This paper investigates how key elements of school culture are associated with teachers' capacity to find and act on new information. We analyzed survey data from 3,579 teachers located in 117 schools which were a randomly selected sample from 9 states in the US. We found that school cultural components such as academic press, student support, and…

Principals have a strong role to play in forming school cultures that encourage change. Changing a school's culture requires shared or distributed leadership and instructional leadership. A multiyear study found that three elements are necessary for a school culture that stimulates teachers to improve their instruction: 1) Teachers and…

Addresses relatively unsubstantiated claims of an important relationship between organizational culture and the ability to implement total quality management in schools. Results of this literature review suggest that some of the nine quality-management culture dimensions are highly consistent with school improvement research; others are more…

The type of professional community found within a school and its consequences for teachers' sense of responsibility for student learning were studied at 24 elementary, middle, and secondary schools through questionnaires completed by 910 teachers and interviews with 144. Results suggest wide variation in professional community among schools. (SLD)

A study examined the impact of school professional community on the intellectual quality of student achievement (authentic achievement) and the relationship of professional community to the technical and social organization of the classroom, including the mediating relationship of these classroom organizational features on authentic achievement.…

A study of two new middle schools demonstrates that reform is difficult to achieve unless teachers are expert in their work, share their expertise, and seek and create new knowledge to support their work. Leading from the center, school leaders figure significantly in expanding learning and developing community even in "teacher-run"…

This paper investigates the impact of school structure and culture on the implementation of planned change. In addition to simply locating effective predictors of implementation, an attempt is made to examine the relative impact of variables associated with two theoretical perspectives--social psychology (school culture) and sociological (school…

This monograph considers the prospects for improving teacher engagement in urban schools through professional and organizational reform. Urban education is a special context for teaching, with the complications of social, political, and organizational conditions that make the schools difficult settings. One of the problems is increasing teacher…