How Individuals Work, Live, and Achieve Together

Smircich: “Culture is usually defined as social or normative glue that holds an organizational together. It expresses the values of social ideas and beliefs that organization members come to share.” Brighton and Sayeed: “ the social energy that drives organization” and that allow an organization to survive the external environment and manage the internal environment” Peterson and Deal: “culture is underground stream of norms, values, beliefs and tradition, and rituals that has built up over time as people work together, solve problems, and confront challenges.

Values & ideasNormsExpectation, Sanction Symbolic activity Individual and Group BEhavior

Value and ideal developing good understanding of the values and ideals that the school represent. Questions to be ask? - What kind of behavior are valued in this school? - What does the school aspire to become

 Norms - Josefowitz “ the unwritten rules stating what people should and should not do.” - Serve the purpose of regulating and controlling behavior

 Expectation  The norms that applied to a specific situation  The principal should always support the teachers, right or wrong  Evaluate the merits of those expectations before deciding to meet them

 Sanctions  Expectations, if they are to be effective in shaping the behavior of the people associated with the school, must carry sanctions.  The sanction may be negative or positive, and they may be exercised formally or infaormally

The expectation and sanctions of a school or a group associated with a school may be communicated directly, or they may be expressed indirectly through symbolic activity (story telling about an important events” Symbols pursuit: excellence, achievement, aggressiveness, competitiveness, intense commitment Excellent slogan: Excellence is our goal

Symbolic activity through behavior example Symbolic activity can be found in the behavior of an administrator, fully support to event “Reading”

Four core values define school culture  Cooperative community…parent relationship  Cooperative teacher relationships  Students needs  Principals as cultural transmitters

 A positive Organizational culture ▪ Snyder and Snyder indicate that changing organization culture through a system thinking approach is based on “ organizational planning, developing staff, developing a program, and assessing school productivity.”

Emphasis on Academic Effort and Achievement ▪ A clear set of school wide norms that emphasize the values of academic effort and achievement ▪ A consistency applied set of expectations that stress the importance of staff members striving for excellence and students performing up to their potential ▪ A system of symbolic activity and sanction that encourages and rewards effort, improvement, accomplishment, while discouraging disorder and complacency

 Belief that all students can achieve A second important expectation for teachers in an effective school is adopting the attitude that all students are capable of achieving, and therefore that teachers should behave accordingly

 Ongoing Faculty Development And Innovation Another expectation characteristic of an effective school culture is that the faculty members should strive to improve themselves - helping each others - experimenting with different approach

A Safe and Orderly Learning Environment A major expectation associated with the culture of an effective school is that students and teachers will behave in ways contributing to a safe and orderly school environment

Purkey and Smith: “ Common sense alone suggest that students cannot learn in an environment that is noisy, distracting, or unsafe” Edmond: A safe and orderly environment was established when all teachers take responsibility for all students, all the time, everywhere in school Wayson and Lasley Schools with well-disciplined students have developed a sense of community, marked by mutually agreed upon behavior norms; these norms surround students with examples of subtle rewards and sanctions that encourage students to behave appropriately

Improve:  Self efficacy  relationships with peers and adults  General mental health  Achievement on standardized tests  Classroom grade  Both positive and negative sanctions will also be necessary to encourage the achievement of school expectations

Create and Manage Culture - Develop and maintain an adequate understanding of various elements of the school culture - ?: What is today and how it may be changing

- Clarity about Values and Ideals - Shaping the Culture through Choice of Staff - Recruit, select, promote, and demote staff members - Shaping the Culture through Formal Leadership Appointments - Working with Informal Leaders - Handling conflict between formal and informal Leaders

1. The purpose of the school is to educate all students to high levels of academic performance 2. To fulfill this purpose, the members of this school staff believe that: 1. All students should have a challenging academic program 2. All students should master their grade level objectives 3. Teachers are obliged to prepare all students to perform at mastery level on the objectives for the course

Communicative symbolic: “Academic Excellence-no sweat, no gain” Ritual and ceremonies: 1. Academic superstar recognition 2. Homework recognition 3. Average-raisers recognition (certificate & rewards) 4. Teachers of the month recognition

 Measuring School Climate (stakeholders  Why Climate is Important  Teacher-student relationship  Security and maintenance  Effectiveness and administration  Academic achievement  Student behavior values  Academic and career guidance  Student-peer relationship  Relationship between school and parents  Instructional management  Student activities