District leaders are now shifting their focus to school culture as the bedrock for reform efforts. Simply put, when teachers work in a supportive culture, schools improve.
Professor John Hattie, a renowned researcher and author of Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers, found that collective teacher efficacy had over three times more impact on student achievement than students’ socioeconomic status. He also found that teacher efficacy had “more than triple the effect of home environment and parental involvement.”
“It is also greater than three times more predictive of student achievement than student motivation and concentration, persistence, and engagement,” he attested.
How to continuously evaluate school culture
Creating a school culture that supports collective teacher efficacy requires new ways of thinking. To create such an environment, building leaders will need to use ongoing teacher voice as the basis for collaborative processes that enable teacher agency. Through these processes, teachers and leaders create a unique working relationship of collective action with collective responsibility.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools is an example of a district that is harnessing teacher voice and agency. Every year, each of the district’s schools develops a Plan for Continuous Improvement. Each PCI cites three goals: one for literacy, one for numeracy, and a third that’s based on the needs of that school’s community.
Previously, the development of the PCIs did not include teacher input. Consequently, most teachers saw their PCIs as something that was “done” to them. Although students’ pass rates surpassed the state averages, leaders at Virginia Beach realized teachers could take schools’ academic performance to new heights if given the chance.
In the fall of 2020, the district gave schools access to a technology platform from called MyVoice, so teachers and leaders could continuously assess their school culture using real-time data. Teachers can change their culture assessments at any time by providing real-time data, which allows teachers and leaders to work together in developing and modifying needed solutions to improve their culture. With this shift, school culture data became the foundation for developing collaborative PCIs.
Virginia Beach made these changes at a time when educators and students across their state (and the nation) were dealing with the disruptions and trauma of the pandemic. As a result, most schools saw declines in students’ reading and math achievements. However, the collaboration between building leaders and teachers resulted in students widening the margin by which their pass rates beat state averages—even when factoring in the pandemic.
For example, the margin by which the district’s pass rate for reading surpassed the state average increased from seven to nine percentage points. In the 2018-19 school year, 85% of the district’s students passed Virginia’s reading assessment, compared to the state average of 78%. In the 2021-22 school year, 82% of Virginia Beach students passed the assessment, compared to 73% across the state.
While students’ reading proficiency did decline during the pandemic’s disruptions, they still fared better than their statewide peers. District pass rates in reading declined by three percentage points between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 school years, compared to the state average drop of five percentage points.
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Virginia Beach’s pass rate has been even more significant for mathematics. The district’s students had surpassed the state average by six percentage points for years. But in the 2020-21 school year, the margin soared to 15 percentage points, with 69% of the district’s students passing, compared with the state average of 54%. For the 2021-22 school year, 76% of Virginia Beach students passed, compared to the state average of 66%, a margin of 10 percentage points.
Virginia Beach Chief of Staff Dr. Donald Robertson attributed students’ achievements primarily to a culture of respect for the learning environment. “Culture is the most important thing that you need to establish within any organization if you want it to succeed,” he said.
Defining and activating school culture
To collaborate on school culture initiatives, teachers and school leaders need a clear and shared understanding of what elements matter most for effective reform. In 2021, a team of researchers and educational leaders worked together to define the drivers of a healthy school culture:
- Clear and unified direction: Understanding and communicating the school’s vision, mission, and beliefs provides a clear picture of what is desired for all stakeholders, and guides program and policy decisions.
- Professional engagement: Providing teachers with professional learning that uses reflective conversations and inquiry in practice, combined with leader support, improves outcomes for students. Leaders must be engaged in professional development along with teachers.
- Instructional autonomy: Effective teachers are motivated when given the autonomy to make independent decisions rather than restricted to prescribed top-down steps.
- Collaboration: Teachers use collaboration to better plan instructional lessons and assess their effectiveness.
- Empowerment: Teachers have the responsibility to make individual and collective decisions that impact the school and classroom.
- Feedback and reflection: Providing feedback to teachers is a catalyst for a strong school culture, and its builds relationships, reinforces the value of effective teaching, and provides opportunities for teachers to reflect on their practice with renewed energy and focus.
- Resource priorities: Providing resources and “safe landings” for teachers to try new strategies is conducive to a culture that supports an innovative mindset.
- Support and care: Peer observation, professional dialogue, and advice from colleagues are instrumental to a school’s culture and the well-being of its teachers.
- Sense of belonging: A sense of belonging has an impact on commitment and motivation in the workplace, which translates into greater retention, pride, and motivation.
- Teacher advancement: Opportunities are created for teachers to be leaders and experts in their fields.
Philip D. Lanoue is co-founder of Kadem Education and has served as a teacher, principal and superintendent. He was recognized in 2015 as AASA’s National Superintendent of the Year and in 2017 as one of TrustED’s top 20 Education Thought Leaders.
Robert R. Neu is co-founder of Kadem Education and senior director of institutional improvement at Cognia. He has served as a teacher, coach, principal, and superintendent and been a member of the College Board’s National Superintendents Advisory Council.
