Analyzing the Culture of Riverwood Elementary 

Overall, Riverwood Elementary shows a history of growth when looking at the past three Teacher Working Conditions Survey results. During the
examined time frame, the school has experienced a switch of principals. The current Principal, Leigh White, has been at the school since 2016. There
are three areas of improvement that the current administration team need to continue to seek improvement: Time, Facilities and Resources, and
Professional Development. The survey reveals that the school has improved the most in the areas of varied leadership. The school maintains a strong
relationship with the community as shown in the area of Community Support and Involvement.

Areas of Concern
# 1 Time

The teachers at Riverwood Elementary seem to have concerns about their

time in and out of the classroom being used effectively. This ranges from
interruptions provided non-instructional time and time spent on paperwork.
In some areas, the school has shown minimal improvements but it looks like
more work needs to be done to help teachers feel that their time is valued. I
am more interested in exploring the lowest scoring areas: sufficient
non-instructional time and routine paperwork. What do these questions mean
to the teachers as they approach their responses? When looking at the change
of leadership by comparing 2014 to the 2018 responses, all areas are
improved with the new leadership. However, these numbers that “agree”
with the statement are worthy of further investigation.

#2 Facilities and Resources

This section revealed specific needs from the teacher’s lens. Some of the highlighted areas that teachers feel they need more access to are:
instructional resources, instructional technology, office equipment, support of professional personnel, and classrooms that support teaching and
learning.

#3 Professional Development
Thoughtful and intentional Professional Development is an area for leadership that takes intentional practice and planning. I noticed that Professional
Development for Johnston County Public Schools is slowly becoming the responsibility of individual schools as the funding for district-wide PD is
decreasing. This new development, although derived from a lack of funding, is the best practice according to the research. It offers teachers in
individual schools to address the needs of their students. If school leadership allows teachers to lead the PD, that too also breads sustainable
leadership for the school. At Riverwood, all but one of the statements has shown improvement with the change of Administration in 2018. However,
a few statements regardless of improvement remain with a lower percentage of agreement. Looking at this next school year, and the present
budgetary constrictions, schools in Johnston County will probably be following their own Professional Development agenda. The following are the
areas that Riverwood Elementary should be focused on as they plan their PD opportunities: Differentiate for teacher needs, Deepening teacher’s
content knowledge, technology driven instruction, collaboration with other colleagues, PD follow up of effectiveness, including PD for instructing
students with diverse learning needs, enhancing teacher ability to improve student learning.
Area of Greatest Improvement: Leadership
This analysis must consider how the leadership teams have changed from the Spring of 2014 to Spring of 2018. This change in Leadership is crucial
for the culture of the school and how the teachers consider their worth and value of themselves and their colleagues. This perception has a tremedous
effect on the outcome of how teachers percieve their working environment. Distributive leadership is an element of leaders who have a goal of
fostering leadership within their organization. Research supports the effectiveness of shared leadership in the reach of members and also in the
overall culture of an organization. The outcomes of the 2018 survey compared to the 2014 survey show that teachers feel more valued and included
in the improvement of the school.

#1 Teacher Leadership
In just about every area, teachers at Riverwood in 2018 had a significant positive
perception of their opportunities of leadership. Improvements of double percentage
points were revealed in almost every area. The range of significant improvement
was 22.4%-49.4% between 2014-2018. This was an area that the current leadership
was intentional about changing.

#2 School Leadership
When looking at School Leadership, two questions organize the survey results, yet both ask teachers to rate the statements. In all but two of the
statements, teachers responded with an agreement outcome. The range of results are also significant, most are in double digit increases. The range of
improvement for these two questions are from 8% to 46.7%, with the average of 24% increase.

Area for Continued Focus

One area of continued focus and maintanance for Riverwood Elementary is their strong relationship with the surrounding community and parents of
students. The only significant increase is in the influence the parents have on decisions concerning the school. In 2014, 83.8% of teachers agreed that
parents were influential decision makers, as compared to 2018, 96.7% teachers reported agreeing that parents/guardians were influential decision
makers. This could be considered a positive or a negative outcome depending on the perception of the teacher. Research supports that when schools
and parents are partners, student achievement improves. However, I wonder if the question as it reads is in support of this research. Sometimes,
parents/guardians can also impact the decisions schools make in a negative way that do not support student achievement. However, in additional
questions, 98% of teachers report agreeing that the school does a “good job” of encouraging parent involvement. In another question, 90% of
teachers report that parents/guardians support teachers that contribute to the success of students.
In Conclusion

Riverwood Elementary is showing progress in many of the areas they were struggling with in 2014. The current Principal seems to be using the
Teacher Working Conditions Survey results as a tool to make purposeful and intentional school improvement changes. Although there remain some
areas for contunued improvement, overall, the school is doing very well as reported by the teachers. The three areas of concern for current
administration is: Teacher time, access to resources and Professional Development that is designed to meet teachers needs. The next Teacher
Working Conditions Survey will be given this Spring (2020). It can only continue to help guide administration.