Organizational Culture and Schools: A Call for Leadership and Collaboration

Teasley, Martell L.

doi:10.1093/cs/cdw048

Cited by 31 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…We begin with a hypothesis: the variation among schools can be explained, at least in part, by differences in staff cultures that existed prior to the intervention. For the purpose of this article, we define staff culture as the shared beliefs, norms, values, and practices upheld by adult members of the school community [18,19]. While school culture includes both pupils and adults, for the purpose of this paper, we focus on the organizational culture defined and enacted by school staff and administrators.…”

Section: Staff Culture: a Factor To Consider When Implementing A Novel Programmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expectations and Assumptions: Examining the Influence of Staff Culture on a Novel School-Based Intervention to Enable Risky Play for Children with Disabilities

Grady-Dominguez

Ragen

Sterman

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Risky play is challenging, exciting play with the possibility of physical, social, or emotional harm. Through risky play, children learn, develop, and experience wellbeing. Children with disabilities have fewer opportunities than their typically developing peers to engage in this beneficial type of play. Our team designed a novel, school-based intervention to address this disparity; however, our intervention yielded unexpected quantitative results. In the present study, we qualitatively examined divergent results at two of the five schools that participated in the intervention. Specifically, we aimed to explore how staff culture (i.e., shared beliefs, values, and practices) influenced the intervention. To explore this relationship, we employed a retrospective, qualitative, multiple case study. We used thematic analysis of evaluative interviews with staff members to elucidate the cultures at each school. Then, we used cross-case analysis to understand the relationships between aspects of staff culture and the intervention’s implementation and results. We found that staff cultures around play, risk, disability influenced the way, and the extent to which, staff were willing to let go and allowed children to engage in risky play. Adults’ beliefs about the purpose of play and recess, as well as their expectations for children with disabilities, particularly influenced the intervention. Furthermore, when the assumptions of the intervention and the staff culture did not align, the intervention could not succeed. The results of this study highlight the importance of (1) evaluating each schools’ unique staff culture before implementing play-focused interventions and (2) tailoring interventions to meet the needs of individual schools.

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Section: Staff Culture: a Factor To Consider When Implementing A Novel Programmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expectations and Assumptions: Examining the Influence of Staff Culture on a Novel School-Based Intervention to Enable Risky Play for Children with Disabilities

Grady-Dominguez

Ragen

Sterman

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Studies related to teacher leadership have been on the rise in recent years as schools have endeavored to reformat instructional practices based on the input of expert teachers. Providing teacher leaders with the opportunity to take on roles and responsibilities outside of the traditional classroom develops a learning culture that drives institutional improvement (Cansoy & Parlar, 2017;Demir, 2015;Teasley, 2017). Teacher leadership, however, is largely dependent on the support of school administration.…”

Section: Teacher Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing the Leadership Capacity of Teachers: Theory to Practice

Carswell

2021

JSARD

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Today’s school leaders need to prioritize the development of leadership capacity in classroom teachers. Leadership development commonly involves either teachers expressing an interest in leadership or school leaders finding talent in those teachers whom they believe have the capacity to grow into formal leadership roles. School leaders must be able to recognize teachers who overflow with terrific ideas and leadership potential and those who are less likely to self-identify as leadership candidates. However, as a school administrator desires to cultivate leadership capacity in teachers, he or she must devise a plan. To accomplish this task effectively, best practices and theory must be utilized. Therefore, this essay addresses the use of best practices as identified in the literature to promote a positive school climate, collaboration, motivation, reflective practice, and teacher leadership development.

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“…The internal public consists of students and all certified and classified staff. Relationships between the principal and all staff are the key to building a collaborative school culture (Teasley, 2017) The principal is the ultimate role model for students and teachers. She should exemplify and model the school's vision and values in every interaction.…”

Section: Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

School and Community Relations in the Kansans Can School Redesign Project

Mitchell¹

2020

Educational Considerations

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The earliest cohort of volunteer schools, named the Mercury and Gemini I Projects, were led by the two KSDE redesign specialists through a planning process that included engaging community stakeholders in developing a shared vision for their redesigned and innovative school. Many of the earliest launch schools proved to be very successful in engaging stakeholders to collect authentic feedback early in the process. However, even with these attempts, some school districts were surprised by pushback from stakeholders early in the implementation phase of the Redesign. This paper will review pertinent literature regarding best practices for family, school, and community engagement when initiating major change initiatives. The section entitled "A Tale of Two Districts" will describe scenarios from details that took place in several redesign districts. The conclusion will be a reflection by the author, who is one of the redesign specialists, on lessons learned, that may help to inform future schools who are attempting a large-scale innovation.

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Organizational Culture and Schools: A Call for Leadership and Collaboration

Cited by 31 publications

References 1 publication

Expectations and Assumptions: Examining the Influence of Staff Culture on a Novel School-Based Intervention to Enable Risky Play for Children with Disabilities

Expectations and Assumptions: Examining the Influence of Staff Culture on a Novel School-Based Intervention to Enable Risky Play for Children with Disabilities

Developing the Leadership Capacity of Teachers: Theory to Practice

School and Community Relations in the Kansans Can School Redesign Project

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