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Benchmark-Reviving the Professional Culture

Grand Canyon University: EAD-513

Lauren Barnes

6/24/20
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Summary 

For this case study I am taking over as the new principal of Maynard High School

beginning in July. Currently, I will be creating a plan to present to our superintendent on

how I will revive the school's culture.  Maynard High School is a public high school in its

second year serving 1,100 students 9th-11th grade and will add 12th grade next year.

Currently there are forty-five teachers, the budget is allowing nine more teachers next

school year, however seven teachers have given their notice that they will not be

returning next year. The principal and one of three assistant principals resigned after the

first semester, and currently there is a transition principal and assistant principal from the

district who will be serving in these positions until the end of the school year. Other staff

members include; three counselors with one more position opening next school year, a

receptionist, an attendance clerk, an administrative assistant for the principal, and two

administrative assistants supporting the assistant principals. Currently there are some

issues with the school’s culture because not all teachers are receiving an evaluation, and

some have even been given written evaluations without a formal evaluation. Also,

teachers are not required to use the standard curriculum provided, and the professional

development plan has not been followed through by not being consistently offered.

District provides professional development days as well, but these are also not provided

to the greatest potential, because teachers are given quick presentations and then in their

classrooms alone the rest of the time. There are also minimal collaborative learning

communities and professional learning communities, decreasing the amount of

collaboration opportunities amongst staff. 

Outcomes

To create a positive school culture there must be a strong mission and vision to

help guide the school in every decision made to help achieve its goals. Maynard High

School’s mission statement, “We strive to prepare all students to become lifelong learners

and responsible citizens ready to meet the challenges of the future. In partnership with

families and community, our goal is to create relevant learning opportunities for students

-- both inside and outside the classroom -- that help them develop the knowledge, critical

thinking skills, and character necessary to succeed in a technologically advanced world.

We honor quality and enable students to perform at their highest level of ability,” (Hart

High School. 2019). Maynard High School’s vision statement, “Maynard High School is

dedicated to a continuing tradition of excellence in an ever-changing world. Within a safe

and supportive environment, we provide a relevant, high-quality education and prepare

our diverse student body for future endeavors. We honor achievement and promote pride

in ourselves, in our school, and in our community,” (Hart High School. 2019).

Throughout the school year Maynard High School will be using the mission and vision to

achieve short-term and long-term outcomes. Within the first semester of taking over as

principal at Maynard High School I want all my teachers on board with implementing the

standard curriculum to help improve student test scores. I want teachers using the

curriculum that is provided so when we are collaborating about how to help our students,

we can have cross curricular discussions to help support our students achieve academic

success. Another short-term goal I want to achieve by the end of the semester is creating

positive professional learning communities by allowing teachers to have time in their

schedules to meet once a week and discuss how things are going and find ways to
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continue improving. I know we will have reached the outcome if teachers are showing

improvements during their formal observations and overall teacher to teacher, teacher to

student, and teacher to staff relationships are being built. At the end of the school year the

overall outcome I want the school to achieve is building relationships with parents,

students, and the community, if we do not have their support, we will not be a success.

Students need the support from not only their teachers but their parents, administration,

staff members, and the community. At the end of the school year we will send out a

survey to all staff, students, parents, and community partners to see if we have built

relationships and gained respect from our stakeholders. Another outcome I want to

achieve by the end of the upcoming school year is to increase teacher retention. To know

if Maynard High School is on track with achieving this goal, I will send out quarterly

surveys to teachers, asking their opinion on how their work environment is and what can

be improved for the next quarter. 

Collaboration of Data

“Schools are about people, and the foundation of a school’s climate and culture is

based on two essential components: communication and relationships,” (Brown, Vaughn,

2015, pg 32). As an educational leader my job is to provide students with opportunities

for success, and one way to do this is by collaboration. I will have an open-door policy

for all stakeholders; staff, students, families, and other community members. My goal is

to build relationships with each stakeholder so Maynard High School can serve each

individual need. Each week the leadership team will be sending out an email with

updates, announcements, and celebrations to students and families. Teachers will be

required to send out a weekly newsletter explaining what students will be learning and
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any other updates and announcements that may be important for students and families to

know. Maynard High School’s goal is to create a positive school culture this year where

students are going home to tell parents the exciting things, they are doing in class each

day. We want our families and community to know we are doing everything we can to

provide opportunities for student success. “Providing positive data to the school

community and parents through communication also has its benefits,” (Brown, Vaughn,

2015, pg 33). In order for us to know we are creating a positive school environment we

must collect and analyze data. One way we will see if we are achieving our goals is by

looking at student attendance. This will be data we include in our weekly updates to

students and families, letting them know that our data is showing what days students are

more likely to miss and including articles about student success and attendance

correlation. We also want to know what we are doing well and what areas we need to

improve, by sending out quarterly surveys to students and families. This way we can

collect data from the surveys to determine what changes we need to make for the next

quarter so we can achieve our year end goal. After each quarter we will also look at our

students' test scores on benchmark assessments and communicate to students and families

how we are doing compared to other schools in the district. We will want to celebrate

when we are showing success in any of these areas by sending emails, during monthly

pep rallies, and posting updates on the school’s website.  

Students and Families

“We need leaders who not only want to work in collaboration with students, staff,

and families, but believe that working with others will lead to a better solution,”

(DeWitt,2017, pg 29). At the beginning of the year we will have a welcome back night
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for students and families to come meet their teachers, staff, and the leadership team.

Throughout the year we will have family nights including, game night, curriculum night,

sports banquets. Within the quarterly surveys we will be asking students and families

what they think about events being held at the school and advice on what we need to

improve or continue doing. This information will help us respond to the interest of

students’ and families by building and sustaining positive school relationships with them.

