35 Ways Leaders Can Improve School Culture
Newsletter
This article was originally published in Choice Literacy. I recommend subscribing to the site - a wealth of content for literacy teachers and leaders.
When the principal sneezes, the school catches a cold.
—Todd Whitaker
The school culture is defined as
the school’s unwritten rules and traditions,
customs, and
expectations (Deal & Peterson, 2016).
It’s what we do on a regular basis. (For clarity, a school climate is how we feel, which is a measure of school culture.)
And what we do is best described as behaviors. All schools have a culture. It is heavily influenced by the leaders of the school, both positional and perceived. So, beyond publicly listing the shared beliefs and values of the school, literacy leaders can most effectively improve the school culture by demonstrating and modeling the behaviors we expect in everyone else.
Over the years, I have found 35 ways to positively influence the school culture that other literacy leaders can also try and apply. They are organized within the three elements of school culture shared previously. If this is new to you, use the list below to implement one action per week of a school year.
Unwritten rules and traditions
Tell a daily joke during morning announcements. We need to laugh more.
Create a running list of what you are asked to do. From time to time, find patterns and trends in these requests and ask, “Is this my job with a capital J?” If not, delegate or defer.
As you walk the halls, pick up and throw away trash when you see it.
Get to know parents’/guardians’ names, and say them correctly when greeting them.
Get to know students’ names, and say them correctly when greeting them.
If today was challenging, assume tomorrow will be better.
Post students’ letters they write you in your office.
Publicly admit when you make mistakes, and share how you will make amends to improve.
Keep emails to faculty short with lots of white space and bullet points. Limit to no more than one per day.
Customs
Allocate resources to beautify the school building and grounds. Two ideas: Install a student art exhibit, and plant seasonal flowers, grasses, and perennials.
Start staff meetings with a read aloud, a suggestion from Regie Routman.
Provide food and/or gifts at staff meetings and other gatherings. In the morning, greet students and families at the front door of school.
Model inclusivity, such as inviting students to say the pledge with you versus “Please rise as we say the Pledge of Allegiance.”
Respond to students’ writing with what you appreciate.
Handwrite genuine notes of appreciation for faculty, staff, and volunteers. Bonus: Purchase personalized stationery with your name on it to increase the value.
Before digging into a meeting agenda, ask faculty what is on their minds and invite them to share with the group.
Send holiday cards with pictures of faculty and staff in action to their parents, siblings, or friends, as suggested by Todd Whitaker.
Write down what you do each day, move what you didn’t get done to tomorrow, and go home with a sense of accomplishment.
Expectations
Ensure that maintenance responsibilities, such as regular sweeping of sidewalks and monitoring for broken equipment, are systematically done.
Visit classrooms with an eye toward what’s going well. Let the teacher and students know what you noticed and appreciated. (And if you struggle with getting into classrooms, prioritize it by making it the first thing you add to your calendar.)
When visiting classrooms during a writing workshop, ask students who they are writing for.
When visiting classrooms during independent reading, ask students how they learned about the book they selected.
Capture artifacts of teachers’ strengths—pictures of student work, your notes—and digitally organize them for each faculty member.
Guide and invite students in co-organizing libraries: classroom, school, community.
Spend more time monitoring how you spend your time, and less time monitoring your email inbox.
Offer multiple ways for faculty and staff to share concerns with you, including what they’ve tried so far.
Assume all teachers believe they are providing excellent instruction for their students.
Assume all educators—including you—can and want to improve.
Match high academic expectations with high levels of support, such as relevant and personalized professional development.
Keep all important school documents in one digital space for easy teacher access.
Instead of trying to solve people’s problems, help them locate, organize, and then systematically address the obstacles that are preventing them from reaching their goals.
Prioritize and teach self-management, such as how to keep a daily log of tasks to complete, when you find yourself managing other people’s days too much.
Teach students to implement replacement activities and behaviors when they consistently struggle in a certain area of school.
When student behaviors happen, prioritize phone calls home versus email or text.
Send out a staff newsletter every Friday to document and communicate evidence of your positive school culture. Here’s a simple template:
Insert a picture you took from a classroom at the top.
Start with a short anecdote that connects with your school’s vision/mission.
List upcoming events and completed tasks, including one thing you accomplished during the week that demonstrates your competence and consistency.
Highlight what you learned during classroom visits, in words and images.
Recommend an article, book, podcast, video, or other resource, and include a short summary.
Share one thing from your personal life as a P.S.
How to write a weekly staff newsletter that at least 80% of teachers will read
Thank you to full subscribers for keeping much of his newsletter free. Take care, Matt A weekly newsletter can be an effective way to keep your school informed and engaged around your literacy initiatives. The key word is “effective”. A newsletter written doesn’t mean people will read it. It’s the proverbial “if a tree falls in the woods and no one was a…
Great collection of specific things to do to build a positive culture for teachers to do their best work. The common element to me is something like “Show up and connect” with your teachers in meaningful ways whether in person one on one or in a meeting or writing a newsletter. Your teachers are lucky. Good on ya’ Matt.