Why “School Culture” Deserves Strategic Attention
School leaders rarely lack urgent tasks. Between staffing shortages, student needs, compliance requirements, and the daily unpredictability of school operations, many principals describe their work as a constant shift between priorities. Yet research and field observation repeatedly point to one factor that quietly determines whether improvement efforts take root or stall: school culture.
In a study of principals at three high-performing schools serving low socioeconomic status communities, a clear pattern emerged. These schools faced familiar barriers—poverty, fewer material and human resources, higher proportions of students whose primary language is not English, parents with less formal education, and a disproportionate number of under-qualified teachers. Despite these constraints, students achieved strong academic outcomes. The differentiator was not a single program or schedule change. It was the deliberate, sustained work of principals to create a positive school culture that promoted learning and engagement for both students and adults.
What High-Performing Principals Do Differently
The principals studied still handled the expected responsibilities of instructional leadership—aligning instruction to standards, pursuing continuous improvement, and designing instruction for student success. They also developed partnerships with parents and community members. What set them apart was how they prioritized culture as the foundation that made all other improvement strategies more effective.
In practical terms, culture was not treated as a slogan on a poster. It was built through consistent actions that helped people feel valued, supported, and clear about where the school was headed. When culture is strong, teachers are more willing to collaborate, try new methods, and persist through setbacks. When culture is weak, even well-designed initiatives can become compliance exercises.
The “Engine” of Improvement: Culture Enables Continuous Growth
One example from the study illustrates how culture drives results. A principal seeking to increase reading comprehension actively asked for teacher suggestions and treated those ideas as professional expertise—not as optional feedback. Teacher suggestions became action plans, and those plans were implemented. Because teachers felt respected and had latitude to try new approaches, the school developed an “unbroken cycle” of continuous improvement.
This matters for any school improvement plan: the plan is only as strong as the professional environment that supports it. A positive culture creates psychological safety for educators to take instructional risks, learn from data, and iterate—without fear of blame.
Two High-Leverage Culture-Building Priorities
Across the three schools, principals invested in many day-to-day activities that strengthened relationships and learning capacity—visiting teachers before class, greeting students at entry, and protecting common planning time. However, two categories of actions stood out as especially significant:
- Creating a sense of belonging
- Providing a clear direction for students, staff, parents, and community
1) Creating a Sense of Belonging
Belonging for Students: Relationships Before Scores
When asked about major goals for the building, the principals did not begin with test scores. They began with relationships. One principal described a central aim: ensuring students develop a relationship with caring adults in the building. The logic was straightforward—students who feel known and supported are more likely to attend, engage, and persist academically.
This aligns with broader insights cited in the article: for students from backgrounds of poverty, relationships can be a primary motivator for success. Learning is more likely to occur when students have positive relationships with teachers and when instruction connects to students’ backgrounds and prior knowledge.
In other words, belonging is not “extra.” It is instructional infrastructure.
Belonging for Teachers: Team Identity and Professional Community
Belonging was also intentionally built for teachers. The principals created conditions where teachers felt empowered as part of a team working toward shared goals. A key structure was common planning time—protected time when teachers and principals could:
- Review achievement data together
- Seek support for specific students
- Discuss curriculum alignment
- Share instructional strategies
- Address job-embedded challenges in real time
Teachers in the study viewed this shared planning as vital for both professional growth and student academic growth. This approach closely resembles what many educators call a professional learning community (PLC): a shared mission and values, collective inquiry, collaborative teams, experimentation, continuous improvement, and a focus on results.
When these elements are present, schools often see practical benefits such as reduced teacher isolation, higher morale, increased efficacy, stronger retention, and more consistent instructional quality.
Belonging for Parents and Community: Complementary Partners
Each principal treated families and community members as complementary partners in student success. This was not limited to formal events. Principals gathered information informally through conversations during drop-off and pick-up, at school events, and in phone calls home. More formally, principals used needs assessment surveys to better understand parent needs and improve communication about students’ social and academic growth.
One school made an especially notable decision: despite limited funding, it invested in relationship-building roles (a parent volunteer coordinator and a public relations promoter). The message was clear—community connection was not a “nice to have.” It was a strategic priority.
2) Providing Clear Direction
Direction for Students: Goals, Visibility, and “I Can” Standards
In these schools, goal-setting was not abstract. Students participated in setting goals, charting progress, and developing action plans as part of daily practice. In one building, each classroom created a year-long goal and displayed it in the hallway. Progress was monitored and posted publicly, building awareness and ownership.
Academic standards were also made visible and understandable. Standards were posted in classrooms and often rewritten into student-friendly “I can” statements. These statements were not decorative—they were woven into daily lessons so students could connect their work to clear learning targets.
Direction for Teachers: Mission, Coherence, and Shared Practice
A cohesive schoolwide focus is easier to sustain when stakeholders share a mission, vision, and beliefs. In the schools studied, principals and teachers were familiar with the mission statement and used it as a guiding force for decisions. In one school, teachers developed the mission statement for the building, and the principal recited it over the announcements each morning—an example of how leaders make direction visible and routine.
Beyond mission, principals supported instructional coherence through strategies such as curriculum mapping and ongoing professional dialogue. Teachers and principals engaged in book studies, shared journal articles, and exchanged best practices in everyday settings—from meetings to hallway conversations. The cumulative effect was a culture where improvement was normal, expected, and supported.
Direction for Parents and Community: Consistent, Two-Way Communication
Clear direction extended to families as well. Schools used tools such as daily communication logs, homework folders, and data folders that showed student goals and progress. Parents reviewed these materials and responded regularly, creating a consistent feedback loop between home and school.
Principals and teachers also maintained contact through conferences, phone calls, and positive notes—not only when problems arose. This pattern helps build trust and reduces the “surprise factor” that can damage school-home relationships.
Implications for Today’s Schools (Including Service Partners)
Although the original article focuses on principals, the insights apply to anyone supporting schools—especially partners who provide specialized services remotely. At TinyEYE, we see how student progress in online therapy is influenced not only by the quality of clinical service, but also by the surrounding school culture: scheduling reliability, staff collaboration, family communication, and student readiness to engage.
When principals intentionally build belonging and direction, they create conditions where support services can integrate smoothly into the school day. Consider how a positive culture can strengthen service delivery:
- Belonging supports engagement: Students are more likely to participate consistently when they feel known, encouraged, and safe.
- Teacher collaboration improves carryover: When staff share strategies and align on goals, skill-building generalizes beyond a single session.
- Clear direction reduces friction: Shared routines, visible goals, and consistent communication make it easier to coordinate schedules, space, and expectations.
- Family partnership strengthens outcomes: Two-way communication helps families reinforce goals and understand progress.
In short, culture is not separate from achievement—it is a practical driver of how well improvement efforts and student supports function in real classrooms.
A Practical Reflection: Culture as a Daily Leadership Choice
The principals in these high-performing, high-need schools did not ignore academics. They strengthened academics by building the cultural conditions that allow adults and students to do hard things well—together. Their work suggests a useful reflection for any school leader: if culture is the “heart of improvement and growth,” then the daily choices that shape relationships, collaboration, and clarity are not peripheral. They are the work.
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