mind. My goal is to take my learning from this school and create a roadmap for

leaders, new leaders especially to create and maintain a positive school culture.

*students names were changed for confidentiality

Literature Review

Starting with the Leadership

A leader has to create a culture in which students are given avenues to grow and learn from their mistakes

instead of getting punitive consequences. To do this, a leader has to hire teachers who can embrace and support

this culture.

In a journal article by Barth (2006), he asserts, "In short, the relationships among educators in a school define

all relationships within that schools culture. Teachers and administrators demonstrate all too well a capacity to

either enrich or diminish one anothers lives and thereby enrich or diminish their schools (p.8). He goes on to

describe the various relationships among adults within the schoolhouse. They might be categorized in four

ways: parallel play, adversarial relationships, congenial relationships, and collegial relationships (p.8). He

describes parallel play (in which teachers are autonomous and not collaborating) and adversarial relationships as

negative and promoting a negative culture within a school. He then goes on to state that there are four

indicators which bring about successful collegiality: Educators talking with one another about practice,

educators sharing their craft knowledge, educators observing one another while they are engaged in practice and

educators rooting for one another's success (p.11). He then states how leaders can promote this collegiality,

state expectations explicitly, model collegiality, reward those who behave as colleagues, and protect those who

engage in these collegial behaviors (p.13). The first two are great pieces of advice, but the last two wouldnt

be necessary if you have a successful collegial environment. A leader would not need to reward or protect

if the current environment is successful.

Bransford and Schwartz think of an optimal learning environment differently. They make their point about

different kinds of expertise through an anecdote about a man who moves next to a river to become better at bass

fishing. The man reads about bass fishing and has the location and materials he needs to become an expert

fisherman. However, the man does not become adept at fishing until he consults local experts (p.750).

Similarly, going to trainings and reading books have had limited success for educators because there are steep

drop offs in retention after 60 minutes and even more after 24 hours (Waddington, 2009). Consequently, the

information gained from teaching expertise is much more effective, but Bransford and Schwartz argue that

teachers must have high quality feedback cycles. These are cycles in which the learners learn from teachers

and teachers learn from learners. To attain high quality feedback, there must be qualitative and quantitative

methods of measuring feedback (p.751). For example, economist Roland Fryer states that one of the five

qualities for effective schools is frequent feedback. Teachers at highly effective schools are given feedback

13.42 times per semester (p.7). Therefore, Bransford, Schwartz, and Fryer would all add to Barths list that

its not enough that teachers merely observe each other, but there must be high-quality feedback. There must be

training on how to give the feedback and ways to measure it. They would argue that simply having a culture in

which people observe each other is not enough.

Robert Evans argues that before leaders can create a culture with staff, the leaders must understand themselves.

In The Human Side of School Change, Robert Evans devotes a chapter to, The Authentic Leader. He defines

the authentic leader as someone who is trustworthy. He states, Transformation begins with trust, with

consistency being the lifeblood of sustaining that trust (p.185). He discusses case studies suggesting that most

of us would prefer to be led by someone we can count on, even when we disagree with the person. We would

rather be led by this person than one who frequently changes their position (p.190). In this chapter, he also

leaves the reader with questions to ponder: how do I define my role as a leader? What inspires the best in staff?

What are my strengths? What are my core beliefs? Evans also states that there are many styles of leadership

(not just one style) critical in the development of high-performance schools. However, all styles of leadership

have the following qualities: resource provider, instructional resource, communicator and visible presence

(p.195). Evans writes, "spelling out their basic assumptions and discovering their authentic core helps leaders

develop strategic biases for action to guide their work and shape the implementation of change (p.202).

Using Staff Culture to Promote Positive Student Culture

In Connecting Leadership with Learning, the authors (Copeland and Knapp) discuss how to build professional

learning communities. They give five essential steps leaders must take. The first step is build trusting

relationships among professionals, create structures and schedules that sustain interaction among professionals

and help to frame joint work and shared responsibilities. They also must model, guide and facilitate

participation in professional communities that value learning, and promote a focus on learning and associated

core values (p.46). The actions leaders can take are to create structures for teachers to make school-wide

decisions about teaching and learning. Leaders also must set up cycles of inquiry into learning and teaching

performance and engage staff in continuous conversations about their norms, values and beliefs about student

learning (p.48). The challenges a leader has for the above is the resistance of staff members, ensuring basic

needs are met, breaking isolation and confronting poor practice (p. 53).

The challenges Copeland and Knapp discuss are addressed in Build a culture that nurtures productive conflict

by Liane Darvey. She states, To set the stage for productive conflict, a school culture that promotes this must

be put into place. How educators choose to embrace, or not embrace, conflict sets a huge example for what we

teach children, so we are predetermining our future whether or not well be a culture that is trapped by passive

aggressive behavior or if we benefit from productive conflict. To have a productive conflict there must be three

elements; a shared purpose, norms, and protocols for if the norms are violated (p.1). For example, teams

should want to meet because they cant do their work without the advice of their colleague rather than out of

mere obligation. If teams have a shared purpose, then they have a productive reason to meet. Norms not only

should be set as a guideline, but everyone needs to be on the same page as to what the norm looks like and feels

like. Additionally, everyone must agree on how they will act if a norm is violated. Overall, being nice has been

eroding the need to get to a solution everyone can agree upon, we must un-learn the ways many of us have dealt

with conflict in the past. Within these three elements must be: clear communication, positive attitudes, and

valued contributions (p.3).

