Anthony Muhammad - Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division (Leading the Four Types of Teachers and Creating a Positive School Culture)

Second Edition

TRANSFORMING

SCHOOL

CULTURE

How to Overcome Staff Division

Anthony MUHAMMAD

foreword by Richard DuFour & Rebecca DuFour

Copyright 2009, 2018 by Solution Tree Press

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction of this book in whole or in part in any form.

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SolutionTree.com

Printed in the United States of America

212019181712345

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Muhammad, Anthony, author.

Title: Transforming school culture : how to overcome staff division / Anthony Muhammad.

Description: Second edition. | Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017013951 | ISBN 9781945349300 (perfect bound)

Subjects: LCSH: Educational leadership. | School environment. | Educational change. | Educational accountability. | School improvement programs.

Classification: LCC LB2805 .M75 2018 | DDC 371.2--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017013951

Solution Tree

Jeffrey C. Jones, CEO

Edmund M. Ackerman, President

Solution Tree Press

President and Publisher: Douglas M. Rife

Editorial Director: Sarah Payne-Mills

Managing Production Editor: Caroline Cascio

Senior Editor: Amy Rubenstein

Copy Editor: Ashante K. Thomas

Proofreader: Elisabeth Abrams

Text and Cover Designer: Abigail Bowen

Editorial Assistants: Jessi Finn and Kendra Slayton

This book is dedicated to every child who has been doubted. To all of the children in housing projects, barrios, cities, and countrysides who feel that life is hopeless, it is not hopeless! If a young man from the north end of Flint, Michigan, can be an educated scholar, the sky is the limit for you. Keep your head held high, and show the world your talent. As long as I have a breath in my body, I will fight for you, but you have to fight for yourself too.

Anthony Muhammad

Acknowledgments

The acknowledgments for this book could easily be as long as the text. I have been so abundantly blessed, and there are so many people who have helped me grow in my short time here on this earth. First and foremost, I must give praise and all of the credit for anything worthwhile to Almighty God, the creator of all things. He has guided every step I have ever taken and every thought that I have ever produced, and to Him all praise is due.

It is with a heavy heart that I dedicate this book to my mentor and friend, Dr. Richard DuFour, who passed away on February 8, 2017. No one has ever had more influence on me professionally, and very few have influenced me more personally. I was blessed to spend fifteen years witnessing your brilliance and your example. I promise to make you proud and to be a living witness of your influence.

I must acknowledge and thank the love and influence of my grandmother, Emma Roberson-Alexander (Madear), who passed away in 2013. Special thanks to Anna Nelson, my mother, nurturer, and friend. A special, special thanks goes to my beautiful wife, Dronda. I appreciate you showing me the other side of life and for all of your patience, love, and support. Carmen, thanks for giving me the four greatest gifts that a man could ever receive. Rashad, Larry, Jamilah, Shaheed, Ayanna, and Logan, the sun rises and sets on you. There is nothing that I would not do for you. Do not be afraid to take on the world and become what God created you to be. Angie, Lee, Donald, Brandon, and Derek (RIP), thanks for supporting your big brother. Cookie, Wendy, Billie, Peter, Birdie, Ricky, and Lori, thanks for supporting your nephew. Thanks to the entire Harper, Crawford, and Nelson families for your support and love. Thanks to the Gilliam/Hale family for accepting me into your family and giving me love and support. Finally, I would like to give special acknowledgement to my hometown of Flint, Michigan, the greatest place in the world for a young man to grow up. It breaks my heart to see the people and the city that I love suffering because of a lead-poisoned water crisis that they did not create. Every human being deserves to drink and consume clean water, and my hometown is being denied that right. I ask everyone who reads this book to join in the fight for justice for Flint! Wherever life takes me, I will be a Flintstone for life!

From a professional standpoint, I would like to thank the following powerful influences. Again, thank you, Mom, for being a great teacher and a great educational role model. I would like to express special appreciation to Becky DuFour and Robert Eaker; thank you for your guidance and willingness to share your wisdom with me. I would like to thank Luis Cruz, Mike Mattos, Ken Williams, and Sharroky Hollie for being my powerful contemporaries. I would like to express appreciation to Jeff Jones, Donald Stubby McLean (former director of Solution Tree Canada), and the entire Solution Tree staff.

Solution Tree Press would like to thank the following reviewers:

Nicole Airgood

Principal

Eastwood Elementary School

Sturgis, Michigan

Doug Crowley

Assistant Principal

DeForest Area High School

DeForest, Wisconsin

Abbey Duggins

Assistant Principal

Saluda High School

Saluda, South Carolina

Louis Lim

Vice Principal

Bayview Secondary School

Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada

Ryan Rismiller

Assistant Principal

Harding High School

Marion, Ohio

Table of Contents

by Richard DuFour and Rebecca DuFour

About the Author

Anthony Muhammad, PhD, is a much sought-after educational consultant. A practitioner for nearly twenty years, he has served as a middle school teacher, assistant principal, and principal and as a high school principal. His Transforming School Culture framework explores the root causes of staff resistance to change.

Anthonys tenure as a practitioner has earned him several awards as both a teacher and a principal. His most notable accomplishment came as principal of Levey Middle School in Southfield, Michigan, a National School of Excellence, where student proficiency on state assessments more than doubled in five years. Anthony and the staff at Levey used the Professional Learning Communities at Work process for school improvement, and they have been recognized in several videos and articles as a model high-performing PLC.

As a researcher, Anthony has published articles in several publications in both the United States and Canada. He is author of Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division; The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach: Transforming Schools at Every Level; and Overcoming the Achievement Gap Trap: Liberating Mindsets to Effect Change and a contributor to The Collaborative Administrator.

To learn more about Anthonys work, visit New Frontier 21 (www.newfrontier21.com), or follow @newfrontier21 on Twitter.