This ethnographic case study investigated one elementary school to understand how the school's culture influenced its science curriculum design and instruction. The main data was formal and informal semi-structured interviews with key teachers to understand their values, beliefs, practices, materials, and problems with science instruction. To triangulate these data, the researcher observed classroom practice, school-wide activities, and collected artifacts and documents. Data were analyzed using a theoretical framework that emphasizes that culture cannot be reduced to beliefs, values, practices, materials or problems, but rather each aspect of culture is interdependent and mutually reinforcing. The main finding suggests that the school's culture is organized to accomplish other curricular goals than effective science education. Science is rarely taught by most teachers and rarely taught well when it is. While the teachers know the rhetoric of effective science education and value it enough to not dismiss it entirely, most value it less than most other subjects and they are not proficient with science instruction and materials. This study builds upon the literature by reiterating that school culture plays a central role in elementary science education, but adds to that literature by emphasizing that culture cannot be reduced to one or a few factors and must be seen as an organic whole.

The Mill Cities Charter School is a public urban charter high school founded on the Essential School Philosophy (ESP). Introduced in 1984, ESP “envisions an educational system that equips students with the intellectual, emotional and social habits and skills to become powerful and informed citizens who contribute actively toward a democratic and equitable society” (Coalition of Essential Schools, 2015). However, there is a lack of empirical research exploring the implementation of ESP, as well as its impacts on students’ personal, social and academic growth. Thus, this study’s goals were to gain an interpretive understanding of student perceptions and developmental impacts; as well as the process through which school culture influences positive youth development. A qualitative phenomenological approach was utilized, based on the philosophy of critical realism, which mediates between subjective experience and objective reality. In-depth, in-person semi-structured interviews were conducted on-site with 20 members of the senior class to explore their perceptions of the school culture and its impacts on their personal, social and academic development. Findings revealed that students largely had positive perceptions of school culture experience in all explored dimensions (Safety, Relationships, Teaching and Learning, Institutional Environment) with one notable exception, the School Improvement Process dimension, in which concerns were expressed about the school’s expansion plan changing the existing culture. Students also reported positive gains in personal, social and academic development, which they directly attributed to the school culture. Further, theoretical analysis revealed students’ internalization of cultural identity as the mediating process to explain “how” school culture positively impacted development. This relationship between individual and institutional cultural identity was bi-directional, with reciprocal impacts on both students and the school culture itself. This dissertation may inform educational policy discussions concerning the relationship between school culture and positive youth development. Findings regarding the ESP’s successful implementation into an urban public charter school setting and positive perceived impacts on high risk students’ development offer insights into the transformational elements of school culture. Significantly, this study offers understanding of this transformational process as a reciprocal interactive relationship between individual internalization of cultural identity and institutional externalization of a unique, recognizable organizational identity.

While some attention has been paid to organizational culture, there has been a paucity of research relating specifically to: (a) how first year assistant principals in the high school setting describe and assess their schools' organizational cultures, (b) how they utilize the information gained from their assessments of their schools' cultures, and (c) their perceptions of how they know whether they have been successful in adapting or assimilating into their schools' cultures. The purpose of this research study was to identify how first year high school assistant principals describe and assess their schools' organizational cultures and how these administrators utilized the information gained during this assessment. Data were gathered through a total of eleven interviews of assistant principals who completed their first year in 2002/03 and whose high schools were located in Regions Three, Four, Seven, and Nine, as designated by the Association of California School Administrators. Data analysis was conducted simultaneously during and after the data collection process. During the data analysis, the researcher attempted to identify common themes among the data gathered from the interviews. In summary, all of the assistant principals indicated that they described and assessed their schools' organizational cultures during their first year. Nine out of the eleven indicated they utilized the information gained from their assessments. All but one of the assistant principals reported that they had adapted and/or assimilated into the schools' organizational cultures during their first year. It is this researcher's contention that first year assistant principals need to be able to describe and assess their schools' organizational cultures so that they can better fulfill the roles and responsibilities of their positions. Mentor and staff development programs need to address not only why it is necessary for assistant principals to describe and assess their schools' organizational cultures, but also how to use the information gained from the assessment.

