School Improvement - Improving Schools by Building a Healthy Faculty Culture
The single greatest determinant of student learning is the faculty. Investment in teachers yields a high rate of return, improves teaching and learning, and helps to improve schools.
Central to determining teacher effectiveness is faculty culture. A healthy faculty culture is essential for students to learn and teachers to teach at the highest levels of their abilities. We know that school culture and the nature of relationships among adults in schools is a significant determinant of students' academic and social progress. While subject-area knowledge and teaching skills are necessary, a school's faculty culture, more than any other factor, determines the level of student learning. The self-contained classroom is parallel play.