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  • Peterson Deal - School Culture

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    Gonzalo Lugo
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    Peterson Deal - school culture

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    14 views6 pages

    Peterson Deal - School Culture

    Uploaded by

    Gonzalo Lugo

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 6
    The Importance of Culture ‘great deal of attention has been paid to making schools better. Policymakers want to get schools to change quickly and be more responsive to state mandates. The favored response has been to tighten up structures, standardize the curriculum, test student per- formance, and make schools accountable. In the short term, these solutions may pressure schools to change some practices and tem- pporarily raise test scores. Inthe long term, such structural demands ‘can never rival the power of cultural expectations, motivations, and values, ‘Ata deeper level all oranizations,incleding school, improve performance by fostering shared system of norms flkeays, values, and traditions. These infuse ‘an enterprise with passion purpose anda sense of prt Without strong, os tive culture, schools founder and die. The culture of schoo or distit pays 2 central ole in exemplary performance. Tes the same in any ater vetting, Whether itis «Starbucks coffee bar, 2 Southwest fight, @ Nordstrom department store, people function best when Ay prone ll tall ae hey value ental iy an aig fal raditions. ‘The key to succsfl school performance heart and spirit infused into rea onships among people their effort to sere al students, ad a shared sens of responsibilty fo learning. Without heart and spirit nourished by cultural ways, wo schools become letning ictories devoid of soul and pasion, dead cultres without spi Strong, poe school cukures do not ast happen They are built overtime by those who wotk in and attend the school and by the fia and informal leaders who encourage and reinforce values and traditions. Many schools limp long with 2 weak oF unfocused caltere due to pasty of leadership and a lack of concern, But there ae just as many other school that are ourshing because ofa strong, passionate culture. These are supported and nourished by teacher leaders and school principals who consciously of enconsciusly rein force the best thatthe school and its staff can become, Schools with unfocused caltues are barely surviving, whereas schools with stong, positive cultures are rich in purpose and abundant in tation and mesning ‘The central concern ofthis bok isthe development of meaningfl and pro: Aoatv schools Leaders mus shape and nourish altar in which every teacher can makea dference and every child can lear and in which here re passion for and commitment to designing nd promoting the absolte bes thats posse WHAT Is SCHOOL CULTURE? ‘The notion of school culture is fa fom new. In 1932, edustonal sociologist Willard Waller (1932) argued tht every school has a cite of ts own, with a set of rituals and flkways and a moral code that shapes bavi and relation ships Parents and students have always detected the speci, har-o-piapoint espritof school Students who have attended several schools can pick up the culture imme ity as they work to become part ofthe mix. When they enter «new school, they know that things are diferent in postive oF negate way that encom ses more than just ules procedures. ‘Staff members who walk into a new school also pick up the culture immedi ately. They consciously or intuitively begin to interpret unwriten rules, unstated expectations, and underground flkways Within the frst hour ofa new asin ‘ment, teachers begin to if through the deep silt of expectations norms, and rituaetolearn what it means to become an accepted member ofthe schoo. ‘The culture i alo embeded in an informal cultural network, Staff men- bes ofen take on roles in that network Almost every schoo 8 aletion of -eepers of the values who socialize new hie, gossips who transit information, ‘The Shaping choo! Gre leldbook stortlles who keep history and lore alive, nd heroines or heroes who act a ‘exemplars of core values. In contrast, n osc caltares one often finds "keepers ‘ofthe nightmare" who perpetuate everyting that has gone awry, rumor mos ‘gers who share only hostile gossip negative storytellers who pas om pessimistic history ant-heoine or anti-heroes who ae hari exmplars and others whe

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