Shaping School Culture

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Case Study: Shaping School Culture  

In most cases, school leaders start their tenure focusing on the school’s culture. As you know from your previous assignments, the readings in the program, and from your professional experiences thus far, a school’s culture can be complex and deeply embedded in the beliefs, language, and behaviors of the stakeholders. Remember, culture is a major theme in the ELCC and PSEL standards. Moreover, your position as a new school leader will have an effect on the school’s culture (simply because of the change in leadership). As you get closer to finishing this degree program, consider how you will begin your future tenure as a school leader.

Read the “Shaping School Culture” case study to inform the assignment.

Part 1: Case Analysis

In 375-words, respond to the case study by addressing the following:

1. Brief summary of the case

2. Issues to be resolved

3. Stakeholders involved in the issues

4. One or two existing laws or court rulings that relate to the issues

5. District policies that relate to the issues

6. Possible solutions to the issues

7. Solutions chosen to resolve the issues

8. Action steps (2-5) for implementing each solution, including a timeline for each step

9. Potential moral and legal consequences of each solution

Part 2: Rationale

Support the case analysis with a 450-word rationale explaining the solutions you chose and how each solution:

· Is designed for continual and sustainable school improvement to improve student outcomes.

· Demonstrates cultural competence and responsiveness in decision-making, school planning, and meeting the needs of students.

· Addresses difficult issues related to meeting students’ needs while promoting a culture of collaboration, trust, learning, and high expectations.

· Strives to build and sustain positive relationships between school representatives, students, families, and community partners, when their needs conflict.

Cite the case as well as 3-4 scholarly resources.

APA. RUBRIC:

(10) Case Analysis 1-3: Summary, Issues, Stakeholders: Analysis skillfully and convincingly summarizes the case, identifies the issues to be resolved, and identifies the stakeholders involved in the issues.

(10) Case Analysis 4-5: Laws and Policies: Identifies compelling existing laws or court rulings and district policies related to the issues.

(20) Case Analysis 6-8: Solutions and Action Steps: Identifies exceptional solutions to resolve the issues and insightfully selects ideal solutions for resolving the issues. Action steps and timeline are thoughtful and realistic.

(10) Case Analysis 9: Consequences: Moral and legal consequences of proposed solutions are thorough and proficiently explained.

(30) Rationale: Rationale compellingly explains how the proposed solutions are designed for continual and sustainable school improvement; demonstrate cultural competence and responsiveness in decision making, school planning, and meeting the needs of students; address difficult issues related to meeting students’ needs while promoting collaboration, trust, learning, and high expectations; and strive to build and sustain positive relationships between school representatives, students, families, and community partners.

 

 

 

Case Study: Shaping School Culture

 

You have served as an assistant principal for one year in a middle school (grades 4-8) that has received a grade of “D” as a school accountability label. Due to recent changes and the retirement of the principal, you apply for the open position and the Superintendent selects you to be the principal for the next school year. Your knowledge of your internal and external community, along with the various school and district systems, plays a critical role in your summer planning for the upcoming school year.

 

Your school has had a reputation of being a “tough” school. Your student body is made up of mostly lower-income families who live primarily in single-family homes, condominiums, and federally subsidized apartments. Demographically, the school is culturally diverse, with Hispanic students making up the largest ethnic group. You also have the highest African American student population within the district. The school has approximately 700 students, 33 full-time general education teachers, 1 full-time special education teacher and 1 gifted education teacher. Your teaching staff has remained stable in key areas, but you know that you will need to hire seven teachers across the grade levels. A large percentage of your teachers are experienced veterans, many of whom have outlived at least 14 administrators that have come through the campus.

 

As you sit in your office in July, you become overwhelmed as you begin sifting through numerous piles of information – student achievement data, the School Improvement Plan (SIP), discipline data, teacher observations, the previous principal’s files, etc. You know you have to find ways to positively influence your outcomes, in particular student achievement, as you are considered by the state as being in need of school improvement. You also know that your student achievement outcomes will not change unless the student discipline data improves. Bottom line, it is obvious that students are missing a tremendous amount of instructional time due to behavioral issues and the assigned consequences. Where do you begin?

