Case Study: Shaping School Culture

by | Mar 16, 2023 | Culture

 

In most cases, school leaders start their tenure focusing on the school’s culture. As you know from your previous assignments, the readings in the program, and from your professional experiences thus far, a school’s culture can be complex and deeply embedded in the beliefs, language, and behaviors of the stakeholders. Remember, culture is a major theme in the ELCC and PSEL standards. Moreover, your position as a new school leader will have an effect on the school’s culture (simply because of the change in leadership). As you get closer to finishing this degree program, consider how you will begin your future tenure as a school leader.

Read the “Shaping School Culture” case study to inform the assignment.

Part 1: Case Analysis

In 250-500 words, respond to the case study by addressing the following:

Brief summary of the case
Issues to be resolved
Stakeholders involved in the issues
One or two existing laws or court rulings that relate to the issues
District policies that relate to the issues
Possible solutions to the issues
Solutions chosen to resolve the issues
Action steps (2-5) for implementing each solution, including a timeline for each step
Potential moral and legal consequences of each solution
Part 2: Rationale

Support the case analysis with a 250-500 word rationale explaining the solutions you chose and how each solution:

Is designed for continual and sustainable school improvement to improve student outcomes.
Demonstrates cultural competence and responsiveness in decision-making, school planning, and meeting the needs of students.
Addresses difficult issues related to meeting students’ needs while promoting a culture of collaboration, trust, learning, and high expectations.
Strives to build and sustain positive relationships between school representatives, students, families, and community partners, when their needs conflict

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

Sample Solution

Brief summary of the case: The case study revolves around a new school leader, who is tasked with resolving several major issues in his school. These include a lack of trust between different stakeholders and their conflicting needs, high student absenteeism, and low teacher morale. He must also address the issue of cultural competence among staff, as well as ensuring that decisions taken are based on student outcome improvements instead of simply responding to parent demands.
Issues to be resolved: The main issues to be resolved are improving trust between stakeholders, addressing student absence problems, boosting teacher morale and increasing cultural competency throughout the school district.

Sample Solution

Brief summary of the case: The case study revolves around a new school leader, who is tasked with resolving several major issues in his school. These include a lack of trust between different stakeholders and their conflicting needs, high student absenteeism, and low teacher morale. He must also address the issue of cultural competence among staff, as well as ensuring that decisions taken are based on student outcome improvements instead of simply responding to parent demands.
Issues to be resolved: The main issues to be resolved are improving trust between stakeholders, addressing student absence problems, boosting teacher morale and increasing cultural competency throughout the school district.

Stakeholders involved in the issues: The key stakeholders involved in these issues include teachers, staff members, administrators, parents and students within the school community.
One or two existing laws or court rulings that relate to the issues: There are various federal laws related to education including Title IX which prohibits gender discrimination in educational institutions; Section 504 which protects individuals from disability-based discrimination; and No Child Left Behind which focuses on increasing academic standards for all students.
District policies that relate to the issues: District policies related to these issues may include specific attendance guidelines for students such as requiring certain numbers of days attended before being eligible for extracurricular activities; faculty/staff training programs focusing on cultural competency tools such as active listening skills; protocols and procedures outlining methods for resolving conflicts between stakeholders; and structures promoting positive relationships among all members of a school’s community (e.g., parent councils).
Possible solutions to the issues: Possible solutions could include implementing an incentivized system encouraging good attendance (such as rewards given out after reaching predetermined goals); providing professional development opportunities for teachers on how best to work with diverse populations; creating clear communication channels between different groups within a school’s community so that voices can be heard easily without fear of retribution or judgment; implementing rules governing acceptable behavior during conflict escalations amongst members of a school’s population; developing co-teaching plans where each group is equally represented in decision making processes concerning policy implementation etc.; instituting team building exercises focusing on collaboration rather than competition amongst peers or rivals etc.

Solutions chosen to resolve the issues: The solution chosen should strive to create an atmosphere where all stakeholders feel involved in problem solving processes while still allowing room for individual input when necessary. This includes initiatives such as setting up regular open house events where parents can have direct conversations with administrators about their child’s progress at school; introducing measures designed solely towards fostering collaborative learning practices such as co-teaching classes so everyone feels included regardless if they come from different backgrounds or not ; establishing reward systems aimed at recognizing successful efforts made by both teachers and students alike when it comes tackling difficult challenges together etc . Action steps (2-5) for implementing each solution include setting up administrative support teams responsible for helping ensure successful implementation ; scheduling regular meetings with stakeholder groups ; launching awareness campaigns focused on highlighting changes taking place within organization ; issuing surveys regularly asking participants their opinions regarding current state of affairs , giving them chance provide feedback & ideas finally talking their suggestions into account , allowing flexibility & room adaption when necessary . Potential moral & legal consequences associated with each solution will depend upon situation itself but generally speaking , any reforms implemented should recognize equal rights & opportunities everyone affected by them while still aiming promote sense belongingness solidarity amongst those involved .

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