Transforming School Culture

With foreword by Richard DuFour and Rebecca DuFour

Transforming School Culture provides a school improvement plan for leaders to overcome staff division, improve relationships, and transform toxic school cultures into healthy ones.

Dr. Anthony Muhammad contends that in order to transform school culture, we must understand why teachers continue to hold on to models or beliefs contrary to those put forth by their school or district. He explores the human behavior, social conditions, and history that cause the underlying conflict among the four different types of teachers in a school.

The second edition of this best-selling resource delivers powerful new insight into the four types of educators (Believers, Fundamentalists, Tweeners, and Survivors) and how school leaders can work with each group to create positive school culture. The book also includes Dr. Muhammad's latest research as well as a new chapter dedicated to answering frequently asked questions on culture and school leadership in education.

How this new edition will help you create a positive school culture:

• Study the author's research and observations of 34 schools 11 elementary schools, 14 middle schools, and 9 high schools and how each school's staff supported or hindered student achievement.
• Consider the characteristics of positive school cultures and how your school's culture and climate may differ.
• Learn how laws such as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and No Child Left Behind ( NCLB) impact teachers and school culture.
• Understand why teachers must work together to improve student performance.
• Obtain tips for creating a positive school culture and producing synergy.

New in This Second Edition:

• An updated research base, including over 60 new references
• Connections to ESSA as well as reflections on NCLB's impact on education
• Additional insights into the four types of educators
• Further guidance on what it takes to be a transformational leader and redirect Fundamentalists through communication, trust, capacity, and accountability
• A new chapter of frequently asked questions in regard to school culture, leadership, and the four types of educators

Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: From Status Quo to True Reform
Chapter 2: The Framework of Modern School Culture
Chapter 3: The Believers
Chapter 4: The Tweeners
Chapter 5: The Survivors
Chapter 6: The Fundamentalists
Chapter 7: "Drop Your Tools": A Lesson in Change and Our Best Chance at Eliminating Fundamentalism
Chapter 8: Implications for Practice
Chapter 9: Frequently Asked Questions
Appendix: Study Design
References and Resources
Index

Anthony Muhammad, PhD, is a much sought-after educational consultant. A practitioner for nearly twenty years, he has served as a middle school teacher, assistant principal, and principal and as a high school principal. His Transforming School Culture approach explores the root causes of staff resistance to change.

Anthony's tenure as a practitioner has earned him several awards as both a teacher and a principal. His most notable accomplishment came as principal of Levey Middle School in Southfield, Michigan, a National School of Excellence, where student proficiency on state assessments more than doubled in five years. Anthony and the staff at Levey used the Professional Learning Communities at Work™ process for school improvement, and they have been recognized in several videos and articles as a model high-performing PLC.

As a researcher, Anthony has published articles in several publications in both the United States and Canada. He is author of The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach: Transforming Schools at Every Level, Overcoming the Achievement Gap Trap: Liberating Mindsets to Effect Change, and a contributor to The Collaborative Administrator.

To learn more about Anthony's work, visit New Frontier 21 (newfrontier21.com), or follow him on Twitter @newfrontier21.

To book Anthony Muhammad for professional development, contact pd@SolutionTree.com.