How 3 Principals Make School Culture a Top Priority

School culture can seem nebulous: What constitutes a positive, supportive school culture? Or a “bad” school culture? Answers vary among school leaders, who constantly assess the dynamics among staff, students, and families.

Stacey Green, who’s been principal of Stockton Grade School in Stockton, Kansas, since 2013, describes school culture as “the heartbeat” of a building. “It’s the deep, shared beliefs, behaviors, and expectations that shape how people interact, solve problems, handle stress, and celebrate success,” she told me.

Green noted that visitors often comment on how welcoming the energy is at her school, both in the hallways and in the classrooms. A similar sentiment was expressed by Andrew Gutierrez, principal at Gateway Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona, who said that a vibrant school culture should be apparent to visitors just “by walking around, listening, talking, and observing.”

But what matters more than a textbook definition of school culture is that principals and their staff have a vision and understanding of what it means to them in the context of their school, and that their efforts are relevant and well-received by teachers and easily felt by students.

I recently discussed school culture with three award-winning principals: Green, the principal at Stockton Grade School (pre-K through eighth grade); Andrew Gutierrez, principal at Gateway Elementary School (kindergarten through eighth grade); and Meridith Johnson, principal at Lewis & Clark Elementary School in Williston, North Dakota. They explained how they’ve developed, and continuously prioritized, an effective, positive school culture.

Move Methodically

Assessing and impacting school culture doesn’t happen in a semester’s time. It can take a while for a principal and their staff to feel confident about what they’re building and how they’re communicating with other stakeholders.

That was especially true for Johnson, who never thought she’d be a principal. She worked as a kindergarten teacher, a job she loved, for more than a decade. Then she got a call from another district’s assistant superintendent, who said Johnson’s master’s degree in educational leadership and development made her an ideal candidate for a recently opened principal position.

Johnson eventually landed the job. Because she went in without having “principal” on her career Bingo card, she wanted to take things slow before setting a long-term school culture vision. She credits the “comradery” and “team spirit” of two staffers in particular, who offered a “crash course in learning both the positive and negative experiences of the school and the district,” Johnson said. “Those same staff members assisted me in setting a positive tone—our beliefs for student learning and schoolwide success seemed to align in so many ways.”

Gutierrez told me that when he became principal of Gateway Elementary, he was fortunate to receive mentorship from his assistant superintendent, who encouraged him to set individual meetings with his whole staff. Gutierrez made time to huddle with some of his students, too. “The focus was simple: what’s not working, things that need to be tightened up, and lastly, what is working,” Gutierrez said.

To get an even better sense of the goings-on at his school—how kids were coming in and out of class and making their way through the day—Gutierrez spent much of his first month on the job sitting at a desk in the middle of a hallway frequented by his middle school-aged students. He quickly learned that no matter what changes he wanted to enact, he would first need to “build relationships and let students know I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Green said that when she started, she “prioritized cocreating expectations with staff rather than for them.” Early on in her tenure, she began each school year with a “norm-building process,” identifying a handful of core ideas “that anchored our culture in shared ownership.” She also did a yearly morale assessment via 10-minute one-on-one chats with every staff member, asking them the same reflective questions, like these:

• “What do you love about Stockton Grade School?”
• “If you could change one thing about the job, what would it be?”
• “What gets you up in the morning?”
• “What are you most proud of accomplishing from the prior quarter?”

According to Green, those questions gave her insight into staffers’ “needs, goals, and perspectives.”

Keep Soliciting Feedback

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Gutierrez started sending out a brief survey to staffers, hoping to keep track of how they perceived their school’s culture during a difficult time. Gutierrez has stuck with the surveys—which ask staffers how they feel they’re doing personally and professionally via a Likert scale—and now includes a few open-ended questions related to recent professional development sessions as well as lighthearted, noneducational prompts. (One example: “What would your baseball walk-up song be?”) When staffers give themselves low scores, Gutierrez or another member of his administrative team follows up with the staffer to have a deeper conversation about their morale.

