Edutopia Webinar: Creating a Strong School Culture

December 10, 2009: Creating a Strong School Culture: Inspiration from Houston's Successful YES Prep Schools

Host: Grace Rubenstein, senior producer, Edutopia

Presenters: Chris Barbic, founder of the YES Prep Public Schools, Mark DiBella, school director at YES Prep North Central, and Mayra Valle, a senior at YES Prep North Central

Target audience: Ideal for teachers and administrators interested in strengthening the culture at their schools

Anyone who has worked in public education knows that school culture can make or break the experience. Great teachers, programs, and practices succeed best only with a culture that supports them. In Houston's YES Prep Public Schools, educators put culture front and center, and it's a major force behind their success. Teachers support each other and constantly seek to help their colleagues improve. They build relationships with students to help them thrive even under the schools' rigorous demands.

The end result: happy teachers, and hundreds of low-income students becoming the first in their families to attend college. There's no magic involved -- just good ideas, dedicated people, and deft execution. In this session, YES Prep leaders explain what they do, how they do it, and how you can put some of these ideas in action at your school, too. Learn more at the webinar's resource page.

Download the presentation (PowerPoint 4 MB).