Cultivating school achievement is impossible without trustworthy and positive relationships.  I know this first hand because of an experience I had six years ago.  Six years ago I landed my dream job.  I had always dreamed of teaching in the district in which I grew up.  After 10 years in education, I was back in the district that I admired and idolized.  This change came with such excitement and admiration as I quickly purchased all things district 512 merchandise and wore them proudly.  The first weeks of school I was welcomed with open arms and the staff and my grade level team were kind to welcome me to a school they had called home since the doors opened in 1998.  I was working with educators that had started their career at this school as well as married, grew their families, saw their children graduate, and even get married.  This school was filled with founding members and their names were etched in concrete on sidewalks everywhere.  

As the weeks went on and decisions needed to be made I soon realized my voice did not matter.  The teachers that had a legacy with the school were not open to new ideas.  They did not want to be innovative with instructional design and implementation and they certainly did not want me as a “newbie” to tell them or show them a different way to differentiate reading instruction. They wanted to do it their way and the way they had always gone about business.  The problem was that the students that walked through the doors in 1998 were a far cry to the students walking through the doors now.  Teachers were using the same strategies as in the past with an entirely different group of students that had different academic and social-emotional needs.  The only legacy they were leaving on students was a failure. 

Collaborating was not up for discussion because every teacher had their own way of doing things.  Just as their names were forever etched in concrete dating back twenty years so were their ideas and mindsets.  This brought on frustration and resentment from administrators and colleagues. 

Growing student achievement takes collaboration and in order to collaborate an organization must have a shared mission and vision of core values.  The school needed to change in order to have a positive school culture that fosters collaboration.  The change was drastic and came with some controversy.  District leaders decided to reconstitute the school. 

With the reconstitution came new administration, staff, custodians, cafeteria and office personnel.  I wanted to stay so I had to reapply for my position and luckily I was given the opportunity to stay. 

For the next four years, I was part of a team that created and implemented a shared mission and vision along with an idea that all students can learn and grow.  The staff trusted and valued new ideas and opinions and were always working in professional learning communities to evaluate and design instruction around student growth and achievement.  

Our school now had a purposeful community and a shared can-do attitude, or a sense of collective efficacy.  Our faculty members perceived all of their colleagues as competent valued members that embraced challenging goals.  Our school also now had teachers that had a shared sense of moral purpose and high expectations, a shared commitment to consistency, a shared focus on creating a culture of continuous improvement and helping students succeed.  

Creating this purposeful community did not happen overnight.  This was a process and continues to be a journey.