School Culture and FEPSI

1. School Culture and FEPSI How to Use FEPSI Data to Improve A School ‘s Culture

3. School Culture Review • Deal and Peterson (1993) have offered the most succinct definition of school culture. They simply state it is an "inner reality.“ • Robbins and Alvy (1995) expand the definition by stating that "This inner reality reflects what organizational members care about, what they are willing to spend time doing, what and how they celebrate, and what they talk about. " 

4. CULTURE vs. CLIMATE • CULTURE • Personality of school • Shared experiences (both in and outside the school) • Traditions • Celebrations • Sense of Community • Norms, Values, Symbols and Stories • CLIMATE • Physical Appearance • Outward Indicators • Displays of student work • Safe and welcoming environment

5. General Assumptions on School Improvement • Student achievement improves when teaching improves. • Teaching improves through programs and interventions that bring: • High-quality professional development • Adequate resources • Evidence-based strategies and curricula • Effective programs or interventions work only when they are fully implemented. • Full implementation is most likely when school climate (teacher support, culture, environment) is positive.

6. FEPSI Inventory Dimensions • Expectations (everyone can learn) • Order (discipline & respect) • Collaboration (working together) • Leadership (supportive, strong) • Instruction (good instructional program) • Environment (pride in school) • Involvement (parents & community)

7. Higher Student Achievement Improved Teaching Effective Program Implementation Positive School Culture Effective School Hierarchy

8. Higher Student Achievement Teaching to the Test Content-Based Curriculum Traditional Assumptions That ImproveStudent Achievement

9. Positive School Culture • Teacher effects are far more powerful determinants of student achievement than are program effects. • Where school culture is positive: • Good teachers are more likely to remain. • Programs can be better implemented. • Teaching & learning can be more easily improved.

10. FEPSI Data • Of all the instruments included in the Formative Evaluation Process for School Improvement, the SCI is the least program-specific. Rather, it addresses environmental issues that are foundational to program success in any school. • It is most important that the entire faculty be involved in processing this information and in making resultant school improvement decisions. • It is recommended that the principal, facilitator, or a teacher leader become familiar with the school climate profile and assist the entire group in being able to read and understand the report. • FEPSI Data can be analyzed to be use in the development of the ACSIP Plan

11. Analysis of FEPSI DATA • Find out what dimensions /items are in need need immediate attention • Look at 3 year data (Highest and Lowest) • Determine if dimension/ items are improving or declining • Use a strategic process to report strengths and weaknesses in dimension/items to total group • (T-chart, Fishbone, Graphs, Histograph, Non-Linguistic Representations) • Determine reasons for increase/decline • Celebrate all successes with group and continue plan for improvement

12. Fax (501) 983-8218 SAMPLE FEPSI/ACSIP Planning Meeting SAMPLE February 20 • WELCOME……………….. • Kathy Pflughoeft • Group Norms and Outcomes for the Day ………. • Cindy Thomas • Team Building Exercise……….FISH STICKS……….Celebrations • Karen Sullards/Gean Vines • Power Point – Data Driven Decision in a Professional Learning Community School  • REVIEW Mission/Vision and FEPSI REPORT (SCI & SOMS)………. • Angela McGee • DISCUSS HOW TO USE THE FEPSI GUIDEBOOK • BREAK OUT GROUPS • REPORT BACK WITH CELEBRATIONS/NEEDS • Process - Histograph

13. IMPLEMENTATION BENCHMARKS • Gean Vines • USE FEPSI DATA TO DETERMINE EACH PHASE (BY CONSENSUS) • Process…..Fishbone Problem Technique to analyze areas that have been identified (choose 2) • Add Benchmarks if Needed • REVIEW ACSIP/ACTION PLANS • Traci Perdue • BREAK OUT GROUPS IN THE THREE AREAS: • MATH-LITERACY-SCHOOL CLIMATE • GROUP REPORTS • REFLECTIONS/EVALUATIONS • Give a man a fish and he can eat • Eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he can eat for a lifetime . • Chinese Proverb

14. FEPSI DATA CAN • Identify strengths and weaknesses of the school’s culture and programs. • Identify problems early in the implementation process of new instructional programs • Document success as positive feedback to school staff • Provide supportive evidence for Celebrations and provide starting points for improvement • Base improvement planning on objective data. • Formalize schools’ accountability or success of its instructional programs.

15. Higher Student Achievement Improved Teaching Effective Program Implementation Positive School Culture School Culture…The Foundation on which School Improvement rests

16. Sound Advice “Improvement is essentially a school-by-school process, enlightened by the degree to which those associated with each school working to improve it have the data required for building a useful agenda” . --John Goodlad , University of Washington “The relationships among the adults in schools are the basis, the pre-condition, the sine qua non that allow, energize and sustain all attempts at school improvement. Unless adults talk with one another, observe one another, and help one another, very little will change. --Roland Barth, Founder, Harvard Principal’s Center “Even in schools with toxic or threadbare cultures, it is possible to find things worth celebrating. Those stories, values and traditions provide a vital point for updating, reinvigorating, and reframing the school’s identity and culture”. --Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal, School Culture Researchers