References

“Holistic School Leadership: Systems Thinking as an Instructional Leadership Enabler,” by Shaked and Schechter, from SAGE (2016). https://journals-sagepub-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1177/0192636516683446

 

School Culture and Leadership of Professional Learning Communities,” by Carpenter, from Emerald Insight (2014).

https://www-emerald-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJEM-04-2014-0046/full/html

 

Kickboard. (12 C.E., Summer 2017). Seven-Year Study Identifies the Most Essential Behaviors for Creating a Positive School Culture; Results Discussed in New Report from Kickboard. Business Wire (English).

(Which student behaviors have the greatest impact in creating a safe, supportive learning environment? An analysis of more than 152 million student behavior instances collected over seven years by educators in 645 schools has enabled researchers to identify the most essential behaviors in creating a positive school culture. The behaviors are categorized in a new compendium called the Positive School Culture Inventory™ (PSCI).)

 

Paterson, J. (2018). Got Spirit? Involve the entire student body to reap the benefits of school pride and create a positive school culture. Principal Leadership, 7.

 

Manchester, K., & Sexton, T. (2018). Integrating Formative Assessment Into School Culture: How one school increased teacher collaboration, enhanced trust and transparency, and improved student performance. Principal Leadership, 18(8), 54–57.

(The article discusses the teacher collaboration and ideas needed for a school to increase it, including the development of trust and transparency keeping the focus on the improvement of performance of each student. It also discusses the usability of assessment data for the sake of helping teachers to successfully address the student-need based curriculum targeting and steps schools followed to create a formative assessment culture.)

 

Mungal, A. S., & Sorenson, R. (2019). A Dozen Daily Do’s: Successful principals delegate, communicate, create, and anticipate. Principal Leadership, 19(5), 50–53.

(The article discusses the personality trait of the successful and productive principals. Topics mentioned include the integration of educational technology to organize the workplace, responsibility of the principals to focus on the daily priorities and tasks in the schools and the interaction between the school community and the business leaders.)

Nonverbal Communication TED Talk

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Watch the video and answer questions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc&feature=emb_title

1/Describe in detail a “power pose” that a confident student might demonstrate in class.

2/Describe in detail a “powerless pose” that a not-so-confident student might demonstrate in class.

4/What is the length of an effective Power Pose?

5/The Power Pose represents what type of nonverbal communication detailed in Chapter Six of our textbook, Understanding Human Communicaiton?

6/According to Dr. Cuddy, what nonverbal sign do runners typically display when they cross the finish line?

7/Describe what Dr. Cuddy means by the statement, “Fake it till you make it.”

8/Describe one way you plan to use a Power Pose to your advantage in this communications class.

9/Describe one way you plan to use a Power Pose to your advantage in your personal or professional life.

10/With whom (friend, work colleague, family) do you want to share this knowledge? Why?

Describe how you would differentiate the strategy to accommodate student needs.

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It is important to design and develop multiple forms of instructional and differentiation strategies in order to implement instruction aligned to standards-based concepts related to reading and writing.

Part 1: Reading and Writing Chart

Using the “Literacy Toolkit 2: Reading and Writing” template, choose a grade level 1-8 and identify three standards related to reading and writing.

For each standard chosen:

  • Identify an aligned instructional strategy.
  • Describe how you would differentiate the strategy to accommodate student needs.
  • Research and identify materials, including digital tools and resources, needed to customize and personalize learning activities to meet the various learning styles of students during implementation of the strategy.

Part 2: Reading and Writing Reflection

Using the “Literacy Toolkit 2: Reading and Writing” template, summarize and reflect, in 250-500 words, on the strategies and aligned differentiation you would use to inform your instruction of reading and writing standards-based concepts. How can you make effective use of existing and emerging tools and resources to support the learning of all students? Include how your instructional strategies apply to the writing process including the processes and steps when developing a composition. Explain how you will use your findings in your future professional practice.

Submit your “Literacy Toolkit 2: Reading and Writing” template and your reflection as one deliverable.

This completed assignment will be the second part of your Literacy Toolkit and will inform your assignment in Topic 6.

Mean Making Forum 5

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In this last subject matter conversation, only focus on the forum’s prompts as you solidify your learning experience with a convincing “So What?!” and, as a people-helper, discover “What’s Best Next?!” Thoughtfully develop responses to the following considerations.

  • “So What?!”  With the following scenario in mind, can you provide a clear, convincing argument for a particular insight from the course?

Louise Smith, the first lady of racing, wisely said, “You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.”

More than likely there are moments when yesterday’s junk keeps you awake at night.

