This book represents a third refinement of an idea that started in 1990 as The Principal's Role in Shaping School Culture—a best-seller for the US Department of Education. We expanded the ideas and examples, later publishing Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership (1999). We substantially enlarged and developed it into the second edition, Shaping School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes, and Promises (2009). In this third edition, we needed to address new issues affecting schools related to external reforms, pressures, and narrow views of the purpose of schools. Thus we update No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and its replacement at the federal level, Every Student Can Succeed (ESCS). We have added significant material on paradox, updated and expanded illustrations, added new cases and dropped others, as well as introduced some new ideas about stories and their power to shape what we believe.

As usual, we received a lot of help and inspiration from school leaders in writing this edition. From across the country and indeed the world, readers of the previous editions have shared ideas and examples. They once again confirm that stories and examples make a difference to them in how they think about their schools and deal with issues of school culture.

It is clearly time to reconsider and rethink the importance of school culture in today's educational environment. Students have the right to the best schools we can provide. There is little doubt that teaching staff members and administrators can lead the way to successful cultures in which all students learn. Of late, we believe far too much emphasis has been given to reforming schools from outside through policies and mandates such as NCLB and ESCS. For too long the core values and beliefs of educators have been replaced by external mandates, heavy-handed testing, and draconian criticism rather than support. New laws may or may not substantially alter this trajectory. Too little attention has been paid to how schools can be shaped from within, as our colleague Roland Barth (1991) demonstrates.

Research and examples of excellent practice drawn from education and business show that top-flight schools are possible in every community. This book pulls together the best that we know about to provide insights and examples of ways teachers, administrators, parents, and community can create positive, caring, joyful, and intellectually challenging schools and, if necessary, transform toxic cultures.

The importance of school culture and the symbolic roles of leaders in shaping cultural patterns and practices remain at the core of this revised book. Although policy makers and reformers are still pressing for tight structures and rational assessments, it is important to remember that these changes cannot succeed without deeply ingrained cultural support at the local level. The existential tenor of a school is key to achievement and student learning. In this book, we have expanded the research base demonstrating how culture influences school functioning. Positive cultural features foster success, and dysfunctional cultures damage belief, faith, and progress. We also draw on new evidence from the world of business, linking culture with performance.

We continue to emphasize the importance of mission and purpose because these elements are central features of culture. We have added further examples of the types of rituals and traditions found in quality schools, culture building and development, and share new case examples of the ways stories and history are used to build commitment and motivation. We also have added important new illustrations of the ways social media is used to reinforce school culture. The case materials on ways leaders mold culture now offer new illustrations and numerous useful examples. We have expanded our understanding of toxic cultures—negative places where the rituals, traditions, and values have gone sour and threaten the very soul of a school. Finally, we have extended our discussion of the connection between the culture of the school and parents and the local community with special attention to engaging diverse groups, so that this topic now receives the attention it deserves.

The new examples and cases were collected while we were working with schools and organizations across the globe. A number of excellent examples from other researchers of schools trying to transform themselves have provided rich new illustrations of shaping culture. We believe that it was important to maintain our previous focus on bifocal leadership and paradox to expand those ideas. Even though we added new material, we wanted the book to be readable and concise, with engaging examples from education and business. We think readers will find the mix of new stories interesting.

We focus on the elements of successful cultures and the ways leaders from every level—teachers, principals, parents, and community members—shape a school's identity and image. Successful schools possess leaders who can read, assess, and reinforce core rituals, traditions, and values. Successful schools have leadership emanating from many people—leadership that maintains and supports learning for all students, as well as learning for all staff members. Successful cultures have leaders who know deep down in their hearts how important schools are to all children and want to make them the best places they can be. Successful cultures have leaders who can cope with the paradoxes of their work, build positive relations, and take advantage of the opportunities of the future. In this book, we hope to support, encourage, and nourish these kinds of leaders for schools.

We begin the book by introducing the impact of culture on school reform and student learning. Drawing on organizational literature and research, we emphasize the importance of culture to achievement and other key educational outcomes.

In part 1, “The Elements of Culture,” we lay out the elements of culture, the basic building blocks people cobble together in creating a meaningful workplace. In chapter 1, we present a now-classic case study of a school that transformed itself by reworking its cultural profile. The school, Ganado Primary, moved from a dismal place to a school with visionary leadership, a deeply held purpose, and rituals and traditions that build commitment and motivation. In chapter 2 we explore the potency of symbols in everything we do day-to-day. We highlight architecture, mottoes, words, and actions. In chapter 3 we turn back the clock to reaffirm the importance of the past in determining current cultural patterns and ways. Central to any school culture is its history—the past events that have shaped the present. In chapter 4 we turn to the legacy of history: myth, mission, purpose, and values. We underscore the importance of a meaningful purpose and widely shared values in adding spark and vitality to a school. In chapter 5 we show how current stories and tales add to the stream of cultural energy and perpetuate important lessons. We burrow beneath everyday routine to showcase its ritualistic significance and variety in chapter 6. In chapter 7, we ratchet ritual to a more grand and episodic plane: celebrations put culture on display. We introduce in chapter 8 the cast of positive cultural players whose real work outside official duties is keeping cultural patterns and practices intact and on track. New attention to negative cultural players emphasizes the problems of toxic characters.

In part 2, “The Symbolic Role of School Leaders,” we move from concepts to application. We discuss cultural metamorphosis and transformation in chapter 9. Drawing on seven case examples (one a new case from North Carolina), we demonstrate how leadership can build school culture through consideration to purpose, energy, and all the elements of culture. In chapter 10 we show what happens when culture turns toxic or dysfunctional. Drawing on extensive experience in schools and new cases, we identify features of the dark side of some schools and provide antidotes for these poisonous situations. Chapter 11 examines the key symbolic relationship among the school, parents, and the community with new attention of bringing diverse communities together. In chapter 12 we describe the multiple roles that leaders take on in shaping the culture, including historian, anthropological sleuth, visionary, icon champion, potter, poet, actor, and healer. We reconnect the technical aspects of management with the symbolic aspects of leadership in chapter 13 to create the idea of a bifocal principal who thinks structurally and symbolically. Very few issues in education are either-or, and principals who deal with paradox will find their jobs much less stressful and more rewarding. School leaders who want to nurture and sustain successful cultures will have to cope with paradox and take advantage of rational and ethical opportunities they confront. This approach leads to the ideal of a school in chapter 14, where metrics and magic apply. These paradoxes and challenges can shape the direction and hope for leaders as this millennium progresses and new laws shape schools. Chapter 15 reviews the events leading up to the recent replacement of NCLB, the long-standing federal effort to reform schools, with ESSA. Will this new effort bring a sequel to the prevailing punitive testing story? Will it give more discretion to local schools to shape their own destinies? Or will the states simply mimic the same rigid policies that undermined the impact of NCLB. Irrespective, school leaders can make a dramatic difference by focusing on the symbolic features of their schools and creating their local version of a meaningful and successful enterprise. For far too long, schools have been buffeted and pressured by external reforms focused on testing, accountability, and narrow measures of success. In this edition we hope to return the attention of school leaders to the real foundation of success—creating a local story, giving educators pause to believe in themselves again and renewing the spirit of public education in America.