Green hasn’t had as much success with surveys, she said. Instead, she’s relied on “grassroots, staff-driven efforts that directly impact morale and relationships,” like the “Hoopla Committee,” which started as an informal practice among a few teachers but has grown “into a dynamic, culture-shaping force in the building” that organizes fun themed days and activities.

Green has also involved her students in culture-shaping decisions. She leads classroom conversations with questions like “What’s the best part of your day?” “What would improve your day?” and “What do you want your teachers to know about you?” Because her school has a small student body (each grade has fewer than 20 students), she was able to meet with all of them prior to winter break last year.

“I listen closely, take notes, and bring their input into decision-making around schedules, classes, and daily routines,” she said. Additionally, her school’s junior high student council members “organize and lead activities that reflect the needs and interests of their classmates,” including dodgeball tournaments, food drives, and monthly attendance celebrations, she said. They also plan out service projects and fundraisers that help raise money for school enhancements.

Make Your Presence Felt

Johnson’s school set up a “Sunshine Committee,” which plans activities for staffers to enjoy each other’s company and support each other’s personal and professional milestones. Her school’s Parent Teacher Organization plans a number of free events, including an afternoon at the movies the day before winter break, when the school basically takes over their local theater to watch a film with popcorn and snacks.

Johnson encourages her staff to communicate with students’ families early and often. She also makes a point of letting families know she’s available to help them and that she’s not infallible. “I will often share my personal struggles, and successes, of being a parent to let them see I am a real person who truly wants to partner with them to help their child succeed at school and at home,” she said.

Green agrees that “perfection is not the goal.” Building an effective school culture is instead about integrity, which is demonstrated through clear, consistent communication. “We use platforms like Facebook and our school website to highlight learning, recognize effort, and offer a window into daily school life—not just polished events, but the real moments that matter,” she said. She asks staff to call families to “celebrate wins” and “respond to concerns quickly and respectfully,” she said.

Nourish Enriching Relationships

Johnson has been a principal for almost a decade now, and she’s still a proponent of maintaining a sense of camaraderie and trust with her staff. She shouted out her school’s “amazing” counselor, whom she works “hand in hand with,” because they “speak the same language when it comes to helping our students build their own capacity and learn the skills needed to be a good friend and successful member of our school family.” Her students have weekly classroom lessons with the counselor focused on topics like interpersonal dynamics, empathy, integrity, and perseverance.

Johnson has noticed a dramatic, positive effect on her school’s culture as a result. She mentioned overhearing a student who’d attended her school for a few years telling another student who was exhibiting behavioral challenges that “we don’t do that here.”

For his part, Gutierrez encourages an ongoing dialogue among staff and students via community circles—where teachers meet with their students first thing in the morning to bond with them, model daily routines, and pose a mixture of questions ranging from “If you could have any animal as a pet, which would you choose and why?” to “When was the last time you had a disagreement with someone, and how did you solve it?”

The community circles are typically held at least once per week, Gutierrez said, though some teachers aim for a daily cadence. He’s also a backer of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) as a means of uplifting struggling students who are “having trouble understanding and following expectations.” And he’s continued to show up for his students, standing by the school entrance in the mornings as frequently as possible so he can say hello and do daily check-ins.

Green said a vital component of developing her school’s culture is arriving at a place “where students are comfortable approaching any adult, not just their teacher, when they need help, reassurance, or just someone to talk to.” To make that happen, she said, staffers are expected to “know students beyond academics”: She wants them to greet students by name and engage in informal hallway chats. “We build systems around this mindset,” she said, referencing “classroom meetings, check-in/check-out support, routines for celebrations and recognitions, and responsive support for student needs.”

Green believes that one of the most important pillars of an effective, positive school culture is “that joy and connection are priorities, not extras,” she said. And following the work of author and former principal Jimmy Casas, she said her overarching goal and message is that “every student deserves a place where they feel seen, valued, and known.”

Responses from school leaders were received by email and have been edited for length and clarity.