Using Data to Create Change

In Rethinking Suspensions, the authors argue African American students are sixty times more likely than White

students to be expelled for serious disciplinary infractions. Black and Hispanic students were suspended more

often when expulsion was discretionary. In Montgomery Public Schools, students in Black and Hispanic

subgroups also had significantly lower levels of academic achievement (p.41). The district then composed a

work group with two overarching concepts, Focusing on teaching and learning and their effects on student

engagement and behavior, and, Identify alternative responses to inappropriate behavior (p.41).

They composed nine different recommendations:

Limit the types of offenses that receive a suspension. Address patterns of poor behavior among students at risk

for suspension. Address patterns of poor behavior among students who are at risk for suspension. Ensure that

equity targets and action plans are integrated into school improvement plans. Engage parents and community

stakeholders in partnerships to establish shared ownership of student success. Use professional development to

increase cultural competence, high expectations, positive relationships, and instruction. Systemize the

accountability structures for suspensions and increase the districts analyzes of suspension rates (p.42-43).

In Montgomery public schools, the results were a year to year reduction in suspensions by 3,240, and reductions

in suspensions of Black, Hispanic, and Asian students by 56%, 44%, and 52%, respectively (p.44). These are

great results, but they fail to talk about specific programs. They mention things like functional behavior

assessments and professional development, but do not give specifics to actual programs.

Before, an actual program is implemented, the size of the group one is trying to effect must be taken into

account. Dunbar states that social groups must be 150 or smaller to for relationships to be valued. Since the

size of the human neocortex is known, the relationship between group size and neocortex size in primates can

be used to predict the cognitive group size for humans. Evidence from the ethnographical literature provides

some support for this. Census data from a range of tribal and more traditional societies indicated that groups of

about this size are, in fact, a common component of human social systems. Malcom Gladwell takes this study

further in The Tipping Point, in which he discusses groups of less than 150 members usually display a level of

intimacy, interdependency, and efficiency that begins to dissipate markedly as soon as the groups size

increases over 150. This concept has been exploited by a number of corporations that use it as the foundation of

their organizational structures and marketing campaigns (p.177). Such an approach, he theorizes, could be

used to think about school and school culture.

In addition to changing or starting a school culture, assessing the schools culture is necessary, according to the

Character Education Partnership. They argue, Schools must be held accountable for assessing the quality of

their school cultures (p.1). To build a positive culture, the CEP believes three conditions must be in place.

First, schools need measures of success and areas for improvement that go beyond test scores. Second,

educators must have a comprehensive understanding of what school culture is, and schools need tools for

developing and assessing school culture. Third, schools must be held accountable for their cultures (p.4-5). The

CEP calls for a school report card which has a rigorous assessment of school culture (p.6).

What Must Happen Before or In Addition to Implementation of Programs

Before an actual program is implemented, it is important to think about the personality traits schools need to

help students build within a non-punitive program, according to Kathleen Daly. She argues, The nirvana story

of restorative justice helps us to imagine what is possible, but it should not be used as a benchmark for what is

practical and achievable. The nirvana story assumes that people are ready and able to resolve disputes, to repair

harms, to feel contrite, and perhaps to forgive others when they may not be ready and able to do any of these

things at all (p.18). Therefore, building of students empathy skills must be paramount to ensure Restorative

Justice is successful. Daly writes, Restorativeness requires a degree of empathetic concern and perspective-

taking, and as measured by psychologists scales, these qualities are more frequently evinced for adults than

adolescents (p.17). In other words, since adolescents do not necessarily have empathetic skills until adulthood,

schools have to help actively students build this skill set.

In the study in which Daly researched restorative practices in the juvenile court system, she correlates

adolescents that were remorseful with non-repetition of offenses. During an 8-12 month window of time post-

conference, 40 percent of the YPs (young people), offended at least once. Two common variables were

significant: when YPs were remorseful and when outcomes were achieved by genuine consensus, they were less

likely to re-offend. Therefore, according to Daly, the teaching, practice, and empathy for students is the first

step to having a successful Restorative Justice program.

Hopkins also has implementation ideas for a whole school approach to restorative justice (p.6). It is not

enough to respond to a particular instance of conflict or wrongdoing, such as bullying, with a restorative

intervention because the values and benefit of that intervention will not reach the schools culture. This is a

problem because the victim and the bully will both need to return to the school community and that community

will not be prepared to receive them in a restorative manner. Therefore she suggests that the school first must

become a listening school, a place where empathetic listening is valued and listening skills are taught and

modeled. She then goes on to give some examples, such as I-messages in which students and teachers

practice. For example, one suggestion is using A three step method of speaking with a child when they are

exhibiting unwanted behaviors; using the personal pronoun, expressing the feeling the teacher is experiencing

and the effect the behavior is having on the teacher (p.7).

According to the author Deci, we have to think about how we are building motivation in students for any

program to work. However, when implementing programs, we have to think about autonomous motivation and

controlled motivation. When people are controlled, they experience pressure to think, feel, or behave in

particular ways. Autonomous and controlled motivation lead to very different outcomes, with autonomous

motivation tending to yield great psychological health and more effective performance on heuristic types of

activities. It also leads to greater long-term persistence. Additionally, people tend to adopt extrinsic goals that

will lead to external indicators of work, rather than internal feelings of worth that result from need satisfaction.

As such, extrinsic aspirations are on the type of substitute (p.183).

To help students build personality traits and motivation, staff have to be trained. As stated above, staff must be

hired based on their values, but leaders have to ensure they can imbue their values in a way that is systematic.

