Unit 2 - Toxic School Culture

Question 1

The dream of every educational leader is to have a _____ where everything works well, but not all they have planned run the way they have visualized it. Sometimes it goes the other way around.

Answer 1

desirable school culture

Question 2

This is the underlying set of norms, values, traditions, ceremonies, and unwritten behavior, action, and thinking rules.

Answer 2

School culture

Question 3

School culture is built over time as educators cope with problems, change students and staff, and deal with what?

Answer 3

successes and failures

Question 4

Over time the group develops a set of _____ and _____ that are the glue that keeps it together.

Answer 4

values; beliefs

Question 5

Often the culture is positive, nurturing, and professional - and supportive of _____ and _____.

Answer 5

change; improvement

Question 6

The culture has sometimes developed dysfunctional values and beliefs, negative traditions, and caustic interactions. These are what Deal and Peterson (1998) called what?

Answer 6

toxic cultures

Question 7

These lack a mission and vision, value laziness and apathy, appreciate separateness and exclusivity, and have negative peer relationships (Peterson, 2002)

Answer 7

Toxic school cultures

Question 8

According to Gruenert and Whitaker (2015), [toxic school cultures] focus on _____ and use these as an excuse to remain _____.

Answer 8

failures; stagnant

Question 9

[Gruener and Whitaker (2015)], added that toxic school cultures encourage individuals to see failures as the inevitable results of circumstances outside of their control rather than as what?

Answer 9

opportunities for improvement

Question 10

According to Peterson (2002), schools with negative or toxic culture what?

Answer 10

1. Lack of a clear sense of purpose
2. Have norms that reinforce inertia
3. Blame students for lack of progress
4. Discourage collaboration
5. Often have actively hostile relations among staff

Question 11

It is up to school leaders-principals, teachers, and often parents to help overcome the debilitating influence of negative cultures and to rebuild and reinforce positive what?

Answer 11

student-focused cultures

Question 12

Without positive, supportive cultures, reforms will falter, staff morale and commitment will wither, and what will decline?

Answer 12

student learning