The Uphill Battle: Changing School Culture

Despite sweeping reforms in U.S. education in the 20th and 21st centuries, much in U.S. education has remained essentially the same. In Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division (2009), Dr. Anthony Muhammad explains that the fixed state of education in the U.S. is the result of reforms that focus on technical changes (structure, policies, teaching tools) rather than on cultural changes (mindsets and behaviors). Unless a school begins to focus on making cultural changes, no amount of technical changes will ever result in a healthy, productive, and successful school culture. This, he asserts, is because schools comprise of four key groups who each have their own agendas. A school leader who doesn't learn how to manage and fulfill the needs of these four distinct groups is susceptible to developing or maintaining a toxic and dysfunctional school culture, "the set of norms, values and beliefs, rituals and ceremonies, symbols and stories that make up the 'persona' of the school."

Existing in every school, according to Dr. Muhammad, are Believers, Tweeners, Survivors, and Fundamentalists. Of the four, Fundamentalists contribute the most in developing and sustaining toxic and dysfunctional school cultures. This is because the Fundamentalists' main goal is to maintain the status quo. Because Fundamentalists are so powerful in their ability to negatively impact a school's culture, Dr. Muhammad advises the following:

"Transforming a toxic school culture marked by significant staff division into a healthy one does not happen by luck. Skillful leadership and a focus on key areas of school operation are critical to this process. A focus on learning, institutionalized celebration, and new teacher development are great places for school leaders to begin the quest for improved school culture."

Of course, this type of transformation can only happen when all stakeholders (teachers, administrators, students, parents, community members) share the same belief and work towards meeting the same goals: "All children can learn. All children will learn because of what we do."

Transforming School Culture is an insightful and thought-provoking work that provides a practical framework for how school cultures work and how teachers and administrators can transform toxic school cultures into healthy ones. I strongly recommend it to all who work in the field of education, especially school leaders.