By Peter W. Cookson, Jr.
For the last several years I have immersed myself in the world of high poverty schools to better understand how we can create schools that are second to none for all children. Throughout my travels, I wondered why some schools were depressing and disengaged and others joyful and on fire with learning. What is the magic ingredient that turns failure into success? In time the answer became obvious — culture precedes policy. Lasting school transformation begins with sharing, renewal and conviction. When a school community believes, in its heart of hearts, that all children can learn, success becomes a way of life. As one deep poverty school leader told me, “Before you restructure, you really have to reculture.”
Lasting Transformation is Home-Grown
Reculturing means investing in people. Inspired, informed people are the rocket fuel of lasting change. The most important thing I learned in my travels is that when the soil of school and district transformation is enriched by a culture of cooperation, compassion and common purpose, creating new and lasting designs for learning arise naturally from authentic relationships. Smart districts invest in their community and avoid investing in “silver bullets” shot from afar by consulting companies — you can’t rent commitment or lease a love of children. Reculturing means learning about your students’ lives for real; a North Carolina middle school principal spoke from experience:
One day you get out there and see actually where the children you serve on a daily basis come from. Several teachers came back after delivering food and broke down in tears telling me what they saw. A student living in a home with no roof: they’ve got a tarp for a roof kept on by bricks and tires. Homes didn’t have doors.
Reculturing comes from within as we struggle to become the change we wish to see in others; our sense of self and our affirmation of mission are heightened when we walk down the crumbling unpaved roads that crisscross communities of concentrated poverty, shop at neighborhood grocery stores where healthy food is a novelty and prices are inflated, and drive by broken-down playgrounds. Home visits and community walks are wake-up calls that have the power to instill in us a profound appreciation for the courage and dreams of our students who struggle every day with the obstacles put in their way by an indifferent and sometimes cruel society.
Transformation Means Community Affirmation
Compassionate, inclusive and identity-safe communities strive to become beloved communities. In the words of educational visionary bell hooks, beloved communities are spaces of liberation and recognition shaped “not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.” Preparing to restructure by reculturing means setting time aside to truly hear and appreciate the hopes and dreams of the whole teaching and learning community with depth and compassion. Inclusion for the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand means a “weaver of family connections.” Reculturing means lowering defenses, elevating trust, connecting and creating family. In the words of the former superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public School System Rudy Crew, “How can schools connect us to our best selves as individuals, communities, and cultures so we can meet the future with strength and creativity?” A good way to start our journey to deep connections is through story-telling, listening circles and sharing our buried idealism. Authenticity and candor empower us to move from “I” to “We” — the real educational revolution of the 21st century.
Framing the Future with Facts
Wisdom and history tell us knowledge is power. What is true beyond school walls, is equally true within school communities. Many of us in education pay scant attention to data; we prefer to wing it and/or “trust our gut.” This is a mistake. Data is a way of communicating that has the power to turn connection into action. Reculturing requires a transformation of the head as well as the heart. As one assistant principal explained, “You can’t make good decisions if you don’t know all the information. You’re only making decisions in a narrow frame.” If we are serious about transforming failure factories into schools that are second to none, we need evidence that points to sound planning, careful and accurate assessments, and a deep understanding of student learning. No one knows exactly what the future holds, but we can make better predictions if we base them on data and a willingness to pursue the truth, using facts instead of fictions. Beloved communities are not self-reverential communities that shut out the real world; on the contrary, they thrive on facts, inquiry and debate. Reculturing opens the school house door to let in fresh air where transparency and honest differences of opinion flourish. No one has the whole truth; we piece the truth together bit-by-bit.
Finally, Don’t Forget Joy
When you walk in the front door of a school, how does it make you feel? Happy? Sad? Hopeful? First impressions matter. Drab hallways almost always lead to drab classrooms where drab teaching is incubated. But when hallways are filled with hope and happiness, we feel privileged and excited to be in the company of learners and in a school where the future is happening. I have visited many high poverty schools that are beacons of hope to their students and communities. Joyfulness is the rocket fuel of transformation; when we are invited into a future we can see, hear and feel we discover our buried talents and forgotten dreams. During the course of my travels, I found that student art, poetry and posters can sometimes tell you more about a school than a library of top-down strategic plans. Reculturing opens imaginations and connects communities in common purpose – it prepares the ground for school transformations based on a shared humanity and a resolve that all children can learn.
About the Author
Peter W. Cookson, Jr. is a senior research fellow at the Learning Policy Institute and teaches at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. He is the author of School Communities of Strength, published by Harvard Education Press.