"How Leaders Influence the Culture of Schools"
by Kent D. Peterson and Terrence E. Deal

" In crafting school culture, school leaders are models, potters, poets, actors, and healers. They are historians and anthropologists. They are visionaries and dreamers."

The Role of School Leaders
School leaders from every level are key to shaping school culture. Principals communicate core values in their everyday work. Teachers reinforce values in their actions and words. Parents bolster spirit when they visit school, participate in governance, and celebrate successes. In the strongest schools, leadership comes from many sources.

What are some of the specific ways school leaders shape culture?

• They communicate core values in what they say and do
  
  
• They honor and recognize those who have worked to serve students and the purpose of the school.
  
  
• They observe rituals and traditions to support the school's heart and soul.
  
  
• They recognize heroes and heroines and the work these exemplars accomplish.
  
  
• They eloquently speak of the deeper mission of the school.
  
  
• They celebrate the accomplishments of the staff, the students, and the community.
  
  
• They preserve the focus on students by recounting stories of success and achievement.
  
  

Exerpted and adapted from the book Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership, by Terrence E. Deal and Kent D. Peterson, from Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1998.

Kent D. Peterson (kpeterson@education.wisc.edu) is a professor in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Terrence E. Deal is a professor at Peabody College of Vanderbuilt University, Department of Educational Leadership, Nashville, TN 37203.