The new professionals entering the teaching force need training in how to address social-emotional learning

(SEL) to manage their classrooms more effectively, to teach their students better, and to cope successfully with

students who are challenging. These values must be embedded with curriculum and not fragmented. An SEL

framework must have: self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision, self-management, and

relationship management (Zins et al.,p.4). Also, when choosing a framework, there have to be essential

characteristics. The framework has to teach SEL skills for Application to Daily Life, Addresses Affective and

Social Dimensions of Learning and Involves Family and Community Partnerships (p.10-11).

Implementation of Programs

In Paul Toughs book, How Children Succeed, he recounts stories of how schools have implemented programs

to build character in students. He discusses the KIPP model of character building through a character report

card (p.77). KIPPs founder, David Levin, took this approach after he realized less than 21% of KIPP students

were making it through college (p.52). The central idea behind the report cards is character can change (p.99).

The 24 categories on the report card represent qualities that have been studied and determined to be characters

of success. They mean you are more likely to go to college. More likely to find a good job. Even surprising

things, like they mean youre more likely to get married, or more likely to have a family. Grading students

based on character brings challenges to teachers, in explaining the precise figures to parents and grading the

students (p.99). Additionally, as Levin states, The inevitable problem with the values-and-ethics approach is

you get into, Whose values? Whose ethics? (p.101).

On the other hand, Restorative Justice is an overall approach to building skills and to help students grow instead

of grading them on character. The Restorative Justice Guide serves as an alternative to the punitive and

disproportionate nature of widely used discipline policies in schools across our nation; Restorative justice relies

on students building social skills and tools to resolve conflict. It can be used in schools to prevent or address

conflict before it escalates, and deal with conflict and misbehavior after it occurs (p.4). The program calls for

implementing discussion circles in classrooms, mediation, conferencing, and peer juries. The guide states,

Research has shown restorative justice improves the school environment, enhances the learning and

development of young people, and promotes safety, inclusion, respect, and positive relationships (p.7)

Additionally, Three schools in Pennsylvania experienced a reduction in disruptive behavior and disciplinary

actions after implementing restorative programs (p.8).

Implementing the program would involve formal guidelines and much training for students and staff. For

example, two things that must be implemented are, avoiding scolding or lecturing, actively involving students

and seeing every instance of wrongdoing and conflict as learning opportunities (p.12). A large part of the

classroom teachers responsibility would be class meetings. They would need to be trained facilitators or

support staff in the building could act as trained facilitators, available for class meetings. The class meetings or

peacemaking circles would serve as a place to resolve conflict, create a student-generated agenda and focus

on non-punitive solutions(p.14).

Other components of the program that would be a profound shift in school culture are mediation and

conferencing. Peer mediation involves trained peer mediators who help their fellow peers solves problems.

Conferencing involves other students, staff and teachers. The last component of the program is a peer jury.

The jury is mostly run by students, although an adult oversees the process. The jurors offer guidance, support

and develop an agreement that outlines actions needed by the student to repair harm (p.14). An evaluation

found that from academic years 2005-2007, peer juries helped avoid more than 1,000 days of suspension in

Chicago Public Schools (p.15). This guide does not contain information on long term improvements for

specific students. For example, were the 1,000 days of suspension for students with repeated behavior or a

group of students? How often were restorative practices needed for specific students? To what extent did the

restorative practices lead to intrinsic motivation for the student to engage in positive behavior? What kinds of

sentence starters does staff need to talk with students effectively?

In the Restorative Practices Handbook, there are more specifics in regards to implementation of a Restorative

Justice program. They give a starting point of talking to students along a continuum of formal and informal

(p.12). They give examples of affective statements such as It makes me uncomfortable when I hear you

teasing Sally, instead of Stop teasing Sally (p.13). Also, they give taking points for reflection with the

student (p16). The handbook gives example questions teachers can ask before class starts and as students are

exiting (p.26-27). Also, the handbook gives tips for leaders during discipline issues and how to address issues

that may come up for teachers.

Conclusion

Evans research is where a leader could begin to create a school culture. Then implement the high leverage

moves that Barth proposes, and add systems of high-quality feedback as Bradford, Schwartz, and Fryer suggest.

At that point, a leader could connect the collegiality of the staff, as suggested by Copeland and Knapp, to help

them improve the academics of the school. Then, a leader could confront conflicts that will arise with the staff

to set up a model for our students is also imperative. The staff could then work together on creating norms for

the school by backward planning from our values. The culture of the school would be sustained by using

Restorative Justice and spending more time on social and emotional work. However, Restorative Justice and

social and emotional programs cannot be implemented unless the school culture is positive. Finally, taking data

on how students and staff are experiencing school culture to adjust that culture is vital.

References

1. Armstrong, A. (2014). Build a culture that nurtures productive conflict, Tools for Learning Schools

(Vol.17 No.2).

2. Ashley, J. and Burke, K. (2009).Implementing Restorative Justice: A guide for schools. Published by the

Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.

3. Barth, R. (2006). Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse. Educational Leadership, 63(6), 8-

13. Retrieved August 5, 2014, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-

leadership/mar06/vol63/num06/Improving-Relationships-Within-the-Schoolhouse.aspx

4. Bransford. J. D., & Schwartz, D. L. (2009). It Takes Expertise to Make Expertise: Some Thoughts

About Why and How and Reflections on the Themes in Chapters 1518. In A.

5. Brewster, J. (2013). You Brought Him Into This World. In Promises kept: Raising Black Boys to

succeed in school and life (p. 165). New York: Spiegel&Grau Trade Paperbacks.

6. Cafazzo, D. (2014, October 7). Spotlight shines on Tacoma students at community rally. The News

Tribune. Retrieved October 10, 2014, from

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/10/07/3420201/spotlight-shines-on-tacoma-students.html

7. Developing and Assessing School Culture. (2010). Character Education Partnership, 1-8. Retrieved

November 2, 2014, from www.character.org

8. Copland, Michael A., Knapp, Michael S. (2006). Connecting Leadership with Learning (Chapter 4).

ASCD Publications.

