Building Strong School Cultures: A Guide to Leading Change

by Sharon Kruse, Karen Seashore Louis

Overview

Develop an integrated school culture that engages educators with their colleagues and communities!

This resource calls on principals to create a viable, sustainable school culture using the professional community, organizational learning, and trust to affect teaching and learning. Part of the Leadership for Learning series, this volume presents a leadership approach that integrates teachers, parents, and community members into a coherent team. The authors examine schools that have achieved lasting cultural change and present practical strategies for:

• Diagnosing and shaping a school culture
• Revising leadership functions to broaden decision-making processes
• Rethinking organizational structures
• Supporting continuous improvement while ensuring stability

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412951814
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	09/18/2008
Series:	Leadership for Learning Series
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Dr. Sharon D. Kruse is Academic Director and Professor at Washington State University- Vancouver. Her scholarship broadly addresses two concerns, (1) to help teachers and school leaders better understand the key role leadership plays in schools and (2) to explore how education is currently structured and influenced by social and organizational complexity. Kruse’s work focuses on understanding how schools can be better places for the children who attend them and the teachers who work in them. By focusing on the ways issues are framed, decisions are made and problems are identified she seeks to understand how schools can better educate and meet the needs of students. Kruse has served as a project level evaluator for six Teaching American Historygrants, and PI for evaluation of the Ohio Department of Education Supplemental Educational Services program. Kruse’s expertise in qualitative methods, developing interview and focus group protocols, data collection and analysis tools and interpretation contributes to the growing body of knowledge concerning organizational practices and outcome measures. Her recent publications include Building Strong School Cultures (with Karen Seashore Louis, 2009), Decision making for educational leaders: Under-examined dimensions and issues (with Bob L. Johnson Jr. 2009). She co-edits the Journal of Research on Leadership Education with Gordon Gates.

WSU link: https://education.wsu.edu/sharon-kruse/

Karen Seashore Louis is the Rodney Wallace Professor ofEducational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. Her area of expertise includes improvement in K–12 leadership and policy over the last 30 years, particularly in urban secondary schools. Louis also conducts research on organizational changes within higher education, with particular attention to faculty roles, and on international comparative policy in educational reform. A past president of Division A of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), she is a widely published author in the field. Recent books include Organizing for School Change, Leadership for Change and School Improvement: International Perspectives, Handbook of Educational Administration, Second Edition, and Organizational Learning in Schools. Louis earned a bachelor's degree in History from Swarthmore College and a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword by E. Joseph Schneider and Willis D. Hawley
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
1. Changing School Culture: An Introduction and Overview
School Cultures: Stable and Fluid or Stable and Fragile
Introducing PCOLT: Professional Community, Organizational Learning, and Trust
Intensified Leadership: An Introduction
Intensification and Beyond "Quick Fixes"
Summary and Overview of the Book
Recommended Readings and Culture Activities
2. Principals as Cultural Change Agents
Cultures and Subcultures in Schools
Management and Leadership
Paths to Cultural Management and Leadership
Conclusion
Additional Readings and Activities for Getting Started
3. Diagnosing Your School Culture: Understanding Where You Are
The Basics of Cultural Diagnosis
Diagnosing Your School Culture
Diagnosis and Intensified Leadership for Cultural Change
Culture Resources and Activities
4. Linking Leadership and School Culture
Leadership and Decision Making
Intensifying Leadership at Your School
Intensifying Leadership by Building PCOLT
Vigilance and Strong School Cultures
Conclusion
Reflections and Activities for Developing School Culture
5. Networks, Networking, and Cultural Change
Webs and Nets
Thinking About Networks
Cautions
Next Steps
Reflections and Goal-Setting Activities
6. Intensifying Leadership Through Partnerships With Districts
Thinking About District-School Relationships
Rethinking Organizational Structures and Cultures
Influencing District-School Relationships
Moving Forward
Conclusion
Reflections and Activities
7. Schools and Communities: Working With the Enduring Dilemmas of Time and Accountability
Student Learning and Development: A Foundation
Schools as Agencies for Democracy
Social Capital and Civic Capacity
Schools as Moral Agencies
Conclusion
Web Resources, Activities, and Reflections
8. Bringing It All Together: Concluding Themes and Thoughts
The Art of Balance
Implications for Action and Growth
A PCOLT Planning Guide
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This timely book is a delight. It sets a new agenda for leadership and achieves the rare goal of combining practical tools and rich vignettes with analytical reflections based on sound research."

Kathryn Riley

"Standing on the back of their groundbreaking research on school culture, Kruse and Seashore Louis provide an insightful and very practical guide that should be a must-read for anyone preparing to become a school leader."

Kenneth Leithwood

"A manageable, well-rehearsed plan for discussion, research, and lots of reflective thought for any school leader willing to go the extra journey to develop their own leadership and the culture in which they desire to lead."

Teresa P. Cunningham

"An important companion to current research and good thinking about change. This book presents ideas, research, and great questions not often found in how-to manuals on school change."

Lyman Goding

"The book is an easy read, yet is on target and to-the-point. It provides a practical means by which to change school culture, often a necessary step to improved student achievement."

James L. Pate

"The book supports the development of leadership skills through well-digested research, combined with a highly effective constructivist approach for making sense of compelling stories andusing the dialogue stemming from that research. This book is highly useful for aspiring and practicing school principals."

Mary K. Culver