Your start-up menu for super-charged culture change

There's an invisible thread woven through your school that defines everything from dress codes to student success. It's your school culture, and reshaping it will yield highly visible improvements for teachers and students. Leslie Kaplan and William Owings guide you in improving leadership, teaching, learning, confidence, and trust throughout your school.

Culture Re-Boot reframes school culture to include organizational learning, relational trust, accountability, program improvement, and teacher effectiveness while showing you how to:

• Be the transformational leader your school needs to reinvigorate your school culture
• Establish a student-centered learning culture focused on student outcomes
• Engage teachers in culture-focused leadership teams that support teacher and student learning
• Get parents and community on-board to collaborate for student achievement
• Connect professional development and school culture for maximum results

Packed with hands-on culture re-boot activities to help school leaders and faculty revitalize their school's values and practices, this practical handbook for school improvement will energize your school's culture and build the capacity to help all students succeed.

"Ever since Seymour Sarason wrote his seminal book on The Culture of Schools and the Problem of Change, we have known that 'culture' is at the heart of all organizational performance. But reformers keep forgetting this key fact. Kaplan and Owings' book changes all that. Now in one place you can find everything you need to know to 're-boot' you own school's culture."
—Michael Fullan, Author of Motion Leadership

"As a principal focused on student achievement and school climate, I am excited to begin using these strategies and discussions to drive our conversations to a deeper and more meaningful level. The combination of school culture, professional learning community, and teacher/community leadership provides a compelling and unique exploration of real methods to sustain student achievement and school improvement."
—William Richard Hall, Jr., Principal
R. C. Longan Elementary School, Henrico, VA

• Focused, readable, and authoritative chapters on key aspects of school culture which impact teaching and learning and which can generate professional development.
• Activities are located immediately following major concepts in each chapter. These reflective and practical exercises help readers find personal and shared meaning and relevance from the ideas just discussed, build collegial teams, and begin applying these ideas to their own school.
• Presents questions and surveys to use in identifying and assessing school culture and planning for improvement.
• Addresses important topics that aren't typically covered in existing books on school culture, such as trust, establishing a student-centered learning culture with a focus on student outcomes, building professional capacity, and cultivating teacher leadership.