9. Costello, B., & Wachtel, J. (2009). The restorative practices handbook: For teachers, disciplinarians

and administrators. Bethlehem, PA: International Institute for Restorative Practices.

10. Daly, K & Immarigeon, R (1998) The past, present, and future of restorative justice: some critical

reflections, Contemporary Justice Review, vol 1, No 1, pp 21-45.

11. Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (2008). Self-determination Theory: A Macrotheory Of Human Motivation,

Development, And Health. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 49(3), 182-185.

12. Dunbar, R. I. M. (1992). "Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates".Journal of Human

Evolution 22 (6): 469493

13. Ericcson (Ed.). Development of Professional Expertise: Toward Measurement of Expert Performance

and Design of Optimal Learning Environments. New York: Cambridge University Press.

14. Evans, Robert (1996). The Human Side of School Change: Reform, Resistance, and the Real-Life

Problems of Innovation. The Jossey-Bass Education Series (chapter 9). Jossey-Bass Publishers.

15. Fryer, Roland (2011). Getting Beneath the Veil of Effective Schools in New York City. Harvard

University Press.

16. Gladwell, Malcolm (2000). The Tipping Point How Little Things Make a Big Difference. Little, Brown

and Company. pp. 177181, 185186.

17. Hopkins, B. Just Schools: A Whole School Approach to Restorative Justice. London and New York:

Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

18. Satinover, S. (n.d.). 2013 WSCSC Charter School Application. Summit Public Schools Washington, 1-

579.

19. The Summit Experience. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2014.

20. Stetson, Frank, and Collins, Betty. (2010), Rethinking Suspensions. Published by Principal Leadership.

21. Tough, P. (2012). How to Build Character. In How children succeed: Grit, curiosity, and the hidden

power of character. New York: Houghton Miller Harcourt.

22. Waddington, Tad (2009). It's Not How Much You Learn That Matters. It's How Much You Remember. Smarts. Retrieved October 14, 2012 from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/smarts/200904/smarts-

its-not-how-much-you-learn-matters-its-how-much-you-remember.

23. Zins, J., Bloodsworth, M., Weissberg, R., & Walberg, H. (2004). Foundations of Social and Emotional Learning. In The Scientific Base Linking Social and Emotional Learning to School Success (pp. 3-22).

New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.

Setting Description

I have two settings for my study. I will be studying the current school I am a resident in, but thought about my

projects in the context of the school I will be in charge of opening: Summit Olympus.

San Diego Charter School (first setting)

The San Diego charter school that I will study is located in the Point Loma area of San Diego. The school

houses grades 6-8 and has 329 students. The demographics of the school as are follows: African American

students (11%), Asian students (6%), Filipino students (4%), Hispanic or Latino students (41%), White students

(33%), Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students (46%), Students with Disabilities (9%) and English Learners

(6%).

This San Diego charter school offers a fun yet challenging, technologically-rich, project-based learning

environment for 6th to 8th graders. Diverse groups of students collaborate to solve problems, complete tasks,

and CREATE. The walls boast student-crafted projects and provide a small glimpse into the creative minds of

our students and teachers (school SARC report). A sample daily schedule based on these core values are

comprised of two time blocks of interdisciplinary studies. One class of approximately 100 minutes is math and

science and the other 100 minute block is language arts and social studies. Three times during the school week,

students will have an X-block, a physical education class of their choice. Two days during the school week,

students will have an advisory that will focus on social/emotional learning. Also, each grade level has an

exploratory class which compliments their learning in their block classes. This current year the students have

a Makers (laser wood cutting, 3-d printing and drafting) class, a Multi-media class, and an Art class.

Summit Olympus (second setting)

The mission of Summit Public Schools: Olympus is to provide a safe, personalized learning experience in

which all students are known and loved. Olympus will provide a personalized self-directed learning curriculum

to prepare students for a bright future. Summit Olympus will follow the same mission, like all of Summit

Schools, prepare a heterogeneous student population for success in a four-year college, and to be thoughtful,

contributing members of society (Summit Charter, p.4).

Summit Olympus will be located in the Dome District of Tacoma which is a block from a central transit

center in order for all students in Tacoma to have access to the campus. The school is close to the South End,

East and Hilltop areas of the city which house the at-risk population Summit Olympus wishes to serve. The

population of the high schools that serve this group of students has the following statistics: 70% of students are

eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 13% are classified Special Education, and 10% are English Language

Learners. The racial breakdown of the students are illustrated in below graph (Summit Charter, p.5).

Summits model is based on four main components. They are: Cognitive Skills, Habits of Success, Content

Knowledge, and Real World Experiences (summitps.org). Summit Olympus will draft a daily and annual

scheudule to meet these needs. A sample daily schedule is as follows: students will have 30 minutes of reading

in the morning and then would attend English, History, Spanish, Science, and Math classes. In the middle of the

day, students will have an hour of Personal Learning Time (PLT) time during which they will work on core

content and content assessment at their pace. On Fridays, they will meet with mentors to set goals and to get

coaching on being a self-directed learner. In their five classes, students will be engaged in Project Based

Learning. Teachers will collaborate with the Grade Level Teams (GLTs) and Course Level Teams (CLTs) to

plan these projects.

