{"id":6985,"date":"2016-07-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/get-the-culture-right-the-most-important-new-school-factor\/"},"modified":"2020-02-27T14:47:28","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T19:47:28","slug":"get-the-culture-right-the-most-important-new-school-factor","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/get-the-culture-right-the-most-important-new-school-factor\/","title":{"rendered":"Get the Culture Right: The Most Important New School Factor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GS1\"This post originally appeared at Getting Smart<\/a> on June 28, 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAttend to your culture,\u201d said Jim May who supports about 25 new schools each year for\u00a0New Tech Network<\/a>. \u201cFrom certificates of occupancy to emergency plans to hiring, the list of operational realities that must be addressed when starting a new school is immense. Thus, it can be easy to overlook the importance of your staff and student culture during those early days. However, it is imperative that even amidst the swirl of starting the school that you are intentional about establishing a strong set of cultural norms and rituals that can animate your work in the coming year.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s most important when opening a new school? I asked 20 experts who have collectively opened more than a thousand schools. They shared 70 hard-won lessons and it\u2019s clear that getting the culture right is the single most important factor in the long-term success of a school.<\/p>\n

Opening a great school is an enormously complicated project. It involves real estate, construction, financing, logistics and marketing, which most educators don\u2019t initially know anything about.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of us who want to start schools because we like instruction, but the one thing no one tells us is that when you start a school, 90% of what who do early on has nothing to do with instruction,\u201d said Dr. Nicole Assisi, Thrive Public Schools<\/a>, who has opened five southern California schools.<\/p>\n

Andy Calkins, whose\u00a0Next Generation Learning Challenges<\/a>\u00a0has sponsored 100 new schools said, \u201cYou will be tempted to immerse yourself in the vast sea of logistical details starting a school entails, to the point of losing sight of the big picture: focusing on orienting your students\/families and immediately establishing the culture-building that is so crucial to school and student success. Don\u2019t lose sight of that. Everything else at the start is a detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GS2\"\u201cPay attention to culture,\u201d said Pat DeKlotz,\u00a0Kettle Moraine School District<\/a>, who has sponsored four charter schools that operate inside district schools (like KM Global, right). \u201cListen to students and take the time to nurture the human element. People want identify and purpose. Build that into the culture of your school and you will go far. The processes are important only as long as they bring people along.<\/p>\n

If the students are engaged in the learning, they will communicate their success to the parents. A shared vision isn\u2019t shared if it is told. It only becomes shared when people participate in making meaning of it, together, co-creating the work. The \u201cwhy\u201d of what you are doing needs to permeate each individual involved, students, staff, partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making the Best of a Bad Situation<\/h2>\n

More than slogans on the wall or values in a brochure, culture comes down to what you do and say. \u201cBuild the culture you want because if you don\u2019t a culture will form and you might not like it,\u201d said Diane Tavenner. \u201cThe thing about culture\u2013values, beliefs, behavioral norms, traditions and rituals\u2013 is you ALWAYS have to make decisions and behave in alignment, even in the 90 day countdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GS3\"\u201cThere is no version of launching a new school where something does not go wrong,\u201d said Jim May. When something goes wrong, think of it as a culture-building opportunity, a chance to \u201cstrengthen relationships and foster resilience.\u201d (Bulldog Tech in San Jose, right, is part of the New Tech Network.)<\/p>\n

If you want a culture that values innovation you need to identify the process that your school will use to manage it. \u201cThe most innovative schools succeed because they consistently improve their 1.0 school models,\u201d said Alex Hernandez. \u201cIt\u2019s easy for innovation to stop once the kids show up because the team gets overwhelmed with the demands of running a school, particularly when something goes wrong. And, it always will when you\u2019re opening a new school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culture On-Ramp<\/h2>\n

\u201cSpend quality time on-boarding ALL, not just new teachers\u2013emphasizing a \u2018high expectations and whatever it takes\u2019 culture,\u201d said Terry Grier, former Houston ISD superintendent.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvest heavily in the orientation experience,\u201d said Jim May. He noted that it is common for new school staffs to benefit from only a couple of hours of orientation before the first day of school. \u201cThis represents a monumental opportunity missed. There are very few moments over the course of a school year where you can frame your mission, catalyze the collective energy of your team and set a direction for the school as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your school is pursuing personalized, next generation learning, teachers need to experience it fully themselves, as learners, before they can enable their students to embrace it,\u201d said Andy Calkins. \u201cDon\u2019t think in terms of hours of PD, think how can we develop, with teachers, a strong culture of on-going professional learning?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about how to help students acculture themselves to your learning environment,\u201d said Alex Hernandez, Charter School Growth Fund<\/a>, has supported more than 500 new schools. \u201cWill there be a bootcamp or other introductory experience? How do you want to set the tone around student voice, student agency, joy, etc. To borrow the popular phrase: culture eats strategy for lunch.<\/p>\n

\"GS4\"Culture as Precondition for Great Teaching<\/h2>\n

\u201cGreat teaching and learning is built on a foundation of great culture, so start with culture as a critical path for your teachers, parents and students,\u201d said Mike Feinberg, co-founder of KIPP<\/a>, a national network of 183 high performing schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeaching and living the values should be intentional, explicit and full of joy,\u201d said Aaron Brenner of 1 World Network of Schools<\/a>, a nonprofit sharing lessons from KIPP with communities worldwide (including a school in Israel; see student picture, right). Brenner added:<\/p>\n