Introduction

Recently we read an account of a person who blindly followed the direc-

tions on his GPS, drove directly into the path of an oncoming train, and was
nearly killed. This event reminded us of a school leader who is following a
reasonable, research-based plan of school improvement only to be
blindsided by opposing reactions that seem to come from nowhere and are
often fatal to school-improvement efforts. As baby boomers move closer to
retirement, the new generation of school leaders has fewer experiences, more
pressure to improve student achievement, and less patience from the com-
munity to wait for results. Although some new leaders are better equipped to
lead instruction than their older colleagues, most are still being prepared in
university programs that have changed little since the baby boomers were
trained to be administrators. A positive and supportive school culture is the
only ground in which school improvement can be nurtured and can flourish.
Improving a toxic culture is one of the most difficult challenges any school
leader faces. The experienced leaders who contributed to this book and to our
earlier book, From At-Risk to Academic Excellence, What Successful Leaders Do,
spoke often about the complexities of improving school culture. They also ex-
pressed concern for their younger counterparts as they attempt to lead this
important work. As one successful leader put it, “The stakes and expecta-
tions are high, patience and time are short.” We wrote this book to remind the
seasoned leader about the complex issues around improving the school cul-
ture and to give the new leader a sense of direction to avoid the “train wreck”
that derails so many school-improvement efforts. We hope the insights of the
successful leaders in this book will support the development of school cul-
tures that nurture quality teaching and increase learning for all students. The
story that follows is a clear indication that the effort to meet the needs of all
students is not a new one.

The Animal School: A Fable

by George Reavis
Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something he-
roic to meet the problems of a new world, so they organized a
school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running,

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© 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
 climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer
the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.
The duck was excellent in swimming, in fact, better than his in-
structor. But he made only passing grades in flying and was very
poor in running. Because he was slow in running, he had to stay
after school and also drop swimming to practice running. This was
kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn, and he was only
average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so no-
body worried about that, except the duck.
The rabbit started at the top of the class in running but had a ner-
vous breakdown because of so much makeup work in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustra-
tion in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the
ground up instead of the treetop down. He also developed a “char-
lie horse” from overexertion and then got a C in climbing and D in
running.
The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the
climbing class, he beat all the others to the top of the tree but in-
sisted on using his own way to get there.
At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceeding
well and also run, climb, and fly a little had the highest average and
was valedictorian.
The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy be-
cause the administration would not add digging and burrowing to
the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to a badger and
later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful pri-
vate school.

This story was written by George Reavis when he was the assistant super-
intendent of the Cincinnati Public Schools back in the 1940s. Although “The
Animal School” is more than 60 years old, we feel it is just as relevant today as
it was when it was written. That it maintains its relevancy says a great deal
about the lack of authentic change that has occurred in education in the last
60 years. It is true that the quality and diversity of the tools available to edu-
cators has increased exponentially since the 1940s, and one would think that
those tools would have provided for continuous and sustained improvement
of the profession. However, the truth of the matter is that even the finest tools
are of little use in the hands of the unskilled or the unwilling. When a story
written about the shortcomings of public education in the middle of the last
century is still an accurate depiction of many schools today, it is a clear indi-

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© 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
 cation of the impediments to substantive change that exist in the educational
community. One such impediment is often school culture.
There are several ways to improve schools. The authors believe that the
following three are most critical.
1. We need to change the way schools and school districts choose
and train leaders.
2. We need to examine and change school culture. Schools are going
through dynamic change affecting parents, students, the commu-
nities, and student learning. The data indicate that increasing
numbers of youngsters are not being served by the schools they
attend. School culture needs to support student learning, parent,
family, and community involvement and staff and teacher
participation.
3. We need to create high-performing classrooms. The business
“cascading model” doesn’t work in a school environment where
the “worker bees” have as much education and frequently more
experience than the school leaders. We endorse a model where in-
novation percolates from the classroom as well as cascading
down from the administrative offices. Creating high-performing
classrooms “where the rubber hits the road” is a critical piece in
school improvement.
Many schools have examined their school culture, uncovered challenges
and weaknesses, and made the necessary changes. Unfortunately, the data
indicate that far more needs to be done. Let’s look at some data:
n Fifteen percent of high schools have been labeled “dropout facto-
ries” graduating less than 50% of their entering freshman class.
n Fifteen states produce almost 80% of all school dropouts.

n Almost 46% of all teachers who leave the profession in their first 5
years do so because of a lack of administrative support.
n Parents are under increased financial pressure working two or
more jobs to feed, clothe, and house their children. They frequently
are unable to visit schools or get involved with their child’s educa-
tion.
As in our previous book, From At Risk to Academic Excellence: What Success-
ful Leaders Do, we sent surveys to school leaders across the country and asked
how they addressed the issue of school culture. From those who replied (see
the list of contributors) we were able to gain valuable insights, and these have
been displayed throughout this book. Site visits were paid to a number of the
schools so that the authors could see for themselves how the schools ad-
dressed the issue of improving their culture. In addition, several tools for ef-

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© 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
 fecting cultural change are included throughout the text of the book. Our in-
tent is to highlight excellent school cultures and to provide readers with
enough tools to assist them in their effort to improve their own school
culture.
Scores of metaphors have been used to describe the complexity and
ever-changing nature of school culture, but one of the most descriptive, and
appropriate, is Richard DuFour’s metaphor of school culture as a garden.
Like a garden, a school’s culture is always changing; it is dynamic and is in
constant need of care. A school’s culture is influenced by both external and
internal factors. Indeed, like a garden, if left untended, a school’s culture de-
generates into a disheveled mess of weeds and waste where little, if any, of
the original crop ever makes it to maturity and bears fruit. In such instances,
it is imperative that the gardeners, the school leaders, are intimately aware of
what they are trying to grow so that they know the proper kind and amount
of nutrients, herbicides, pesticides, and watering to use. It is important to
note that with the proper amount of fertilizer, any garden can flourish; how-
ever, too much can kill everything. It is the hope of the authors that the con-
tent of this book will provide insight, practices, and concrete examples that
will help any school leader answer the age-old question, “How does your
garden grow?”

xviii ◆ Creating School Cultures that Embrace Learning

Reproduced with permission from Thacker, Bell & Schargel, Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning.
© 2009 by Eye On Education, Inc., Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com