Director’s Desk
As school summer breaks come to a close, in this month’s Equity Express, we’re turning our attention to the interconnected challenges of school climate, especially chronic absenteeism, culture, and equity. Setting expectations at the start of a school year – which for many districts across the country is as early as next week – is essential.
August may be the start of the school year for many students, parents, teachers, and administrators, but perceptions about a school’s climate and culture (and their effects on a school) developed long before.
Many educators use the concepts of “climate” and “culture” interchangeably, while most researchers focus on school climate. Perhaps it is because “climate” is easier to operationalize – the social, emotional, and academic environments, including the attitudes, behaviors, and experiences of the students, teachers, and staff.
As noted in this month’s Equity Exchange article, Climate, Culture, Equity, and Achievement, measuring climate is not a straightforward matter. While school climate is a complex construct, “it is often measured as a unidimensional factor, with little agreement guiding measurement or models” (Rudasill et al., 2018).
Culture is “the unwritten rules for how things are done and what behaviors are expected” (NYSED.gov, n.d.). In many ways, then, it is culture – as the set of shared values, beliefs, and traditions – that influences people’s attitudes and sets the tone for how people behave.
District and school leaders recognize that positive climate and culture are essential for meeting both the social and emotional needs of students and achieving the academic goals. As emphasized in both of this month’s companion articles – Climate, Culture, Equity, and Achievement and Chronic Absenteeism – these goals bolster each other. The same is true as the Director of the National Center for the Elimination of Education Disparities (NCEED), where we work to collaborate with other Morgan State University departments and agencies, organizations, and school districts in a wide range of social, emotional, and academic areas (learn more about us here).
Building a great climate and culture requires consistency and intentionality, as well as caring and some sense of spontaneity, as you have to be ready to “monitor and adjust” where needed. As a leader, every decision must be driven by a sense of fairness, honesty, and integrity. Further, how decisions are made and then carried out are vitally important.
There are many difficult decisions and, sometimes, seemingly impossible choices in leadership. Some evolve over months and even years, while others are unplanned and must be addressed quickly. These include financial and budget challenges (e.g., layoffs, program cuts, rezoning, school closures, and implementation delays), personnel decisions (e.g., hiring, promoting, and disciplining people), unforeseeable events and tragedies (e.g., accidents, natural disasters, pandemics, illnesses, and deaths), and changes in the political climate (e.g., federal, state, mayoral, and school board elections as well as state and local policy decisions and bond referendums).
Climate and culture largely depend on how you respond and behave. Even in the (rare) calmest of times, change is inevitable. Whether it is a new reading program, textbook adoption, scheduling innovation, SEL initiative, technology integration, more nutritious lunches, language immersion, or safer football helmets, there will always be those who disagree and/or resist. In public schools, catch phrases like “the flavor of the month” and “this too will pass” reflect cultures where change is not respected or trusted.
As the saying goes, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It is also true that actions speak louder than words. As a leader, you must talk the talk and walk the walk. According to Guley and Reznik (2019), “Culture develops organically over time from the cumulative traits of the people the organization hires… Culture is passed down through anecdotes and stories employees tell around the proverbial water cooler… Culture changes, but not suddenly, and not without deliberate and intentional effort.”
During my superintendencies, we made “Day One,” our first day of school each school year, a celebration and representation of the culture we wanted and expected in our schools. We initiated the “Back-to-School Bash” in both Austin and Atlanta to provide students with free backpacks, school supplies, and other resources. Over time, the events grew to include door prizes, booster seats, free haircuts, eye exams, and vouchers for glasses. In addition, it was an opportunity for parents to enroll their children, and for students, as many as 10,000, to try out computer software, play games, have their picture taken in funny costumes, and meet teachers, police officers, plus school and district leaders.
Many months earlier, we initiated recruitment to preempt the local districts competing for the same pool of talented and experienced teachers and administrators (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). To improve the climate and culture of schools, our team did “big” things like dramatically increasing fill rates for all teacher vacancies, increasing teacher salaries, providing state-of-the-art laptops, tablets, and hot spots for every student, and becoming CASEL Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) districts.
We also did “small” things, such as ensuring every child had a full schedule, visiting every school in the district on Day One (and the days leading up to Day One) to provide people-power to shelve books in the libraries, update software, move furniture, and help schools perform dozens of other last-minute tasks.
Long before sunrise, as the bus drivers arrived for their first day of work, my team and I met them with breakfast, juice, snacks, coffee, and bottles of water. In the first weeks, I toured schools every day, met with teachers, custodians, and cafeteria workers, practiced with the football teams, and cheered alongside cheerleaders.
In one sense, my actions were “deliberate and intentional,” and even more, they reflected my love for the work and the students, teachers, families, and staff members who comprise a school’s community and culture.
Creating a great social, emotional, and academic climate in a large school district takes time and requires intentional positive actions. It also takes sincerity, caring, and understanding. Experienced teachers and administrators have seen almost yearly change – “the next thing” or “the flavor of the month.” They know when you are talking the talk and walking the walk.
References:
Carver-Thomas, D., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Why Black women teachers leave and what can be done about it. In Black female teachers: Diversifying the United States’ teacher workforce (pp. 159-184). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Guley, G., & Reznik, T. (2019). Culture eats strategy for breakfast and transformation for lunch. The Jabian Journal, 62-65.
Rudasill, K. M., Snyder, K. E., Levinson, H., & L. Adelson, J. (2018). Systems view of school climate: A theoretical framework for research. Educational psychology review, 30(1), 35-60.