Summits data state that 100% of their students graduate from high school, and 96% of the students are

admitted to four-year colleges. Despite these impressive statistics, five years ago Summit discovered that only

55% of their students were making it through college. Therefore, their focus has been on self-directed learning

ever since. They developed Personal Learning Plan (PLP) software to use during PLT. This software is a

resource for Summits Five Behaviors of Self-Directed Learning (summitps.org). The five behaviors Summit

focuses on after studying their statistics are challenge seeking, strategy shifting, response to setbacks,

appropriate help-seeking, and persistence. These behaviors are not only mirrored in their schedule, but also in

how teachers plan, conduct lessons, coach, and mentor students.

Graph 1. Racial Demographics of Current Tacoma High School Students which house the

students that Olympus wishes to serve. This graph illustrates the percentages of different races

(as reported by Summits Charter).

Tacoma High School Students

Other Hispanic African American Pacific Islander Asian White

Methods Section

Research Question: How can we support the growth of our students through our approach to school culture?

Purpose

My goals for my project:

1. To learn from the current charter school I am at how a positive culture is started and sustained 2. To be able to take my learning about school culture and compose an action plan for a school leader who

wants to start or school culture or change one

3. To be able to take implementation strategies of leaders of High Tech High and Summit and use them for my development and development of leaders at High Tech High and Summit

Rationale

To truly understand how to create a positive culture within my context, I need to understand in my current

context how a positive culture has been created. I have already observed how this culture has been created since

the beginning of this school year but did not know all the history behind it. It starts with the director and how he

leads from behind. Then it is sustained through his work with the teachers and the teachers with each other. The culture is then created by all staff with and for the students. Therefore, getting feedback from students will

show evidence of how the values of the staff are being communicated to them.

Data Collection and Analysis

Goal Data Collection Technique

Growth in understanding around decision making of a

director Interviews with directors

Growth in understanding of what is important to staff Survey of staff at current charter school

Data Analysis with staff at current charter school

Growth in understanding of how the decisions of a director

and staff effect students Student interviews

School-wide survey results

Interviews with Directors

Data Collection I interviewed five directors; 2 are men, 3 are women, 4 are directors at High Tech High and one is a resident

and former director of a school in Chicago. Additionally 3 of the directors are people of color and 2 are

Caucasian. I asked them 11 open-end questions to understand their first steps as directors in regards to

establishing and maintaining a school culture. I asked them: What is your number one step in establishing a

school culture? What are you action items? How do you rate your effectiveness of your action items? I then

asked them how their actions steps relate to staff culture in the building: What are your overall feelings about

staff culture in the building? What are some highlights of staff culture?

I then delved into how the staff culture relates to student culture by asking them: How do you think staff culture

relates to student culture? When staff culture has not been positive in the past, what have you done to change it?

When student culture has not been positive in the past, what have you done to change it? Given the current

school culture of this school, what are you next steps? Why?

Data Analysis

Since interviews are challenging to quantify, I qualitatively examined the answers of the directors. I analyzed

common themes throughout the director interviews. I coded the numbers of times directors talked about

relationships and team building. Since the literature pointed to staff relationships as a cornerstone of a positive

culture, I investigated if this was true at the High Tech High schools.

Staff Survey at a High Tech High School

Data Collection The majority of the staff responded to my survey: 65% (11/17). Other than my one closed-ended question, the

rest of my questions we open-ended: What are your overall feelings about staff culture in the building? What are some highlights of staff culture? What are some things the staff could work on? If you were in Gina's position

next year, what would be your first steps to building staff culture with her new staff?

Data Analysis To ensure I was interpreting the survey results correctly, I asked staff volunteers to analyze the data with me. At

the meeting was the director, one teacher in his first year, three veteran teachers and one veteran special education

teacher. In the group of 6, half are people of color and 2 are female while the rest are male. We went over the

survey results together and then synthesized questions, takeaways, and next steps.

Student Survey Data

Data Collection

One of the High Tech High schools student body took a survey; 311 students answered the survey out of 324 (96%). I focused on three main questions; Are you happy at school? Do you feel safe at school? Is there at least one adult you can turn to at the school?

Data Analysis

Looking at this data, confirms my observations of this school having a very positive school culture. All three

answers garnered an over 70% positive response. I am wondering about the 11% who selected no or who had

neutral feelings about being happy and safe at this school. I am also wondering about the 27% who selected no

or had neutral feelings about having an adult they feel comfortable bringing a problem to at school.

Student Interviews

Data Collection I interviewed six students (3 students are male, 3 are female and 3 are Caucasian, 3 are students of color) and

ask them open ended and close ended questions. I asked them three close-ended questions: Do you feel safe at

school? Do you have an adult that you can turn to for guidance and support? Have you ever been bullied at the

school?

I also asked them 4 opened ended questions: What are the things the school staff does to help you feel safe?

What is a time you felt supported by an adult? What are your overall feelings about school? How are these

feelings the same or different than your elementary school?

Data Analysis

I analyzed the data by looking at trends and correlations between the comments. I analyzed if being happy at a

school correlated with feeling safe. I also looked for things that were important in regards to support from adults

in the school.

Student Discipline Data

Data Collection I collected data on 9 students who have received one or more discipline actions at the school I am

currently at (2 were girls, 7 are boys and 5 are 6th graders while 4 are 7th graders). I practiced restorative

conversations with 5 of the students and the other 4 I did not. In 5 of the instances, students had physically

harmed another, in the other 4 students were either being disrespectful or playing around.

Data Analysis

Race, age and gender all varied in who the restorative conversation helped. For the 2 students that didnt make progress, both were boys, but one is a 6th grader, and one is a 7th grader. In all of the situations, parents

were also contacted therefore it is inconclusive if the isolation of just a restorative conversation promoted

behaviors to not be repeated.

