Development of a Conceptual Model and Instrument for Sustaining Successful School Reculturing and Reform Efforts

The purpose of this concurrent embedded mixed methods study is considered three-fold: (1) to analyze prior research in order to develop a reform, reculturing, and sustainability survey; (2) to inform schools as to best practices; and (3) to offer a conceptual model for sustaining reculturing and school reform efforts. The study addressed the analysis and validation of data from the Wallace Foundation School Turnaround Evaluation Grant in which three surveys were created and administered in conjunction with a Wallace Foundation evaluation pilot study conducted by contracted university personnel from University of Louisiana at Lafayette: (1) School Turnaround Principal Pilot Study, (2) School Turnaround Leadership Team Pilot Study, and the (3) Teacher Turnaround School Culture Pilot Survey. When the principal and leadership team surveys were re-analyzed, the researcher focused on five competencies: (1) Data-Driven Planning and Decision Making, (2) Driving for Results, (3) Influencing for Results, (4) Problem Solving, and (5) Showing Confidence to Lead. Descriptive statistics for each of the teacher survey items was conducted to provide a snapshot of how Louisiana public school teachers in low performing schools felt about the culture in their schools and how they preferred it to be. The researcher used exploratory factor analysis to validate and determine the latent structure of the teacher culture survey for which two factors, Leadership and Vision and Professional Commitment and Collaboration, emerged. The analysis of qualitative data from related interviews yielded five themes to represent reculturing and/or sustainability of reform efforts: (1) Principal Leadership, (2) Professional Teacher Teams, (3) Deliberate Use of Data, (4) Strategic and Instructionally Focused Planning, and (5) Care and Concern for Students. The factor analysis and triangulation of the collective data allowed the researcher to prepare a revised survey instrument, the Reculturing for Reform and Sustainability Survey, for schools to administer to teachers to learn about the teacher’s perceptions in regards to the school’s culture as they sustain best practices. Given at regular intervals, the survey would serve as a reculturing gauge as the school is undergoing reform. Major findings and implications for theory and practice, educational leadership, and future research