A case study of a school-based reform of a public middle school: Using collaborative action strategies to transform a school culture for continuous improvement and success

This qualitative, collaborative-action-research case study verifies and expands theory that school culture is key to school improvement, and that significant cultural change occurs when a focus group of educational change agents collaborates with a participant-observer to improve and transform the performance norms of a public middle-school culture (Deal & Peterson, 1996; Saphier & King, 1985; Schein, 1983, 1985). Diverse internal constituents, rather than external sources, used collaborative action research to uncover new ways of shaping school cultural norms, values, beliefs, and assumptions. Reflective interviews, comparative dialogue, taped anecdotal conversations, a culture survey, shadowing observations, and documents gathered data; document, comparative, and content analysis thereof quantified and validated participants' qualitative, thematic responses.; Major findings include (a) 1 normative and 10 other developable school-culture traits, (b) transformed school-leadership norms, (c) increased performance norms, (d) increased student performance, (e) improved student behavior, and (f) below-standard achievement gaps for African American, Latino, and English-language learners per the No Child Left Behind Act (2002). The achievement and success of the entire school community were linked to the performance of the focus group and the school staff. Findings indicate that more research is needed to discover more ways of interacting with the parents, school staff, students, and entire school community to transform the school culture norms of performance for continuous improvement. An academically effective school is distinguished by its culture: a structure, process, and climate of values and norms that channel staff and students in the direction of successful teaching....The logic of the cultural model is such that it points to increasing the organizational effectiveness of a school building and is neither grade level nor curriculum specific. (Purkey & Smith, 1982, p. 68) This paradigm shift in educational reform movements acknowledges that "culture is the glue that holds the tangible issues [such as] test scores [and] standards for teachers and administrators together" (Fiore, 2000b, p. 10). Understanding the culture of a school is critical to successful restructuring efforts. Cultural change supports the teaching-learning process, which leads to enhanced outcomes for students (Fullan, 1994, p. 44; Hopkins, Ainscow, & West, 1994; Wagner & Masden-Copes, 2002).; Keywords. reshaping public middle school education, transforming school-based culture, school-based reform, reculturing schools, organizational transformation, transformational leadership, transformational learning, and transforming professional development.