The emotional ecology of school improvement culture

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 488-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Demerath
Keyword(s):  
School Culture ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Collective Efficacy ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
High Performing Schools ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Staff Members

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how high-performing schools develop and sustain improvement culture. While school culture has consistently been identified as an essential feature of high-performing schools, many of the ways in which culture shapes specific improvement efforts remain unclear. The paper draws on new research from social cognitive neuroscience and the anthropology and sociology of emotion to account for the relative impact of various meanings within school culture and how school commitment is enacted. Design/methodology/approach The analysis here draws on three years of ethnographic data collected in Harrison High School (HHS) in an urban public school district in River City, a large metropolitan area in the Midwestern USA. Though the school’s surrounding community had been socioeconomically depressed for many years, Harrison was selected for the study largely because of its steady improvement trajectory: in December, 2013, it was deemed a “Celebration” school under the state’s Multiple Measurement Rating system. The paper focuses on a period of time between 2013 and 2015, when the school was struggling to implement and localize a district-mandated push-in inclusion policy. Findings Study data suggest that the school’s eventual success in localizing the new inclusion policy was due in large part to a set of core interlocking feedback loops that generated specific emotionally charged meanings which guided its priorities, practices and direction. Specifically, the feedback loops explain how staff members and leaders generated and sustained empathy for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, optimism in their capabilities and motivation to help them learn and flourish. Furthermore they show how school leaders and staff members generated and sustained confidence and trust in their colleagues’ abilities to collaboratively learn and solve problems. Originality/value The model of the school’s emotional ecology presented here connects two domains of educational practice that are frequently analyzed separately: teaching and learning, and organization and leadership. The paper shows how several key features of high-performing schools are actually made and re-made through the everyday practices of leaders and staff members, including relational trust, academic optimism and collective efficacy. In sum, the charged meanings described here contributed to leaders’ and staff members’ commitment to the school, its students and each other – and what Florek (2016) has referred to as their “common moral purpose.”

Headteacher-teacher relationship and its effect on teacher’s trust in Malaysian high performing schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Borhandden Musah ◽  
Rozanne Emilia Abdul Rahman ◽  
Lokman Mohd Tahir ◽  
Shafeeq Hussain Vazhathodi Al-Hudawi ◽  
Khadijah Daud
Keyword(s):  
School Effectiveness ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Dyadic Relationships ◽  
Role Development ◽  
Dyadic Relationship ◽  
High Performing Schools ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Member Exchange ◽  
Development Processes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between headteachers and teachers and its effects on the role of trust in Malaysian high-performing schools through the dyadic relationship theoretical approach.Design/methodology/approachUsing a survey questionnaire, a total of 199 teachers from five high-performing schools were selected as respondents for data collection. Before proceeding with inferential statistical analysis, teachers were separated into the “in-group” and “out-group”.FindingsThe findings revealed that the teachers from both the groups perceived that their facets of trust are strongly associated with the type of relationship they have with their school leaders. The results also demonstrate that the quality of dyadic relationships between headteachers and teachers moderately influences teachers’ trust.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that the headteachers should always build good relationships with the teachers to gain teachers’ trust for sustaining school effectiveness. The findings encourage the Ministry of Education, particularly the Teacher Recruitment Division, to require all teachers and headteachers to deepen their knowledge on leader-member exchange (LMX) role-development processes.Originality/valueThe results are of great importance since limited empirical studies have examined LMX role-development processes with reference to teachers and headteachers in the context of Malaysian higher performing schools.

scholarly journals Soft Skills of Leaders and School Improvement in High Performing Schools

2015 ◽  
Vol 191 ◽  
pp. 2127-2131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tang Keow Ngang ◽  
Siti Huwaina Mohamed ◽  
Somprach Kanokorn
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
High Performing Schools ◽  
High Performing

The Practical Relevance of Accountability Systems for School Improvement: A Descriptive Analysis of California Schools

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinrich Mintrop ◽  
Tina Trujillo
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Practical Relevance ◽  
Accountability Systems ◽  
High Performing Schools ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Low Performing Schools ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
California Schools

In search for the practical relevance of accountability systems for school improvement, the authors ask whether practitioners traveling between the worlds of system-designated high- and low-performing schools would detect tangible differences in educational quality and organizational effectiveness. In comparing nine exceptionally high and low performing California middle schools, the authors conclude that if such travelers expected to encounter visible signs of an overall higher quality of students’ educational experience at the high-performing schools, they would be disappointed. Rather, they would have to settle on a narrower definition of quality that is more proximate to the effective acquisition of standards-aligned and test-relevant knowledge. High-growth schools tended to generate internal commitment for accountability and consider it an impetus for raising standards.

