Organization Happiness: Data Analysis

Climate and culture are prevalent topics in businesses, organizations, and schools. Climate can often be described as the attitude of an organization, whereas culture is the personality. It is necessary to have both to be successful. When creating and maintaining a positive climate and culture, climate is often easier to change (Gruenert, 2008). When it comes to climate and culture in schools, administrators work alongside their staff to address morale and understand the difference between climate and culture and how they work together (Gruenert, 2008).

Schools and districts often gauge the climate of their employees or schools through surveys. These surveys are crafted so that the data can be analyzed and assessed for areas of strength and growth. One such survey was created and sent to a high school staff of 100+ which included administrators (Principals and Assistant Principals), classified staff (custodians, paras, secretaries, etc), certified staff (teachers, SSPs, TOSAs, etc) with years of experience ranging from two to over 21 years of experience. A total of 24 individuals responded to the survey, 9 identified themselves as classified staff, and 15 identified themselves as certified staff. No administrators participated in the survey.

The Likert scale was used to answer the survey questions, with answer options being:

4 - Strongly Agree

3 - Agree

2 - Disagree

1 - Strongly Disagree


There were 11 survey questions, which fit into five themes that support a positive climate.

The themes were:

1. Recognition and Satisfaction

2. Clear Focus and Vision

3. Leadership and Support

4. Communication and Engagement

5. Growth and Development

The five themes and average rating in each theme are shown in the chart.

A much deeper analysis of these results could be considered, such as analyzing results as classified vs certified, years of experience, etc. After analyzing the overall rating results among the 24 surveyed staff members, recognition and satisfaction are rated the highest, while leadership and support are rated the lowest.

When analyzing each question, the top 15 bolded responses are identified as certified responses, and the bottom 9 are classified responses. Numeric values were given to each response as shown above and then averaged at the bottom of each column. As seen here, question 11, which asked about overall happiness, is the highest-rated question. Whereas question 4, which asked about communication within the school, is ranked the lowest.




To promote support and trust in building leaders, some suggestions would be:

1. Getting into classrooms and not just for observations
Grissom, Loeb, and Master (2013) classroom observations can not only have a positive impact on student outcomes but can also be used to build rapport between teachers and build leadership. Being present in classrooms also provides an insight into students, staff, and general day-to-day happenings in the building (Grissom et al, 2013). Increased accessibility and reliability of building administrators can support building relationships that foster collaboration and confidence for staff and administrators.


2. Encourage Teacher Leaders
Teachers should share in school leadership and play a role in decision making, instruction, assessment, and professional growth for themselves and their colleagues. Principals expand their leadership skills to teachers and better support the school and its stakeholders by empowering teacher leaders (Ghamrawi, 2011).

3. Honor Commitments
Making and keeping time to meet with teachers, parents, and students, observing in classrooms, and following through on promises.

4. Develop Coaching Skills
Supporting teachers with tools and strategies to not only help themselves be successful but also their colleagues as well to improve teaching practices and student outcomes (Newell, 2025).

5. Foster Risk Taking
Fail Forward, support to try something new, and even if it isn't successful, look for what can be learned from it and what next steps might be.

6. Openness
The way a principal communicates, shares information, and gets the staff involved in decision-making or just giving teachers a "heads up" about an event or initiative (Kuykendall & Slater, 2020).


Education Week writer Larry Ferlazzo (2025) shares responses to the question of the week, in which he asks, "What is one thing a Principal can do to support their teachers?". Wendi Pillars (2025) shared her illustration, which supports the tips above.



In what ways have you felt supported by your principal(s)? What specific actions was your principal taking to help you or your colleagues?



References

Ferlazzo, L and Pillars, W. (2025, February 13). 7 Ways Principals Can Support Teachers (Opinion). Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-7-ways-principals-can-support-teachers/2022/05

Ghamrawi, N. (2011). Trust Me: Your School Can Be Better--A Message from Teachers to Principals. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 39(3), 333–348. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143210393997

Grissom, J. A., Loeb, S., & Master, B. (2013). Effective instructional time use for school leaders: Longitudinal evidence From observations of principals. Educational Researcher, 42(8), 433–444. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24571227

Gruenert, S. (2008). School culture, school climate: They are not the same thing. Principal, 56–57. https://www.naesp.org/sites/default/files/resources/2/Principal/2008/M-Ap56.pdf

Kuykendall, B., & Slater, C. L. (2020). Servant-Leadership and Trust between Teachers and Principals. International Journal of Servant-Leadership, 14(1), 249–273. https://doi.org/10.33972/ijsl.31

Newell, A. (March 2025). Coaching for teachers: What school leaders need to consider. Blog. https://blog.irisconnect.com/uk/coaching-for-teachers#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIt%20is%20an%20opportunity%20for%20two%20individuals,lead%20to%20professional%20and%20personal%20success.%E2%80%9D%20%2D&text=In%20addition%20to%20helping%20teachers%20transfer%20new,a%20culture%20of%20learning%2C%20experimentation%2C%20and%20collegiality.

quarantine day ???

