Problem #2 – Culture Matters

Low-performing schools have the same challenges as other schools. They simply have more of them. Low-performing schools typically have more poor students, higher student mobility rates, more second-language students, inadequate physical facilities, outdated equipment, less technology, and less parent participation.

Low-performing schools won’t turn around unless the culture of that school changes. These schools must first change on the inside before they change on the outside. Changing the mindset—the beliefs and attitudes—of the staff will result in meaningful changes in the school. Without a shift in thinking, all the money, resources, and programs will not raise student achievement. Schools aren’t about bricks and mortar, they are about people, and it is the people that must change them.

The question then is how do we effect responsible change, the kind of change that shifts the culture of the school from one of defeat to a culture of success? While more advantaged schools have some margin for error, low-performing schools must do everything well. Remember, if these schools do what other, more advantaged schools do, they fail.

1. Belief – I vividly recall a conversation I had several years ago with some high-ranking officials in the Department of Education. When I was asked what needed to be done to reform high schools, I replied, “The teachers and administrators must believe that all students can learn and achieve or they will never do the extra things that must be done to make student success a reality.” In On the Front Lines of Schools, the researchers found that only one in three teachers believe that all students should be and can be held to high standards. Teachers and leaders in all schools must believe that all students can learn and achieve to high levels or they never will. This belief in students would drive high expectations and a sense of urgency among the staff. This report suggests that the achievement gap is really an expectation gap.
2. Focus – Schools cannot not do twenty things well. They must identify those areas that will return the biggest dividends in student achievement. We knew that we had to get our students to school and that we had to teach them to read. For nine consecutive years, our school had a simple plan. We called it “R-A-G-S to Riches.” We believed that if we taught every student to Read to high levels, and our students attended school every day (Attendance), then student achievement would increase (Grades), and behavior would improve—our school would be Safe). We had discovered what researchers have since confirmed about dropouts. They have poor attendance. They have poor reading skills. They have a history of poor performance and low grades, and they had frequent behavioral problems. Low-performing schools must spend 110% of their time on what students must know and be able to do. These schools cannot afford the luxury of tinkering in the “need to” or “nice to” arenas.
3. Time – Teachers need time to teach, students need time to learn, and schools need time to improve. Students don’t grow physically, emotionally, or socially at the same rate, nor do they learn at the same rate. Some students simply need more time to learn certain subjects. Schools must give students the time they need to succeed.
4. Culture of Success – If the staff believes in the students, has high expectations, maintains a laser-like focus, and provides students the time they need to learn, the school is on the way to creating a culture where success is the norm and failure is unacceptable. In high-performing schools, the only way to fail would be when the student simple gives up. The staff should never give up. Students in these schools should say, “In this school it is hard to fail. The teachers won’t let you fail. They never give up on you. Instead of running to their cars to leave at the end of the day, the teachers are waiting in their rooms to help us.”
5. Literacy – Next to grading procedures, how a high school addresses the literacy needs of its students tells me more about the heart and soul of the staff than anything else. Literacy (reading for comprehension, writing, discussing, and higher-order thinking) is the gateway skill. Good literacy skills improve student performance in every academic subject including math. Without literacy skills, there is very little that students can do in high school. Students who lack literacy skills are critically ill education patients. They must be treated or they will drop out.
6. Personalization – Students must have a person, a significant adult, who looks out for and advises them. The school must be a warm and inviting place for every student. The school must be safe and orderly or learning will not take place. Schools improve if students achieve. The road to school success is taken one student at a time, one class at a time, one day at a time.
7. Rigor – High schools must graduate every student and every graduate must have the skills to be college-, career-, and workplace-ready. Without those skills, we are effectively sentencing students to a lifetime of marginal employment and second-class citizenship. Schools must offer a rigorous and relevant curriculum that ensures that every graduate is prepared for postsecondary education and training. The K-12 curriculum should be designed to enhance learner readiness to take challenging, college-level courses in high school.
8. Parent Involvement – In my experience, I found that our parents cared just as much as any other parents. Low parent participation resulted from two factors. First, our parents had to work two and three jobs just to survive. They didn’t have the disposable time that other parents had. Second, our parents were less likely to come to school either to get answers to questions or to advocate for their child. Many of them either had a poor experience when they were in school or they had very little education. The idea of facing teachers or school staff simply intimidated them. Schools must customize their approach to parents in the same way that we ask teachers to differentiate instruction in the classroom. Different groups of parents need different approaches. The “one size fits all” come to the PTA meeting will not work in many high-poverty schools.
9. Customization – Every student counts. Therefore, schools must develop an individualized learning plan (ILP) for each student to ensure that no student falls behind and that students get the help they need when they need it. Watching passively while students fall further behind year after year amounts to reckless indifference. Catching students up after years of neglect is expensive and not very effective.
10. Collaboration – Since there are no “silver bullets” when it comes to high school reform, leaders must tap into the collective intelligence of the entire school community to find solutions that match the unique DNA of the school. Top-down, hierarchical, bureaucratic schools are very good at controlling, but not very good at excelling. While collaboration and shared decision-making take more time, leaders will spend less time undoing and more time doing what must be done.
11. Alignment – Too many school leaders waste too much time and effort in trying to get buy-in from district leaders. Schools and district offices need to be on the same page. School leaders should come to view central office staff as a resource and not an impediment to improvement. The districts must ensure that all leaders K-12 are working together toward a common outcome. Waiting until high school to correct problems like literacy is too little and too late.
12. Data – School leaders need training and assistance in looking at the data they need to inform their decisions. They need more than state test results. High school leaders need to look at data on a variety of measures including student and teacher attendance, suspensions, diagnostic literacy assessments, retention rates, and low grade-point-averages.
13. Capacity-Building – The only way schools will get better is if the people in the schools get better. As professionals, all educators need ongoing professional development that is focused, job-imbedded, and consistent. Ironically, when faced with budget shortfalls, educational institutions cut the education of their own employees. Instead, schools should increase professional development in tight budgets in order to help staff do more with fewer resources–raise productivity. How can we expect to improve performance by cutting training budgets? That is akin to trying to improve student achievement by cutting learning time. Districts who put untrained leaders into the most difficult schools are setting everyone up for failure. We need to invest in training school leaders.
14. Improve teaching – Schools cannot exceed the capacity of their teachers. Our teachers must get better and better each day. Their professional repertoire should expand as a result of working in a given school. School leaders must be trained to give meaningful feedback to teachers so that they can improve. Teachers must work together in instructional teams and take ownership of all students.