C:/MyDocs/Papers/JSL/Changing the Culture of Schools.final;C:MyDocs/MyEndnoteFiles/Combined File Changing the Culture of Schools: Professional Community, Organizational Learning and Trust

ABSTRACT: The theme of this special issue of the Journal of School Leadership is teachers ’ professional learning communities. It is very satisfying to see that a major journal in educational leadership is focusing on a problem that was seen only dimly two decades ago. This contribution will examine the antecedents and underlying research traditions that have culminated in the strong sense of urgency among scholars and practitioners to shift the focus of school reform away from restructuring and toward “reculturing ” (Miller, 1998). In addition, I will caution against the hope that PLCs will become a temporary panacea for what ails the public schools, and the even greater tendency to develop PLCs interventions that can be implemented like a new reading curriculum. Schools: The Problem of Culture Many years ago educators were warned that there was little chance that schools would improve without significant changes in their culture (Sarason, 1982). The current focus on PLCs is one major effort to address this fundamental issue. A long history of studying culture, whether in small or large social units, has attracted many perspectives although most empirical research in organizations agree with a view of culture as an enduring, independent phenomenon that consists of some combination of values, beliefs, and assumptions that organizational members share about appropriate behavior (Schein, 1992). The core problem of changing the culture of schools involves both elements of this statement: Unless we challenge the status quo and move beyond the polite agreement that “all children will learn ” it is unlikely that much will change. In order to do this, we must base both our theories and our interventions on what is known about cultural conditions that improve children’s learning. In this paper I argue that there are three: professional community, organizational learning, and trust