ABSTRACT

In 1995 the joined the Accelerated Schools Project and have used it as a vehicle to examine their existing school culture and to make changes in the school to support accelerated learning for all students. Changing school culture involves deep change, not just change at the level of displaying student work or adding processes of site-based management. The assumptions, beliefs, and values that shape school cultures can be grouped into five components of school culture. They are: Assumptions related to expectations for children, Assumptions held by children about themselves and their future, Assumptions related to expectations for adults (teachers, principals, and parents), Assumptions about educational practices that are considered "acceptable", and Assumptions about the value of change. This chapter delineates each of the components and describes how assumptions related to each component can discourage or encourage efforts to accelerate learning.