School culture and leadership of professional learning communities

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 682-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
School Culture ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Shared Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Policies And Procedures

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore supportive and shared leadership structures at schools as a function of school culture policies and procedures. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study was conducted at three secondary schools in the Midwestern USA. Administrators and teachers were interviewed, professional learning communities observed and artifacts collected to explore school culture policies, procedures and leadership in the implementation of professional learning community practice. Findings – This study concludes that school leaders must provide supportive and shared leadership structures for teachers in order to ensure a positive school culture and effective professional learning communities that impact school improvement. Leaders in schools must work directly with teachers to create policies and procedures that provide teachers the leadership structure to directly impact school improvement through professional learning community collaborative efforts. Originality/value – This study builds on the school culture and professional learning communities literature by exploring existent policies and practices in schools as unique cases. Much of the literature calls for specific case studies to identify issues in the implementation of effective practice. This study is important to the community as specific cases that may inform educational leaders on mechanisms that may be leveraged to ensure successful implementation of policies and procedures outline in school culture and professional learning community literature.

Navigating the leadership tensions in creating collective responsibility

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deidre Le Fevre ◽  
Frauke Meyer ◽  
Linda Bendikson
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Teacher Perceptions ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Achievement Goals ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Leadership Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Teachers Beliefs

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to use a collective responsibility theoretical lens to examine the work of three school principals as they focussed on school-wide goal-setting processes to achieve valued student achievement goals. The tensions principals face in creating collective responsibility are examined so that these might be intentionally navigated.Design/methodology/approachQualitative case studies of three New Zealand schools include data from interviews with principals, middle leaders and teachers. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis approach was employed.FindingsPrincipals face four key tensions: (1) whether to promote self or centrally directed and voluntary or mandatory professional learning; (2) how to balance a top-down versus a middle-up process for accountability; (3) ways to integrate both educator and student voice and (4) the complexity of both challenging teachers' beliefs and providing support. These challenges seemed inherent in the work of developing collective responsibility and leaders tended to move along response continuum.Research limitations/implicationsThis research highlights the importance of being intentional and transparent with staff members about both the nature of these tensions and their navigation, and opens up further questions in relation to leader, and teacher perceptions of tensions in creating collective responsibility for achieving school-improvement goals.Practical implicationsAn understanding of the tensions that need to be navigated can help leaders and other educators to take effective action, scrutinize the reasoning behind decisions, and understand the inherent challenges faced.Originality/valueLeadership tensions in creating collective responsibility are explored and implications for leadership practice and learning considered.

Teachers’ educational beliefs change through lesson study: implications for school culture

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-331
Author(s):  
Olga Khokhotva ◽  
Iciar Elexpuru Albizuri
Keyword(s):  
School Culture ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Educational Beliefs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Literature

