Case Study: Shaping School Culture

Case Study: Shaping School Culture

You have served as an assistant principal for one year in a middle school (grades 4-8) that has received a grade of “D” as a school accountability label. Due to recent changes and the retirement of the principal, you apply for the open position and the Superintendent selects you to be the principal for the next school year. Your knowledge of your internal and external community, along with the various school and district systems, plays a critical role in your summer planning for the upcoming school year.

Your school has had a reputation of being a “tough” school. Your student body is made up of mostly lower-income families who live primarily in single-family homes, condominiums, and federally subsidized apartments. Demographically, the school is culturally diverse, with Hispanic students making up the largest ethnic group. You also have the highest African American student population within the district. The school has approximately 700 students, 33 full-time general education teachers, 1 full-time special education teacher and 1 gifted education teacher. Your teaching staff has remained stable in key areas, but you know that you will need to hire seven teachers across the grade levels. A large percentage of your teachers are experienced veterans, many of whom have outlived at least 14 administrators that have come through the campus.

As you sit in your office in July, you become overwhelmed as you begin sifting through numerous piles of information - student achievement data, the School Improvement Plan (SIP), discipline data, teacher observations, the previous principal’s files, etc. You know you have to find ways to positively influence your outcomes, in particular student achievement, as you are considered by the state as being in need of school improvement. You also know that your student achievement outcomes will not change unless the student discipline data improves. Bottom line, it is obvious that students are missing a tremendous amount of instructional time due to behavioral issues and the assigned consequences. Where do you begin?

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