8 Simple Ways to Build a Stronger School Culture

Josh Tovar’s middle and high school near Dallas, Texas, supports a large community of new immigrant students. That’s why Tovar works so hard to make his school “feel like home” for kids arriving throughout the year. 

The benefits of that strong school community are clear to Tovar: fewer discipline issues and zero fights in a recent year. But he admits culture building requires sustained effort. “Is it a big time investment? Yes,” he writes in an article for the Principal Project. “To me, that’s worth it. That culture is worth working for.”

Creating a strong school culture can feel like a murky undertaking. It’s hard to know what will move the needle, and there’s no single, foolproof way to do the work. Some strategies, like offering verbal praise for a student’s efforts or ensuring that teachers and staff know children by name, are widely practiced. 

Informal group gatherings are another staple of healthy communities. Some schools hold all-school meetings, while classrooms may host smaller morning meetings.

David Rockower, an English teacher in Pennsylvania, describes his middle school’s weekly meeting with the full student body as “the heartbeat of our school.” Led by students, they offer an open forum for discussion of school policies. On a deeper level, they give students a place to practice sharing their voices—and listening to others. “When student voice is embraced, the language shifts from ‘This is a school’ to ‘This is our school,’” Rockower writes.

It’s an approach Zac Bauermaster, a principal at an elementary school in Pennsylvania, understands. “School culture is built one interaction at a time,” he wrote on Instagram. Video in his post shows him giving high fives to students in the hallway, and the message is clear: little moments can make a big difference for how kids feel about being at school.

Below are eight strategies educators can use to enhance community at the school and classroom level.

1. Sharing a Meal

When Sharif El-Mekki led a middle and high school in Philadelphia, cafeteria duty was part of his daily routine. He’d sit with students and ask them about their experiences at school, then invite them to rank his job performance—with “10 being the most amazing review and 1 being, ‘El-Mekki go back to principal school,'” he writes in an article for the Principal Project. 

Mealtime conversations with students work well across grade levels and cultural contexts. Maryland-based elementary school principal Dr. Ryan Daniel invites two students from every homeroom to have lunch with her on Fridays, while Dr. Cristiana Jurgensen invites small groups of fifth grade students to join her for lunch in her office each week. Jurgensen, the principal of a middle school in Saudi Arabia, has a specific goal: to help the school’s youngest students build connections during their first year there.

2. Exhibiting Art, Playing Music

Once a month, students at Robbinsville High School in New Jersey gather in the cafeteria to share their talents and a meal. Assistant principal Nicole Rossi-Mumpower created these “First Fridays” to help students build relationships through performing music and sharing their art. School food services also create special “surprise” menus for each event. 

Student musicians make requests to perform at the events—from a group of seniors playing a pop song to a freshman performing a piano solo. Even the school’s jazz ensemble sometimes takes part. Students might also “take a gallery walk” around the walls of the cafeteria to view and discuss an exhibit of classmates’ art. 

“There is a sense of calm and joy when the music is being played and students are engaging in conversation,” Rossi-Mumpower writes. “Students’ artwork enhances the atmosphere. As all of these elements combine and cohere, so does our community.”

3. Welcoming Students at the Door

Small gestures, like greeting students as they enter school or a classroom, can go a long way. Research published in 2018 found that when teachers welcomed students at the door, academic engagement increased by 20 percent and disruptive behavior decreased by nine percent.  

At Daniel’s elementary school in Maryland, teachers created welcome mats to place at every classroom door. Each day, Daniel also makes it a point to say good morning and offer students quick rounds of rock-paper-scissors as they enter the school. 

Bauermaster has a similar approach at his Pennsylvania elementary school. "The way we greet people matters,” he wrote on Instagram. “Every high five, every hug, every smile—we set the tone. Let’s make school a place where kids WANT to be, because they know they belong!"

4. Making Time To Celebrate Growth

Tovar, the Texas-based principal, makes celebration a part of his high school’s daily routine. “I prioritize consistent celebration above everything,” he writes. 

Some are food-based, like candy and a positive note on Mondays for both students and teachers. On other days, Tovar honors “Students of the Week” and a “Teacher of the Day.” Each week a different student gets to nominate a teacher for the award.

Celebrating growth gives students a chance to feel successful, which can boost their motivation and self-efficacy. 

At Long Beach Polytechnic High School in California, monthly “making gains” celebrations honor students who have improved in any area—from attendance to self-kindness. “Many of our students are receiving an ‘award’ for the first time in school,” says Michael Gray, a school counselor who oversees the celebrations. “Their reaction is gratitude and real pride. Some have been moved to tears.”

5. Positive Phone Calls Home

Some schools transform calls home, which typically report misconduct, into celebrations of students’ accomplishments. 

A few quick calls can have a huge impact on students and their families. “Every kid smiled like crazy and left my office with their head up,” says Melissa Evans, an assistant principal in Florida who called students’ families to share their growth at school. 

Some educators have a system for making regular calls. “I ask kids to put their name on the board on the positive note home list. I use our district’s messaging system to say ‘your child deserves a positive note home,’” says Schabahn Day, a teacher in Washington state. “It takes 1-2 minutes, and students and parents love it. Sometimes I elaborate, but it’s also great for kids to explain why they earned the note.”

Others make their calls during stressful seasons or as time allows. “During the month of December, I try to do 5 [calls] a week,” a sixth-grade science teacher adds. “December is hard for everyone, parents included. I can be a bright spot in their day!”

6. Putting Student Praise in Writing

Some educators prefer to convey their praise in writing. “If a student finishes a week with perfect attendance, I write them a note,” writes Tovar, the Texas-based principal. He also uses handwritten notes to celebrate birthdays and welcome new students. "I’d rather spend my time writing positive notes than breaking up fights,” he adds.

Tovar asks teachers to write their own letters to two students each month. Personal letters can help teachers open up dialogue with students who are struggling, and they can be used as icebreakers to help students get to know each other.

7. Using Your Walls to Build Community

Walls are precious real estate in any school. Consider using yours to recognize students’ achievements with a “wall of fame,” or by creating a “community wall” that highlights students’ unique strengths and encourages peers to help each other. 

Hawai’i-based fourth-grade teacher Lory Walker Peroff creates her “community board” at the start of each school year. First, each student makes an inventory of their strengths and areas of expertise. Then they use sentence frames—like “If you need help in…, I can help you” or “I need help in…, can you help me?”—to populate the board’s “Help Wanted” and “Resources Available” sides. Walker Peroff writes that the board “empowers students to use their strengths to help the classroom community thrive.”

You can also use your walls to highlight acts of kindness at school. A “kindness is cool” board gives students a place to draw pictures and write about kind things they’ve done for themselves and others. Another variation is a “kindness tree,” where students pin up “kindness leaves” that celebrate kindness they see around them. Both strategies work well across grade levels.

8. Pom Pom Jars and A-ha Moments

Teachers can celebrate students’ acts of kindness within classrooms, as well. For elementary students, consider using a “pom-pom jar” to encourage kind behavior. Each time a student helps someone in class, they put a pom-pom in the class jar. When the jar is filled, the whole class celebrates with a party.

For older students, try a closing activity that encourages good communication and peer-to-peer recognition. When Aukeem Ballard taught at a high school in California, he gathered students for a daily closing circle activity where they could offer an appreciation for a peer, make an apology, or share an a-ha moment. “I think those types of community recognitions can go a long way to build the bonds,” Ballard says.