Perspectives
School Culture, School Success
Vicki Zygouris-Coe
T
he success of a school should not be measured only by its annual learning gains but also by its culture (Deal & Peterson, 1999). The relationships that exist between teachers and administration, among teachers, between teachers and parents, teachers and students, and among students do make a difference in the motivation of all to learn.
School culture refers to the ways we do business in school—the values and beliefs that teachers and administrators have abut teaching and learning. Every school has a mission and improvement goals and underlying assumptions about how and when change takes place, who has access to knowledge, what instructional philosophies exist, how valuable teacher professional development, collaboration, teamwork, and reflection are, how success is measured, the role of parents, and how students learn. Despite its importance, school culture is often the least discussed element in school plans about how to improve student achievement (Jerald, 2006). The more coherence there is among teachers, administrators, parents, and school board members about how we do school, how the school operates and what happens there the more effective the school will be. In schools where there is a positive culture, there is coherence about what professional development teachers are involved in there is co-shared responsibility for student learning and a positive caring and learning-centered atmosphere. Schools that have a positive school culture celebrate the successes of Pge 3