Welcome! Online Administrator Mentor Roundtable #4 School Culture

Welcome! Online Administrator Mentor Roundtable #4 School Culture and Transformational Change Will begin in a few minutes!

Let’s Begin Administrator Mentor Roundtable 4 Welcome and Introductions Roll Call, Participants – Please put your full name and email in Chat Box

Oregon Grown Administrator Mentor Professional Learning Community Oregon Mentoring Program Format – In Person and Online Learning Roundtables Materials sent via email for today’s session Materials will be posted on the ODE Mentoring Professional Learning Website

Online Professional Learning Norms for Collaboration Honor Online Meeting Commitments Respectful Use of Electronics Equity of Voice Active Listening Respect for all Perspectives Safety and Confidentiality

Connector: Current Role Get ready to discuss the following with a partner: How does today’s topic, School Culture and Transformational Change, relate to what you are currently doing?

School Culture and Transformational Change

Prior Knowledge What do you know about school culture and its impact on staff, students, and/or parents?

Today’s Objectives Each participant will: Examine the definition of school culture and types of school cultures. Learn how to use and interpret the School Culture Typology Worksheet in order to reshape a culture. Explore transformational coaching moves to address a school culture issue or dilemma.

Guiding Question #1 Why is it important to have a positive, healthy school culture?

Research/Literature Research confirms that a collaborative school culture correlates positively with student achievement (Gruenert 2005, 2015) Numerous studies of school change have identified the organizational culture as critical to the successful improvement of teaching and learning. (Fullan,1998, Rossman, Corbett, and Firestone, 1998) A positive school culture is the underlying reason why the other components of successful schools are able to flourish (Habegger, 2008)

Guiding Question #2 How can we help beginning principals to be more intentional in reshaping school culture?

3 Keys to Shaping a New Culture 1. Understand the concept of school culture 2. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of your specific school culture 3. Learn how to influence your school culture, or if necessary, how to transform it

Defining School Culture “School culture can be defined as the guiding beliefs and values evident in the way a school culture operates.” Fullan, 2007 “Culture is essentially a social indoctrination of unwritten rules that people learn as they try to fit in a particular group.” -Schein, 1992 “Members of a culture will help to shape one another, and the culture in turn will evolve into a unique group of individuals who share certain characteristics and take some pride in being set apart from those outside the group.” -Hofstede, 1997

Types of School Cultures 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Collaborative Comfortable-Collaborative Contrived-Collegial Balkanized Fragmented Toxic Fullan and Hargreaves (#1-5) Deal and Kennedy (#6)

School Culture Typology Worksheet Toxic Fragmented Balkanized Contrived Collegial Comfortable Collaborative Collaborative Row 1 Student Achievement Many teachers believe if students fail it is students’ fault Teachers usually don’t discuss issues related to student achievement Most teacher discussions related to student achievement are restricted to departments, cliques or close friends Teachers are given time to discuss student achievement and are expected to do that during this time Teachers are given time to discuss student achievement, most of this time is spent on giving advise or tricktrading Teachers are given time to discuss student achievement and this time is spent critically analyzing each others’ practice Row 2 Collegial Awareness Many teachers do not care about the effectiveness of other teachers Most of the teachers are unaware of what other teachers are teaching Most teachers are aware of only what their friends in the school are teaching The school leadership expects teachers to know what other teachers are teaching Teachers occasionally observe and discuss what other teachers are teaching Teachers seek out opportunities to observe and discuss what other teachers are teaching Row 3 Shared Values Values shared by many teachers are contradictory with student needs There is not much agreement among teachers concerning educational values There are small groups of teachers that share educational values The school leadership provides teachers a list of school values There is general agreement among teachers concerning educational values There is strong agreement among teachers concerning educational values Row 4 Decision Making Decisions are easily made because many teachers do not care Teachers are usually not interested in participating in decisions that concern students Small groups of teachers attempt to control the decisions made concerning students School leaders expect teachers to participate in all decisions concerning students Teachers occasionally show an interest in the decisions made concerning students There is an expectation among teachers to participate in decisions concerning students Row 5 Risk Taking Many teachers protect their teaching style from “innovation” Most teachers typically do not experiment with new ideas Innovations are usually initiated within a single grade or dept. School leaders mandate teachers to try new ideas Teachers occasionally like to experiment with new ideas Teachers are constantly looking for new ideas

What are our next steps? Think about how you might facilitate using this tool with your beginning administrator.

Guiding Question #3 Can people learn new ways of being, or are our personalities, dispositions, and interpersonal skills fixed?

Transformation and Triple-Loop Learning The process of transformation typically progresses through three stages: 1. We gain new knowledge, skills, or ways of acting, in incremental steps. 2. As we experience success with these new ways of doing things, we begin to change our way of thinking; we imagine a new context for these incremental changes; and we begin to reframe our sense of possibilities. 3. As our new knowledge, skills, and ways of acting become transparent to us - integral to who we are - and we see the world differently, our learning is full integrated. We are transformed. Blended Coaching, p. 85

Transformational Coaching One way the coach can facilitate this transformational process is through the construct of Triple-Loop Learning. In turn, the coachee can apply this process to reshaping culture.

School Culture Scenario Your new principal is excited about bringing some new changes to his school. However, the principal is following someone else who was at the school for several years and had created a culture that didn’t require much change or risktaking. Portions of the staff are resistant to his new ideas and begin to express their discontent openly as well as talk behind his back. The principal is not sure how to proceed as student performance is showing a downward trend.

Summarize Today we took a deep dive into school culture, examining the definition of culture and various types of school cultures. We also learned how to use the School Culture Typology Worksheet, including next steps. Finally, we explored Triple-Loop Learning as a way of facilitating transformational change.

Reflect and Apply Share any insights or ahas Jot down your next step(s) to begin the process of examining school culture and transformational change with your mentee.

Additional Resources Books Gruenert, Steve and Whitaker, Todd (2015). School Culture Rewired: How to Define, Assess, and Transform It. Hargreaves, Andy and Fullan, Michael (2012). Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School. Article Habegger, S. (2008). The Principal’s Role in Successful Schools: Creating a Positive School Culture.

Final Thought! “ Schools need transformational leaders at every level. These leaders are determined to lead people to better behavior. They do not stop at criticizing current behavior. Rather, they use their resources and influence to help people improve.” -Muhammad and Hollie, The Will to Lead, The Skill to Teach: Transforming Schools at Every Level (2011)

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