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This quantitative study explored the interplay among school culture, chronic absenteeism rates for English Learners (ELs), and overall English language proficiency (ELP) progress, as indicated by the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 test, in suburban Virginia middle schools. Utilizing the Virginia Framework for Cultural Competency, which encompasses learning environment, pedagogy and practice, community engagement, and self-reflection, the research aimed to determine the relationships among these domains, school culture, and student outcomes. The overarching research question addressed the interaction between school culture, chronic absenteeism rates for ELs, and ELP progress. Supporting questions examined the connections between school culture and ELP progress, the four cultural competency domains and ELP progress, and school culture and chronic absenteeism rates for ELs. Data for school culture ratings were sourced from the Department of Criminal Justice Services' school climate survey. The information on chronic absenteeism rates for ELs and ELP progress came from the Virginia Department of Education School Quality Profile. Analyses employing single and multiple linear regressions were conducted on existing archival data to identify statistical significance and correlations. The study yielded seven significant findings, highlighted three implications for practice, and revealed one policy implication. The findings from this research could assist current and future school leaders in Virginia middle schools by pinpointing specific aspects of school culture that could potentially enhance chronic absenteeism rates and academic progress in ELs. Additionally, division leaders might use these insights to tailor professional development for middle school principals and other educational leaders, emphasizing the critical role of a positive school culture. Furthermore, this study could support broader research efforts asserting the impact of school culture on academic success among ELs, identifying vital cultural elements that influence student achievement irrespective of their absenteeism or academic progress rates. / Doctor of Education / Principals of Virginia middle schools are tasked with ensuring that all students feel welcome in their building, attend school regularly, and make adequate progress. This quantitative study explored the interplay among school culture, chronic absenteeism rates for English Learners (ELs), and overall English language proficiency (ELP) progress, as indicated by the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 test, in suburban Virginia middle schools. Utilizing the Virginia Framework for Cultural Competency, which encompasses learning environment, pedagogy and practice, community engagement, and self-reflection, the research aimed to determine the relationships among these domains, school culture, and student outcomes. The overarching research question addressed the interaction between school culture, chronic absenteeism rates for ELs, and ELP progress. Supporting questions examined the connections between school culture and ELP progress, the four cultural competency domains and ELP progress, and school culture and chronic absenteeism rates for ELs. The study yielded seven significant findings, highlighted three implications for practice, and revealed one policy implication. The findings from this research could assist current and future school leaders in Virginia middle schools by pinpointing specific aspects of school culture that could potentially enhance chronic absenteeism rates and academic progress in ELs. Additionally, division leaders might use these insights to tailor professional development for middle school principals and other educational leaders, emphasizing the critical role of a positive school culture.

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of eight high school principals regarding world-mindedness. Classrooms filled with students of various heritages present a three-fold challenge to principals: a) to welcome and educate students of all heritages; b) to teach students to respect and accept people who are different from themselves; and c) to graduate students prepared to live and work in a global economy. The study involved interviewing principals from eight high schools in central and northern Virginia: a) three public high schools with relatively high percentages of LEP students; b) three public schools with much lower percentages of LEP students; and c) two private international schools. The interview questions probed not only how the principals felt about world-mindedness but also about their roles in building world-minded schools and how they would recognize world-mindedness. The findings were as follows: a) all participants agreed on the importance of world-mindedness in education; b) world-minded practices were absent from some schools; c) offering the International Baccalaureate Program did not necessarily make a school highly world-minded; d) participants did not need extensive experiences outside the United States to be highly world-minded; e) demands from outside forces encouraged participants to be world-minded; f) community demographics affected participants' perceptions of schools' levels of world-mindedness; g) participants in schools with diverse student bodies seemed to be more world-minded; h) highly world-minded participants used conversations to raise and maintain world-mindedness; i) highly world-minded participants used websites to promote world-mindedness; j) highly world-minded schools possessed tangible and intangible elements of world-mindedness; and k) some participants confused world-mindedness with anti-racism. Implications were that principals should a) seek professional development opportunities; b) include world-mindedness in communications; c) start with tangible elements to build intangible elements of world-mindedness; and d) have frequent conversations about world-mindedness with stakeholders. The recommendations for further research included a) creating world-mindedness continuums; b) building world-mindedness in homogeneous student bodies; c) using international schools as world-mindedness models; and d) distinguishing world-mindedness from anti-racism efforts. In conclusion, the growing diversity in U.S. classrooms presents principals with a mandate to work toward high levels of world-mindedness and, thus, become diversity change agents. / Ed. D.