Every school has a culture. So do businesses, hospitals, and cities. You feel culture most strongly when you are a stranger, particularly in a foreign land. As a traveler you can enjoy another culture along with the sounds, the smells, and the sights. Sometimes different cultures are a challenge to us and sometimes they make us look forward to coming back home where we are comfortable in the culture we have grown accustomed.

The culture of schools can be hard to capture in words. A school’s culture is a complex pattern of norms, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, values, ceremonies, traditions and myths that are deeply ingrained in the very core of the organization. It is the historically transmitted pattern of meaning that wields astonishing power in shaping what people think and how they act. When we focus on culture it means we look at a deep pattern of values, beliefs and traditions that have been formed over the course of the history of an organization.

It is said that a fish would be the last creature on earth to discover water, so totally and continuously immersed in it is he. The same might be said of our expectations for what we do and what we expect from our schools.

High-performing schools develop a “culture of high expectations.” That is, they develop, with input from teachers, a common vision and focus for their efforts. This vision establishes high expectations for student performance and behavior. Through shared leadership, teachers take responsibility for creating structured, well-managed classrooms, where they ensure that students are clear about their learning goals and behavioral expectations.

Niles Community Schools has recently set a vision statement that reads: “Niles Community Students  — Inspired locally to Excel globally.” Vision is part of creating a culture of higher expectations for everyone that works and learns in our schools. I say “higher expectations” because I believe our teachers do an extremely good job and have high expectations for themselves and our students. Yet, as we work together as a team in our school district, we set a vision for the future reality. After all, our purpose for existence is to prepare all of our children for success by helping them to think, understand and solve problems.

We, the adults in the schools and the adults in the community, must recognize the changes that are happening in our world. We must also work together to prepare our children for the world they will inherit. That will take great communication and an honest reflection of what we want.

Our vision plays a central role in the construction of a professional culture. There is good research to show that schools with a “high vision” achieve at substantially higher levels and the students move on to higher attainment levels throughout life. Our vision helps us to set rationale for raising student achievement, high adult expectations, strong curriculum, effective instruction and an engaging learning environment. Thus, our vision is a catalyst for encouraging all of us to reflect about our culture and work together for the sake of our children.

We want the culture of our district and schools to be a community, a place full of adults and students who care about, look after, and root for one another and who work together for the good of the whole, in times of need and in times of celebration. Every member of the community holds some responsibility for the welfare of every other and for the welfare of the community as a whole.

Thus, we look to our community to support our vision and support our teachers who are working hard for the sake of our children. We look to our community to grow in understanding of what we do so everyone has the “highest” expectations for our students. The condition for membership in our community is that one learns, continues to learn, and supports the learning of others.