Findings Section

The foundational text for my research has been, Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse. In the journal

article by Barth (2006), he asserts, "In short, the relationships among educators in a school define all

relationships within that schools culture. Teachers and administrators demonstrate all too well a capacity to either enrich or diminish one anothers lives and thereby enrich or diminish their schools. This is the quote I keep coming back to and one that has proven to be true throughout my research.

I have found three themes throughout my research: directors must establish meaningful relationships with their

staff members, staff must establish meaningful relationships with each other and staff must establish meaningful

relationships with students. Overall relationships matter. It starts with the adults for it to trickle down to

students.

Director Relationships with Staff Members: Get to know teachers as people first and educators second.

During the staff retreat for High Tech Middle

Media Arts, there was work during the day, but

fun at night. There were many opportunities for

staff to get to know each other and spend time

together. Staff played games and had informal

conversations and meals to prepare together.

When I interviewed five directors in the High

Tech organization, all stressed the importance of

getting to know the teachers as people first, then

as educators second.

All five also stated the importance of having time

and space for staff to bond. All 5 discussed the

importance of a staff retreat at the beginning of

the year with time for staff to connect as people,

not just as teachers. One director used the

analogy of the mullet hairstyle, Business in the front, party in the back. In other words, staff should work together during the day of the retreat but have fun with each other after dinner. Additionally all stated the

importance of opportunities for bonding throughout the school year. Ideas that directors implemented were as

Infographic 1: This graphic represents the ideas directors in the

High Tech High organization employ in order to build staff

culture.

simple as having a comfortable place for staff to have lunch together to more planned ideas like a holiday party.

These action steps have resulted in staff establishing and maintaining their bond.

All 5 of the directors discussed the importance of establishing a relationship with their staff members. One director

stated that she starts the year with hour conversations between her and the teachers stemming from two questions,

What's your story? Why do you teach? This conversation starts a trusting relationship between her and the staff member. The overall theory of this director is, adults love adults, adults love kids, kids love each other. When I surveyed the teachers of the current charter school, I am at, they validated the directors work in this area. When I asked what the staff thought should be my first steps as a director, one staff member stated, Build relationships with the new staff. Friendships start by having common experiences that are fun, inclusive and down to earth. Do

several events to get to know everyone without talking about work if possible. Another teacher said, We have been working towards keeping a more stable staff. It has helped. Our director helped foster this by being flexible

when staff members have needed it e.g. When someone has had a baby and needed time off. It's disruptive in the short term but helps in the long term.

To rate their effectiveness as directors and for the staff to rate themselves as a team, all five directors talked

about their individual rating systems. They cited getting feedback and publicly sharing your action steps (based

on the feedback) builds trust with the staff because of an authentic buy-in. Some directors give surveys while

others have one on one conversations. For example, one director gives his staff a survey, then responds to them

using a 42Q (4 celebrations, two critiques, two questions) as a group. He states his action steps and then invites anyone who would like to have an individual conversation about his reflection to sign up.

Additionally, I have been part of a weekly core values action group at my current school. This group is something the director does to not only evaluate his work, but the work of the whole staff and to move action

items forward. The group reflects on changes they would like to see happen at the school and creates action

plans based on the core values of the school. The group creates teacher action groups who want to implement a

given initiative. The group develops and then presents a plan to the staff as a whole.

Staff Relationships with Each Other: Its the Simple Things that Matter

When you walk into the charter school, I am currently at, the first thing you see three red couches placed in a

semicircle. If you walk in before school starts, you will find students sitting and talking with each other. If you

are there during class time, you might see students collaborating with their teacher or with each other. During

lunch time, this is where the staff visit with each other. If you are not at the school on a daily basis, you would

not see the impact of a seemingly simple arrangement of furniture. The simple placement of these couches

represents the community that has been built between the staff members and students of this school.

When the staff took a survey, 82% believed the staff culture at their school was positive. The simple things are

key: having a communal place to eat lunch (the red couches), assembling social activities (like happy hour), and

more need for outside of the building activities. These social activities build trust within the staff. One staff member stated, People hang out during and after school, people are open to feedback. Although age isn't necessarily a factor, I feel that although we have differing views and wont always agree, we agree to disagree and then when a consensus decision has been made, we still support it. Another staff member stated, There is a level of mutual trust and an open line of communication. Overall to truly collaborate with each other, the staff has to trust each other.

When I analyzed the data with staff, they stressed correlation of getting to know each other with successful

collaboration since the trust was built through friendships. One staff member stated, I believe the culture is strong, and though there are different understandings and teaching styles, we are open to different ideas and

collaboration A veteran staff member expressed, We are getting to a place, especially among the staff members

who have been at the school for a while, where we are unafraid to call each other out (in a constructive way) when

we think that someone could do something in a better way. Another member stated, I think people believe it is a safe place to share ideas and to get help with issues.

However, there is still the 17% (2 staff members) who did not feel the staff culture is positive. The staff at the

school and I discussed what could be improved in regards to staff culture. The staff cited improvements could

be made in ensuring all voices are heard and staff turnover. This group did not feel like all voices are always heard. A staff member stated, For me the culture has not been very positive. I do not feel like as a staff we have a high level of integrity. I think that certain people can get away with violations that are what we stated we

should do as a team because no one is held accountable for their role as a team player here. I feel like as long as

you are organized and structured (both are not bad things to be) you can teach however you like. You can run a

classroom however you like and interact with students and teachers however you like. At times, I have felt that

things are too political and that our staff does not have the culture that we would want our kids to embody. Another staff member stated, Mostly everyone is very friendly, welcoming, and genuine. There is a lot of collaboration, but not necessarily including everyone in the staff. I feel like teachers do a great job and staying

connected, and have more structures in place to foster that, but other supportive positions/roles may be left out.

