In our quest to achieve a positive change in student outcomes, school culture indicators give us another data point to consider in the complex and ever changing equation for student success. As critical as knowing the quality of a teacher in his/her classroom, or the number of students served by a particular curricular implementation, having data that shows whether a school is on the right track for developing its desired cultural environment empowers principals and school staffs to make informed decisions about resources and enables them to make mid-course corrections before the end of the school year. 

In EdWeek’s article, “Building a Culture Aimed at College”, culture is compared to air: something students are immersed in, something they’re breathing, so that postsecondary education becomes an inevitable ticket to a better future (Gewertz, 2009). If this is the case, our schools are making huge investments in resources that we need to make sure are pointed in the same direction, all aiming towards a well defined goal or picture of cultural success. Tracking the progress of these resources is not just fiscally responsible, but necessary to ensuring our focus is on the best strategy at achieving our desired outcomes. If I am driving to Iowa, I want to know sooner rather than later that I missed my exit so I can do something about it before I get to Wisconsin.  

Ultimately, we need to incorporate indicators for a successful school culture into our Outcomes Frameworks for schools. Each school will have its own definition of “successful”; achieving a college-bound culture, a “culture of calm”, a data-driven culture, a culture of high-expectations. In any event, we need measures and indicators to tell us how schools are doing at achieving their desired culture before we evaluate the success of their students. These indicators are as important as the formative assessments our teachers administer to our students, telling us if a school’s instructional environment is conducive for learning and supporting the espoused expectations of each school.