PurposeThe study aims at exploring the perspective of three English as a Foreign Language teachers after their year-long involvement in the Lesson Study project in the context of Kazakhstan in order to capture and list any perceived changes in teachers’ educational beliefs over the period of the Lesson Study intervention. The main argument of the study suggests that the school-based Lesson Study initiative is conducive to triggering changes in teachers’ educational beliefs, and thus, might lead to positive changes in school culture in Kazakhstani schools. Shaped following Hill et al., (1982) in Swales, 1990 hour-glass model of a research project (Swales, 1990), the article reflects the third concluding part of the Ph.D. thesis focusing on the implementation of the Lesson Study methodology in Kazakhstan.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts the qualitative research design and follows the narrative inquiry methodology. The three narrative interviews (Bauer, 1996) are utilized as the main method of data collection. The data were analyzed as text following a general inductive approach (Thomas, 2003), where emerging themes were identified employing data reduction and further sub-categorized through the conceptual and theoretical lenses of the study. The emerged categories reflecting the perceived shifts in teachers’ educational beliefs were dialectically linked to implications for school culture in Kazakhstani schools.FindingsAs data suggest, the respondents’ active engagement in the Lesson Study professional learning community and exercising leadership through implementing changes in their classroom practice has made a positive impact on teachers’ rethinking their teaching practice, attitudes to students and their learning, collegiality, and professional self-identification. We conclude that, if organized properly, Lesson Study has enormous potential to facilitate changes of teachers’ educational beliefs: from direct transmission beliefs toward constructivist beliefs, from restricted professionals’ beliefs toward reflective practitioner beliefs and attitudes, toward beliefs in the power of student’s voice, and collaboration. Those shifts are linked to establishing a more positive, child-friendly and rights-based school culture with teachers’ shared visions and capacity for innovation.Research limitations/implicationsWe acknowledge that the abundance of the reported positive changes or perceived shifts in teachers’ thinking might not be the indicators of actual changes in their beliefs. We emphasize that the study was carried in a controlled context, i.e. the three ELF teachers were constantly supported, and the teacher talk was systematically guided by a trained facilitator. Warned by Giroux et al. (1999), we are aware of the major challenge of the fundamental assumption of critical pedagogy that teachers are willing and able to undertake “the practice of analyzing their practice” (p. 27) voluntarily. Thus, the question remains open: if the facilitator’s support is eliminated, will the results point to the occurrence of the disruption and disorientation as a necessary condition for the beliefs change?Originality/valueCarried out in the largely overlooked by the academic literature context of the Reform at Scale (Wilson et al., 2013) in Kazakhstan and building on the original combination of conceptual and theoretical lenses, the research contributes to the academic literature by connecting teachers’ educational beliefs, Lesson Study and school culture. The findings might be of value for the school leaders, educators, teacher trainers, and policymakers to advocate Lesson Study as a systematic approach to the whole-school improvement, as a tool to facilitate positive changes in school culture, as well as give impetus to studies employing the school culture perspective in developing Lesson Study impact evaluation tools.

scholarly journals How do Principals of High Performing Schools Achieve Sustained Improvement Results?

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 133-149
Author(s):  
Lewes Peddell ◽  
David Lynch ◽  
Richard Waters ◽  
Wendy Boyd ◽  
Royce Willis
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Effective School ◽  
High Performing Schools ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Foundational Principle ◽  
High Achieving Schools ◽  
Ace Model ◽  
Improvement Programs

Education systems across the globe have enacted national testing regimes to monitor and report student achievement progress as an outcome of teaching performance. This paper reports on an investigation of strategies that Principals of high achieving schools use to achieve school results, based on NAPLAN reports (the National Assessment Program in Australia) and interpreted via the Alignment, Capability and Engagement (ACE) model of organisational readiness. Our findings identified specific Principal behaviours, actions and attitudes as necessary for effective school-wide improvement programs, as well as the existence of commonly shared strategies and approaches that help to explain why these particular Principals have been successful in their pursuit of school improvement. These include a shared vision for improvement, use of data-driven decision making, and building positive, “transparent” relationships to encourage teacher buy-in. Importantly, these findings identified “organisational readiness”, a foundational principle of the ACE model, as a fundamental requisite to effective school improvement.

Can schools meet the promise of continuous improvement?

2017 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Elgart
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Continuous Improvement ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
High Performing Schools ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Implementation Capacity ◽  
Real Progress ◽  
Strong Relationships

Continuous improvement is “an embedded behavior within the culture of a school that constantly focuses on the conditions, processes, and practices that will improve teaching and learning.” The phrase has been part of the lexicon of school improvement for decades, but real progress is rare. Based on its observations of about 5,000 institutions a year, AdvancEd Improvement Network has found that there are strong relationships between effective continuous improvement practices and the following characteristics of high-performing schools: a clear direction, healthy culture, high expectations, impact of instruction, resource management, efficacy of engagement, and implementation capacity.

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