10 Leadership Actions That Keep School Culture at the Center

School culture, according to The Glossary of Education Reform, refers to the “beliefs, perceptions, relationships, attitudes, and written and unwritten rules that shape and influence every aspect of how a school functions.”

In short, it’s the figurative foundation on which your school is built. 

A positive school culture isn’t something that magically appears one day—it’s something that’s intentionally cultivated through time and care. And, when school leaders know how to address the needs and priorities of their community through building a positive school climate, it’s truly a game-changer. Where school culture is strong, a sense of belonging, trust, and academic, social, and behavioral growth are sure to follow.

As a new school year approaches, we’ve put together a “Top 10” list of impactful actions you can take to ensure you’re always leading with your culture in mind: 

1. Commit to increasing your visibility

One of the biggest ways K-12 leaders contribute to school culture is simply by being seen. For some school leaders, that might mean having a desk in the hallway, or being the person to greet students and families as they come into school. For others, it might mean being present for extracurricular activities and events, holding office hours, or having regular all-school meetings to celebrate achievements.

Regardless of the ways you choose to be visible, keep in mind that being present is the ultimate positive relationship-builder. It’s how you use those opportunities to chat with parents, catch up with bus drivers, or to continue a conversation with a student. 

2. Prioritize both academic and social-emotional learning

As educators, we know it’s difficult for students to thrive academically without also finding ways for them to enhance their social and emotional (SEL) learning. Through skills such as practicing curiosity, communicating effectively, and collaborating with others to solve problems, students are able to develop the skills they need for life. 

Whether its asking your school counselor to serve on your instructional leadership team to ensure teachers and leaders are keeping SEL top of mind or revisiting your school’s vision and mission to ensure it aligns with the life skills you want students to learn, examine ways to focus on SEL in tandem with curriculum and instruction. Balancing both is a key to student success. 

3. Focus on building a “culture of care”

The idea of a strong school culture and its elements—a shared mission and vision, a sense of strong camaraderie, continuous improvement and innovation, and healthy risk-taking, too—simply can’t happen if the people in your school don’t feel like they’re cared for. 

Care occurs when you actively have the best interests of your school community in mind and do what you can to improve its overall well-being. It’s often cultivated in the smallest of actions: highlighting accomplishments, asking how people are truly doing, and paying attention to the answers. 

4. Champion cultural responsiveness

A key part of school culture is using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, and learning styles of students and adults alike to make learning more engaging and effective. When the individual and diverse identities of students, families, and educators are affirmed, they feel like they belong—and our school communities thrive. 

Creating culturally responsive schools begins with recognizing and working to eliminate our blindspots as leaders, educators, and humans. To kick-start that recognition, take a physical audit of your school. As you walk through classrooms and down hallways, ask yourself: what stories are being told in our school? Who are the main characters? Does what I’m seeing reflect the languages, cultures, and stories of all the students and educators who are here?

5. Distribute leadership & empower teacher leaders

Your leadership directly impacts your school culture, but building and sustaining that culture isn’t your responsibility alone. Here’s where you might consider distributed leadership, where you create opportunities for aspiring school and teacher leaders to lend their experience and expertise to school decision-making. 

Consider the different ways you can distribute leadership to those looking for it, whether it's through instructional leadership teams (ILTs), grade-level or department teams, or creating structures for teacher- and staff-led professional development.

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6. Make the culture tangible & visible

A strong culture always has artifacts, and school culture is no exception. Often, it’s the visible parts of your culture—the mottos and taglines, symbolic objects, special traditions, and even the design of physical spaces—that communicates what your school values.

Reflect on the ways you might want to further enhance that visibility. Are there regular celebrations of student and staff success? Prominently displayed posters with your school’s mission statement and core values? A school-wide pledge or saying? All of these demonstrate your school’s everyday behavior. 

7. Offer families meaningful ways to get involved

An engaged parent and family community is another key ingredient of school culture—and this engagement starts with taking the time to learn about their experiences and needs. What are their perceptions? What would they like to hear from the school? What’s important to them when it comes to their child’s education?

There are plenty of ways to get this information: family surveys via email or text, in-person focus groups, or video conferences. No matter your course of action, place an emphasis on getting feedback from a diverse group of families and community members—not just the ones that always attend school events or drop their kids off in the morning.

8. Champion student agency

When we invite students to voice their opinions—and take them seriously—self-confidence surges. This creates a domino effect, where the more confident they are, the more they play an active role in their learning. 

This school year, find ways to incorporate more student voices beyond their classrooms. Can you create opportunities for student groups or councils to weigh in on important school issues? Or, determine more ways to receive—and incorporate—student feedback? Prioritizing student voice and choice in learning means more engagement, and better outcomes. 

9. Model the behavior you want to see

As a school leader, you most likely have a list of qualities and values that you want to see among the members of your school community. Which begs the question: How often are you modeling those same aspects within your own behavior? That is another key component to building positive school culture.

Whether it’s specific language that you want your community to use or how you ask for and seek out feedback, every interaction you have and choice you make is an opportunity to show students, teachers, and staff how you want them to act and react to situations on a daily basis—especially when those actions are rooted in kindness, caring, and acceptance. ‍

10. Keep tabs on your culture

As much as it would be nice to have a “school culture checklist” to follow, this kind of work requires a lot of thought and intentionality. That means constantly noticing what’s happening in your school day-to-day.

Great school leaders like yourself also have great intuition and instincts. Taking the time to observe the attitudes and atmosphere permeating your hallways and classrooms can help you become aware when something’s off—and make it easier to find a solution. 

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