When thinking about how I could ensure there is a small number of staff who feel like the 17% I thought about

what one of the leaders suggested, Dont just ask for feedback from those you feel comfortable with, and make a concerted effort to get feedback from everyone. This same leader kept a log and check-list of which staff members she talked to and what they said. Another leader recommended to learn now to listen for sugar coating. Therefore, I cannot just simply ask for advice, I need to learn now to ask the right questions to get a deeper meaning behind what people are trying to tell me.

Also, staff turnover is another hard part of maintaining a positive staff culture. One staff member stated, The hardest part about the staff culture is that there is, due to the high staff turnover, different classes of teachers.

There are teachers who have been around for a while, and those who are relatively green. I see that despite

conscious efforts during PDs to have the staff mix and work with each other, outside of those PDs people tend

to group, collaborate, and work with people who have been at the school for approximately as long as they have

been. It's hard to trusting and collaborating with someone who may not be here next year. This quote tells me that I must make a concerted effort for consistency in staffing. In the school, I am currently at, the director sets

up a mentoring program so that green teachers can catch up. I also must make more of an effort to establish a

social committee so that staff can get to know each other outside of school. However, life choices and choices

by the leader will inevitably lead to staff turnover. What I have learned from my interviews with directors is that

I must get feedback early and often to lessen the turnover.

Staff Relationships with Students: Support = Happiness and Safety

When you walk into the school I am currently at, there is an obvious friendly vibe throughout the school, both

towards students and adults. Students of different grade levels, genders, and demographics work with each other

naturally and collaboratively. As with any group of middle school students, there are friend groups of students

that consistently hang out with each other. However, unlike many groups of middle school students, you rarely

see a group of students treat another group of students poorly based on their differences. Students respect each

others differences.

The majority (92%) of the staff (11/12) who responded to my survey agreed with my hypothesis. If there is a positive staff culture, there will be a positive student culture. As stated above, the majority of staff believe there

is a positive staff culture that has trickled down to a positive student culture; 89% of the students at this school

feel happy and safe (according to a school-wide survey). The students answered three questions that have to do

with school culture; 89% percent agreed (39%) or strongly agreed (50%) with the statement, I am happy at school. When given the statement, I feel safe at school. 89% percent agreed (43%) or strongly agreed (46%)

with the statement. When given the statement,There is at least 1 adult at school that I feel comfortable talking to about a problem. and 73% agreed (39%) or strongly agreed (34%) with the statement.

I then interviewed students to dig into

the quantitative data. The students I

interviewed correlated feeling happy

and safe to feeling supported by an

adult; 100% of the students felt like

they had an adult at the school they

could turn to. When I asked students

about a time they felt supported by an

adult, half of them cited a time an

adult helped them with school work

and half cited times when staff helped

them with personal issues. These

results reminded me that students

need both types of support and some

more of one than the other. All but

one student appreciated staff taking

them to the side and talking to them

when an issue arose. All 5 had

overall positive feelings about the school some LOVED IT while some cited school as not my favorite part of the day, but Im glad I go to a school like this one. Additionally, all 5 went to an elementary school not connected to this charter middle school and all the middle school over their elementary. Only one student cited

their reason for liking the middle school over the elementary as not being babied while the rest liked that there was no bullying at the middle school.

Additionally, with students who were violating the happiness and safety of the community, I practiced

restorative practices. In 3 of the 5 situations in which restorative practices were used, students have not repeated

the behaviors we discussed (since October). In 2 other situations, one student was expelled, and one student was

suspended for similar or escalated behaviors. In all situations, the students were engaged in a restorative

conversation with just me, the adult who the behavior effected, other students and or parents. Since there is such

a positive school culture, restorative practices were relatively easy to implement. The students trusted the staff

to have a truthful conversation and trust was easily restored. Therefore, my biggest takeaway is that restorative

practices are most successful when a positive school culture already exist. The implementation of restorative

practices is a vehicle to help sustain this culture.

Reference

Barth, R. (2006). Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse. Educational Leadership, 63(6), 8-13.

Retrieved August 5, 2014, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-

leadership/mar06/vol63/num06/Improving-Relationships-Within-the-Schoolhouse.aspx

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

I feel safe at myschool

I am happy at myschool

I can bring aproblem to at leastone adult at school

Results of Student Survey

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree

Graph 2. Results of school-wide anonymous survey given to students in

the middle of the school year.

Conclusion

My research question for this study was, how can schools support the growth of students through their approach

to school culture? My goal was to get to the root of how to create a positive school culture. I defined a positive

school culture as one in which the beliefs of the staff are aligned, and relationships between members of the

community are respectable (or better yet joyful). My hypothesis was that a positive staff culture equals a

positive school culture. My belief is that if you do not have a positive school culture, then you do not have a

place where staff and students want to be, and that does not equal a place of successful learning.

Overall, my hypothesis of the importance of creating a positive staff culture to create a positive student culture

seems to be true. However, since aspects such as the curriculum and parent involvement were not taken into

consideration, I cannot state that a positive staff culture is the only pathway to the creation of a positive school

environment. However, creating and sustaining a positive staff culture is of the utmost importance as my first

initiative as a director. Initiatives such as Restorative Justice can not be successfully implemented if there is not

a positive staff culture in place first.

Implications of Key Findings In The Human Side of School Change, Robert Evans devotes a chapter to, The Authentic Leader. He defines the authentic leader as someone who is trustworthy. He states that transformation begins with trust, with

consistency being the lifeblood of sustaining that trust (p.185). He discusses case studies that convey that most

of us would prefer to be led by someone we can count on, even when we disagree with the person. We would

rather be led by this person than one who frequently changes their position (p.190).