To help build positive relationships with students and families I will be visible and

supporting students in classrooms and extracurricular activities. While attending

extracurricular activities I will talk with parents asking about how they are doing and

thanking them for coming to our events. It is important to build relationships with

students and families beyond just academics. 

Community 

The community surrounding our school has a huge impact on our school and our

students and staff have a huge impact on the community as well. My goal this next year

at Maynard High School is to build relationships with our community partners. We want

our students to add to society and to do so we will provide opportunities through school

programs for students to volunteer in the community. For example, FFA requires students

to serve so many hours of community service, our students will help improve our

community while serving these hours. Many of the sports teams will be looking for

sponsorships, and our local businesses will be who we want represented at our school.

We want our community to know we are serving our students to help them achieve

academic and social success. By sending our students out to volunteer and seek

sponsorships we will have prepared them to serve our community partners with respect
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and dignity. Another way we'll be building relationships with the community is by

holding fundraisers at local businesses. Some businesses will host a night for schools to

receive proceeds from that night's sales. During these fundraisers it is important for

leadership to be visible and having conversations with the community to build positive

relationships. Maynard High School will also be sure to invite the community to attend

board meetings so they are informed about what is going on in the schools and how it

could impact the community. Our goal is to inform the community about what our school

is doing so we can receive and give support to our community partners. 

Advocate

Before one can advocate for the needs and priorities of students, families, and the

community they must be informed. To help myself and Maynard High School be

informed I will join “National Association of Secondary School Principals,” to stay up to

date on the ever-changing world of education. “Stay informed about education policy

with NASSP in order to advocate for school safety, Title II funding in schools, protecting

the rights of all students with the Equality Act, and The Prep Act to support principal

preparation programs,” (NASSP,2019). The leadership team will work together with the

district and read any new statutes that may affect students, families, or the community.

Encouraging staff, families, and the community to participate at board meetings will help

inform stakeholders about changes being made that may influence them directly. When

there are new statutes or funding going through the legislature as an educational leader, I

will make sure to call lawmakers to help the voices in education be heard. 
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Rationale 

“Great school leaders constantly pay attention. They build a culture focused on

student learning. They confront mediocre teaching. They invite. They inspire. They

support families, students, and school staff in ways that lead to improvement. They want

to be trusted, not simply liked,” Nichole Leighton. While creating my plan I always kept

the thought, “What is the greatest good of all students,” they are the main priority and

every decision made will affect their success. It is also my goal to create a positive

culture for Maynard High School and in doing so I am wanting to build relationships with

stakeholders based on trust. The mission and vision statements I have chosen for next

school year will establish a student-centered environment that promotes social justice

within the school. The mission statement clearly states that we will prepare all students

and work in partnership with families and the community to create opportunities for

students. The vision statement is supporting a student-centered environment and social

justice by stating, “Within a safe and supportive environment, we provide a relevant, high

quality education and prepare our diverse study body for future endeavors,” (Hart High

School. 2019). Both short-term and long-term outcomes I have chosen will establish a

student-centered environment that promotes social justice within the school. By having

teachers use the standard curriculum to help improve test scores we are making sure

teachers are providing the best education for our students. We want to promote student

success and by creating professional learning communities, our staff will be collaborating

to create a positive learning environment that supports social justice. In order to provide

social justice, we will have to build relationships with students, families, and the

community to understand how to give equal opportunities to all, because equal does not
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mean everyone gets the same. Therefore, by the end of the school year Maynard High

School will have built positive relationships with students, parents, and the community.

In order to continue providing a high-quality education for our students we must be able

to retain teachers every year. By achieving this outcome, we will be able to continue

establishing a student-centered environment that promotes social justice within the

school. In the plan, we will be making sure to collaborate with leadership, staff, students’

families, and other community members about data collected pertaining to the school’s

success overall. This action is directly aligned to PSEL standard one element b, “In

collaboration with members of the school and the community and using relevant data,

develop and promote a vision for the school on the successful learning and development

of each child and on instructional and organizational practices that promote such

success,” (NPBEA,2015,pg 9). Maynard High School wants to go beyond collaborating

with students and families about data and build relationships by participating in

extracurricular activities, by showing support for students in academics and their

extracurricular activities. We also want to build relationships with our community by

helping them and gaining their support for our school as well. Students and staff will

participate in fundraisers and community service to help build a positive relationship with

our community partners. This action correlates to PSEL standard five element d,

“Promote adult-student, student-peer, and school-community relationships that value and

support academic learning and positive social and emotional development,”

(NPBEA,2015, pg 13). By building these relationships we will gain support to provide a

student-centered environment. Maynard High School will advocate publicly for the needs

and priorities of students, families, and the community. “Take action and stand up to
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improve education for all. Doing so can be easy and effective. Our students, teachers, and

communities need your action to make an impact,” (NASSP,2019). My plan to advocate

for education by joining NASSP and being the voice for our students with lawmakers is

promoting social justice for each individual student. In order to continue improving

education for our students, educational leaders need to continue advocating. 

References

Brown Philip, Vaughn Lisa, 2015, Communication: The Unspoken key to School

Culture, Pgs 32-36 

DeWitt Peter,2017, Hands Make Light Work, Pages 29-33

Hart High School. 2019. Mission and Vision Statements. Retrieved From:

https://www.harthighschool.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?

uREC_ID=319400&type=d&pREC_ID=727780

National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2019, The Principal Advocate: 5

Ways School Leaders Can Support Students, Teachers, and Communities

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2015). Professional Standards for

Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author.