Indicator 6

The mission statement and the school's expectations for student learning shall guide the procedures, policies, and decisions of the school and shall be evident in the culture of the school.

What to Look for:

What values and beliefs in the mission underlie the procedures, policies, decisions, and overall culture of the school? Likewise, how does the mission become the driving force for the development of policies and practices within the school?
 

• school leaders make decisions that are aligned with the mission
• organizational practices in the areas of student grouping (e.g., heterogeneous vs. homogeneous, inclusion vs. resource rooms, basic level classes vs. challenging classes for all students); instructional leadership (e.g., are there department heads, cluster heads, deans?); creation of teams, clusters, or other types of small learning communities; and school schedule are based upon a philosophical rationale embedded in the mission
• the basic tone/ambiance/climate of the school that one "feels" in walking about the building is a visible outgrowth of the mission (e.g., the quality of student attitudes and behavior in hallways, teacher/student interactions, cafeteria behavior, interactions with clerical staff)
• the mission of the school is visible in the building and is reflected in the overall culture of the school (e.g., academic learning is valued; the school is truly a community of learners or a democratic school or an inclusive school; the school respects all students; there are no obvious student cliques that are at odds with each other; teachers talk about teaching and learning when they are out of the classroom; departments do not segregate themselves; support staff are treated as integral members of the school community; there are no obviously disenfranchised students; all students are learning and are challenged)
• commonly-held values such as honesty, dependability, trust, responsibility, tolerance, and respect are unabashedly proclaimed and reflected in the school