What problem, perspective, paradigm, or perplexing people puzzle keeps you awake at night? In what way, if any, has the Holy Spirit used course materials to address a piece of junk?

Organize your thoughts into a insightful testimony. Proofread carefully and support your story with a good example and at least 1 citation from the readings.

  • “What’s Best Next?!” Petersen (2015) intimated that people-helping could be “thera-noxious” (unhealthy, p. 251). Locate resources that may foster a therapeutic (healthy) paradigm in three areas:
    • Self-Care? CLICK HERE for starters.
    • Safe and Secure Helping Relationship? CLICK HERE  for starters.
    • Further Training?  CLICK HERE for starters.

This is your opportunity to consolidate your learning experience as you dig up meaningful people-helping insights. Use these links and others to discover some therapeutic goodies for each of these areas. Be concise and clear so that the most inattentive PACOneer can “get it and keep it” for future reference. Organize your thoughts, proofread carefully and support your response to each area with a good example and at least 1 citation.

TIPS:

  • Carefully Follow Meaning-Making Forum Guidelines & Tips!
  • Make sure to use headings (2) so that the most inattentive reader may easily follow your thoughts.
  • Use the annotated outline approach. Bullets should have concise, complete, well-developed sentences or paragraphs.
  • Foster a “noble-minded” climate for investigating claims through well-supported core assertions (i.e., consider the validation pattern of the Bereans; Acts 17:11).  Noticeably support assertions to facilitate further investigation and to avoid the appearance of plagiarism. Noticeably support assertions to facilitate reader’s further investigation and to avoid the appearance of plagiarism. Follow current APA standards or Turabian form. Make every effort to prove that you care about the subject matter by proofreading to eliminate grammar and spelling distractions.
  • Right Click on hyperlinks and Open in New Window

    The Best Articles on Self-Care in the Church

    · BY APRIL YAMASAKI

    ·

    · POSTED ON

    · JANUARY 26, 2017

    last updated June 2019

    Several months ago I asked, Is Self-Care Part of Your Paid Employment, and Should It Be? Of readers who responded to the interactive poll, 50% said yes, 25% said no, 25% it depends.

    Since then, I’ve done more reading on self-care as it relates to church employment, and today I share the most helpful articles I’ve found with the title/link and a brief quote–not to summarize each article, but to encourage you to read the entire post. Some specifically address pastors, others speak more generally, some offer practical suggestions, others challenge the idea of self-care, one article might seem to contradict another, but together they stimulate a thoughtful approach to self-care when you work for the church.

    Wherever you see “pastor,” “clergy,” or “employee,” please feel free to fill in your own job title, and wherever you see “workplace,” substitute church or other Christian organization. If you have other articles to recommend, please add the link in the comments to expand this resource list.

     

    1. Why Pastors Suck at Self-Care

    I have been asked what seminaries teach now about self-care, having only graduated 5 years ago. Self-care was one of most common mantras of my seminary education, and it seems obvious to me that you can’t really care for others, or fulfill your vocation with integrity, if you are a burned out wreck… yet so many pastors obviously feel the opposite.

    For so many professional ministers, a well rested, healthy pastor is a pastor failing at ministry. The Duke Clergy Health Initiative study on self-care among pastors, suggests that many ministers think self-care is selfish. My colleagues have told me that there was a day in seminary education when the message to students was that being a pastor meant giving your life to Jesus (or in other words, to your congregation 24/7). There is no room for self-care in ministry. [Read more about Why Pastors Suck at Self-Care….]

    2. What Clergy Do Not Need

    I do not think clergy need more lectures about self-care. It seems that at every ordination or installation service I attend there is a charge given about clergy self-care. One minister stands up and tells another minister that they know they are about to work themselves to death, so resist the temptation. “Take your day off…set boundaries…don’t try to be all things to all people.” All this is done in front of an audience of lay people who are supposed to be impressed that we clergy would need such a lecture. It has become a cliché, and seems to have trumped prophecy, theology and the love of Jesus. [Read more about What Clergy Do Not Need….]

    3. The Difference Between Selfish Care, Self-Care, and Soul Care

    Quite simply, good self-care is attending to and respecting the limitations and needs that God has designed for humans. I find the analogy of caring for our car as a helpful starting point. Changing the oil and doing regular maintenance is simply being a responsible car owner. It is not selfish to ignore the flashing check engine light; it is not a measure of one’s strength to ignore our needs as a human, rather foolishness. [Read more about Selfish Care, Self-Care, and Soul Care….]