Although throughout this study I observed and heard a lot about staff members having a trusting relationship, it

was hard to discern how it was built in the initial phases. I then was assigned reading that the suggested three

Cs; care, character, and competence (Combs, pg.2). I reflected on times I have shown my founding faculty care. The reading states, express concern and practice consensus building to show care. I was able to think through my findings through the lens of how the three Cs have been used between the director and staff and start the road of trust with my staff.

The staff the new school I will be leading (Olympus) finally has been solidified. As a result of doing this study

and thinking through the three Cs. I have been very cognizant of the hiring process, the celebration of finalizing the hiring contract, the follow-up of information, the introduction of staff members to each other and

asking for feedback on things like furniture orders.

Care

Many of my teachers can not make all of our initial training during the summer. Staff members are getting

married, moving, and are finishing up job commitments. I have showed care by reorganizing my initial thinking

about our summer training. I am doing everything I can to accommodate their schedules.

Character

I have had opportunities for my staff to understand my character as a leader. I have scheduled and invited staff

to student and parents centered events. We recently had a Founding Family Dinner and initial parent association

and student government meetings. By holding these events and inviting staff members, I hope I am conveying

that I am a student and parent centered leader, and I want staff to share this mindset.

Competence Competence will be my biggest challenge since I am a new leader. However, I intend to prove my competence

by the plans I have laid out for the school, my follow through on these plans and my follow-up.

Going Forward

Since I am a new leader, the most important thing I have learned in this study is to have a plan. Nothing I can do

as a leader can be haphazard. Therefore, I used the educators skills rubric created at Summit and came up with playlists of suggested activities or readings for a new leader. This list is not meant to be exhaustive; it serves as a guide for new leaders to generate ideas on how to create a positive staff culture.

Earlier in the study when I thought about my product and what I had learned so far, I created a playlist for the

community engagement manager that was hired for Summit Olympus. Her feedback was that the tool was

extremely useful and was a solid touchstone for her to return to when things were moving at such a fast pace. She was hired to recruit students, and we are now fully enrolled with a wait list. She cites the playlist as a

reason that she initially felt comfortable talking with families.

Also, based on time restraints, we did not have a lot of time to talk with each other. Therefore, she could use the

playlist to answer her questions, instead of waiting for me to get back to her. Based on this, my change for the

product is to add a reflection space. Consequently, when things are moving fast, I could read a staff members reflection so that we dont spend part of our precious time together catching up on questions or wonderings. I could already come to the conversation with answers or coaching strategies in mind.

After taking the work I did with my community engagement manager and finishing my study, my product has

become more comprehensive. My product has become a user friendly online guide for school leaders (like

Summits online personal learning plan software, see below) who are starting a new school in regards to thinking about culture as the first and foremost thing on their (my) minds, using these categories:

a. Culture and Community b. Vision and Implementation c. Learning d. Building Teams

In addition to the guide, I have created tarot-card like reflective tools. The cards are for leaders who do not like lists, but would rather have a moment to sit and reflect. Below is a sample of what is on the cards.

Part of the Rubric Quote Person Reflection Question

(Front of card)

1 Culture and

Community

Be the one who notices Rob Riordan Who have you not noticed today?

2 Culture and

Community

I know I am doing my job if I

am leading from behind

Steve

Elizondo

What parts of the community are

doing things without you asking?

3 Culture and

Community

When making a decision, we

have to ask ourselves, Are we doing what is best for

kids?

Mia

Williams

Has your latest decision been student

centered?

4 Vision and

Implementation

Run your school like you ran

your classroom

Ron Howard Think back to how you ran your

classroom? Is there anything you

could change about how you are

running the school?

5 Vision and

Implementation

We have a history of

mispredicting outcomes in

education

Larry

Rosenstock

What data drove your last decision?

Do you have all sides of the story?

6 Vision and

Implementation

Are your short term gains

helping you attain a long term

win?

Jen Wickens What are the long term implications

for a decision you make today?

7 Learning Remember to hug someone

before you discipline them

Mike

Wickstead

Have you metaphorically or literally

hugged someone before you were

critical of them?

8 Building Teams Adults love adults; adults

love kids, kids love each

other

Nikki

Hinostro

Do the adults in your building

currently like each other?

9 Building Teams Staff professional

development should be

business in the front, party in

the back

Nikki

Hinostro

Do you have something fun planned

for your next professional

development?

10 Vision and

Implementation

Simple instructions beget

complex results while

complex instructions limit

results

Jeff Robbins Have you conveyed your vision

simply?

11 Building Teams Our school, not your school Parent

Advocate

How have you helped staff, students

and parents authentically feel like

part of the school?

Limitations of my Study

Being at a school for a single year does not give one the whole picture. However, after my interviews,

observations and initial actions, I believe I am beginning to understand much of the work it takes to create a

positive staff culture. Since my school has not started yet, the results are not proven to work. I was able to

interview directors that have started a brand new school, thus a brand new school culture. I have been in the

schools that these leaders have started, and the results are reflected in this study. Therefore, I was able to

analyze what is replicable and create an action plan and reflective tool for a leader to use.

References

Combs, J. (2015, April 1). Four Essential Practices for Building Trust. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr15/vol72/num07/Four-Essential-Practices-for-

Building-Trust.aspx

Evans, Robert (1996). The Human Side of School Change: Reform, Resistance, and the Real-Life Problems of

Innovation. The Jossey-Bass Education Series (chapter 9). Jossey-Bass Publishers.