Camden’s Blog

I don’t think there is anyway that I could read this chapter without a deep sense of sadness when thinking about my own school.  The four features that Lipton and Oakes say shows up in research on what make a good school with good school culture time and time again are: 1) press everyone toward learning and social justice 2) provide broad and deep access to learning 3) build an environment of caring relationships 4) support teachers’ inquiry and activism.  I am fairly sure that these features are not realized at my school.  Lipton and Oakes discussion on school culture was reminiscent of our discussion on identity – specifically school identity.  I still believe that the principal sets the stage for school culture and school identity and we have problems with equity and democracy evidenced by our principal’s actions.  We actively engage in reform efforts that are consistently lauded as productive and effect at other schools but we fail to make a dent in our negative unproductive school culture.  It seems to me we will have to start with #3 – building an environment of caring relationships.  And it actually seems the most possible place for us to start.   Our school seems to have problems with producing a shared vision and I think the following quote from Lipton and Oakes may shed light on this for us.  “Good schools have cultures where it makes sense for faculty to teach all students well and for all students to learn well.  That doesn’t mean that all good schools are alike.”  My first response is – does that make my school a bad school if it is not a good school?  My second response is more to the crux of our problem.  Our school seems to think that if we teach like they do in good schools, the students will learn like they do in good schools and therefore, we will be like good schools.  So…… all we have to do is get their lesson plans, follow their script, use their method etc.  Concepts such as  “press” as described by Lipton and Oakes require inquiry, critical thinking and collaboration to construct.  It is not encouraged at my school.  Learning is a top priority but not for the reasons that are student-center learning based.  Shooting for passing scores on the CRCT is considered setting high-expectations at my school.   The saving grace at our school is our teachers.  They are definitely high quality but they walk at the door too often.  They are well trained, go the extra mile and most genuinely care for their students.  But we fall short of keeping them.  We do not use approaches that are innovative such as team-teaching strategies and looping.  We do not promote social justice inquiry and confront racism. And teacher activism is squelched not supported.  The press in our school culture is silence. 

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