    4. Self-Care and Self-Denial

    The topic of self-care, particularly as it relates to physical and emotional health, has long confused and challenged me as a Christian. While I’ve deeply resonated with much of the common sense in the philosophy of self-care, other aspects have troubled me and seem completely incompatible with Christianity. I couldn’t agree with Scripture and at the same time agree with arguments encouraging me to pursue a self-focused, indulgent, comfort-based lifestyle. On the other hand, I heartily agreed in principle with discussions of self-care as stewardship. Still, I usually came away with more of a sense of heavy obligation than of freedom and gratitude. I often saw God as an auto mechanic pacing around, irritated and inconvenienced by my failure to get my car in for regular maintenance. [Read more about Self-Care and Self-Denial….]

    5. The Insanity of ‘Self-Care’

    The closest the self-care movement can

    get to truly good news is to tell you to stare at something big:

    · “Watch a sunrise.”

    · “Hike in the woods.”

    · “Go to the beach.”

    · “Take a country drive.”

    · “Watch a sunset.”

    Each of these is an effort to put you in front of something bigger than yourself long enough that you forget yourself. The strategies hint at the Christian gospel because the sensations we feel gazing at bigness begin to uncover the God-sized cavity beneath our guilt, stress, and anxiety.

    The care you really need is not buried somewhere deep inside of you, waiting to be unlocked by some dessert or diversion. No, you need the healing, forgiving, restoring, and transforming grace of a God who loves you. [Read more about The Insanity of ‘Self-Care’….]

    6. What Does the Bible Say About Rest and Self-Care?

    When I was really struggling to understand why rest and self-care were important practices for Christians I conversed with various mentors and friends and couldn’t get a satisfying answer. I know of so many faithful pastors and missionaries who work tirelessly for the gospel despite their own deteriorating health– there is just so much need and good work to be done that carving out time for rest seems selfish and counter-productive. That is our human thinking– but what does the Bible have to say about rest and self-care? [Read more about What Does the Bible Say About Rest and Self-Care….]

    7. Self-Care and the Christian

    If we look to the Bible for signs of Jesus taking care of His personal needs, we can see that He was able to recognise His own needs and tend to them accordingly. He was able to comprehend that He had limits and that God had allowed for Him to care for Himself. When He saw the need, Jesus would escape to nurse his heavy heart in prayer, indulging in time to Himself because He needed it.

    Even Jesus had limits. This is humbling for us to remember. It’s so easy to hold ourselves to a level of perfection and feel shame when we struggle to meet our own expectations of what a Christian ‘should be like’. [Read more about Self-Care and the Christian….]

    8. Self-Care Is Not Self-ish

    When the Rev. Jeanette Hicks graduated from seminary in 2010, a mentor cautioned her about overwork. A retired pastor, the mentor hoped that Hicks and other young clergy would do better at staying healthy over the long run than she and her contemporaries had done.

    But just six months later, Hicks, a United Methodist pastor then serving in the Kentucky Conference, was a sleep-deprived wreck, surviving on sugar-fueled energy and calorie-dense church meals. . . .

    Hicks’ experience is not unusual. Even with the best intentions and all the knowledge and advice in the world, clergy of all ages often find it difficult to take care of themselves, the Duke Clergy Health Initiative has found. On the long list of items that must be done every day, they often put themselves last. [Read more about Self-Care Is Not Self-ish….]

    9. Developing a Self-Care Plan

    Workplace or Professional Self-Care involves activities that help you to work consistently at the professional level expected of you. For example:

    Engage in regular supervision or consulting with a more experienced colleague;

    Set up a peer-support group;

    Be strict with boundaries between clients/students and staff;

    Read professional journals;

    Attend professional development programs.

    [Read more about Developing a Self-Care Plan….]

    10. Do You Foster a Culture of Self-Care in the Workplace?

    This article cites the work of professor Marie Asberg, who describes burnout as an “exhaustion funnel” and offers tips to foster a culture of self-care, including:

    Create a healthy email policy – be mindful of the burden of e-mails on staff and implement ways to reduce it in order to increase productivity and efficiency. A new report by the London-based Future Work Center, which conducts psychological research on workplace experiences, found that two of the most stressful habits were leaving emails on all day and checking emails early in the morning and late at night. [Read more about Do You Foster a Culture of Self-Care in the Workplace….]