School Culture 1

EDLP 201A

September 10, 2016

School campuses are faced every year with the with the task of blending students together, often

referred to as school culture. School culture defines a campus and can either promote or inhibit

the learning environment. Educational leaders are entrusted with promoting and creating a school

culture in which all students are supported, accepted, and involved. Often time these leaders are

forced to redefine their school culture.

School culture is an integral concept for all students on a campus. Students with disabilities is

one group in particular that needs to be incorporated into a school culture. In a study conducted

by Carroll, Fulmer, Sobel, Garrison-Wade, Aragon, & Coval, it is noted that for students with

significant support needs, belonging is not enough (2011). The study further goes on to explain

that students with significant support needs can be defined as students with severe and multiple

disabilities (Carroll et al., 2011). School culture for these students is vital to their success on

campus. Students with disabilities are often neglected and excluded from campus wide activities

which does not equate to effective education. Effective education can be described as an,

“integrated system of academic and social supports,” (Carroll et al., 2011, 124).

Inversely there is a fine line between effective education and an effective school culture. Carroll,

Fulmer, Sobel, Garrison-Wade, Aragon, & Coval discuss education within a school culture, and

illustrate the fact that a strong school culture for students with significant support needs does not

equate to exemplary education (2011). Currently there is a demand in schools to combine

effective education and effective school culture to service the needs of all students on the
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campus, especially the students with significant support needs. Furthermore Carroll, Fulmer,

Sobel, Garrison-Wade, Aragon, & Coval go on to extrapolate that, “80% of teachers report that

they feel ill-equipped to teach diverse populations,” leading to teacher burnout and the need for

school culture to be redefined.

School culture needs to be redefined before a crisis occurs. Research has been conducted on

perceived norms but is lacking in how to change and redefine school culture. Galvan, Spatzier, &

Juvonen studied the concept of perceived norms and social values in elementary and middle

school and the connection to school culture. According to the study, perceived norms indicated a

decline in academic engagement (Galvan, Spatzier, & Juvonen, 2011). School culture needs to

be redefined to include academic engagement as a priority. Furthermore, the study went on to

note that while elementary school’s defined academically engaged peers as “cool” there is a role

reversal in the middle school years where academic disengagement becomes the social norm

(Galvan, Spatzier, & Juvonen, 2011). Currently school leadership struggles with this academic

disengagement at the middle school years. Anti-social behaviors become the social norm, and

school leadership is left to combat this redefining the school culture. Galvan, Spatzier, &

Juvonen speculate the cause of this academic disengagement in the middle school years is

directly correlated to the larger school setting (2011). When students do not know all their

classmates and their teachers struggle to remember them Galvan, Spatzier, & Juvonen insist that

this is the cause for the academic disengagement; students feel the the need to partake in

behaviors that are considered socially acceptable by their peers (2011).

Conversely it is important to note that while research has been conducted on perceived social

norms it is important to consider the potential perceived bias of peers. According to Galvan,
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Spatzier, & Juvonen, “One potential caveat to consider [...] is that students may overestimate the

number of classmates engaging in particular behaviors” because they are the ones most visible

(2011). Simply put, students may perceive their peers academic engagement incorrectly and base

their assumptions on the students most visible (e.g. troublemakers).

Changing the social norms of a school is the task that administrators and school leadership teams

often do not focus on; school culture. However, according to the research this is an integral part

of making a school and the students successful. Redefining and establishing a strong school

culture needs to be a priority to all school campuses.

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References

Carroll, D., Ph. D., Fulmer, C., Ph. D., Sobel, D., Ph. D., Garrison-Wade, D., Ph. D., Aragon, L.,

Ph. D., & Coval, L., Ph. D. (2011). SCHOOL CULTURE FOR STUDENTS WITH

SIGNIFICANT SUPPORT NEEDS: BELONGING IS NOT ENOUGH. International Journal of

Special Education, 26(2), 120-127

Galván, A., Spatzier, A., & Juvonen, J. (2011). Perceived norms and social values to capture

school culture in elementary and middle school. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology,

32(6), 346-353. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2011.08.005