First of all I am NOT quarantine material! Yall staying home is so hard!!! And the hardest part not going to school. Seriously the building misses me. I swear it does! 

So day 1 I stayed home and was a good rule follower. 

Day 2... HAD to get to the grocery store to pick up essentials

Day 3... Went out and got the dreaded COVID test. Funny story the nurse giving it was like it isnt that bad for women. Men though they can't handle it as well. Hahaha

Day 4... First day of remote quarantined teaching. Kids in school being monitored by Admin while I teach from home. All. The. Nerves. But we made it - just in time for that set of kids to get quaratined too! So now my whole cohort A and B day are at home! Also this is the day our district released we are going remote from December 1 through January 12. So all the things going on trying to figure all that out as well.

Day 5... Remote teaching was tough. I cried. Went to the store for toilet paper we are out at Costco and almost out at walmart. Great.

Day 6...Covid Test is Negative! Virtual Sock Battle with a super hero loving teacher friend. And had an amazing day remote teaching.

Is it over yet yall? Haha 8 more days.

quarantined teacher day 1

So it happened Yall. My team and I are quarantined. Got the news today. My school actually went 8 weeks without having to shut down a single cohort and then I swear it's been a downward slope every since. 

T7b - kid positive

T6 - teacher positive

S6 - teacher exposure to positive

T8b - kid positive

S7b - kid positive

It's been a lot. Administration and other support staff are covering classrooms of kids while their teachers are remote into the classroom. Technology isn't always working. Fear is running rampant. And both students and teachers are already stretched thin. 

We wear our mask. We keep distance. We sanitize and have cohorts and don't care the hallway spaces, have zoom meetings. And we are still having shut downs. It absolutely sucks. I feel like a prisoner at school. I cant talk to my friends in person. Only video calls. I can't hug kids or get hugs. We all need hugs Yall. And some of these kids - this is the tough one -  some of my students I have NEVER seen their whole faces. Just their eyes and forehead. It is heart breaking. 

I'm struggling with quarantine. I'm not a very good caged animal. I gain energy from others. I feed off the energy in the room. And I'm going to miss my kids. Hoping it goes fast and that my team and students stay safe and heathy!

Distance Learning

As if teaching 7th Grade math in person wasn't hard enough...let's go online, during a pandemic!

Things that have been good during this "distance learning" time
1. [7th grade] Math is about the "how" of the problem more than the "what" of the problem
2. Getting out of the box and really changing things up - teaching and learning
3. Focus on responding to problems not just answering them (C-E-R format)
4. Support from my administration staff has always been great but it has just stepped up tenfold
5. Connections with my kids have gotten stronger, not with every kid but with a handful of them

Things that have been a challenge during this "distance learning" time
1. I miss my students. Like SO much.
2. I never realized how much I really LOVED going to school and being in that space
3. I am a social creature and NEED in person interaction because
4. I miss my coworkers
5. I miss my classroom

4 day work week

That's right yall, you read that right!
4. Day. Work. Week.
You know that article that is circulating Facebook and other social media, about that school district in Colorado that is all the RAVE, being bold and out there because they have a 4. Day. Work. Week.
Yeah, that hip and cool school district, that's my new school district. And I am here to tell you, this 4 day work week thing - It's pretty sweet.
But in all seriousness, you have GOT to try this 4 day thing. Why have we not thought of this sooner? It is amazing. I can't tell you how great it is to have a three day weekend EVERY WEEKEND. The time to recharge is amazing. It gives me time to decompress and spend QUALITY time with my family. Don't get me wrong, cramming everything in is challenging. Teaching everything the state requires in 4 days instead of 5 is a lot. Not to mention the days I work are longer to compensate for the shorter week. But honestly, I am at school from 730-5 or so everyday anyway regardless of when I have kids. Kid hours are 830-432, which is a long day but again 4 day work week. It makes the calendar so much easier to manage too. Potentially by the end of year I will feel differently but right now, this is AWESOME stuff.

Some Cons:
Childcare - butttt what about districts on year round? Right? Plus it is only one day of full day childcare - which is sometimes a holiday anyway because I have Monday's off not Friday's - not to mention that snow and other weather are awesome at coming in on a Monday instead of mid week too.
Time - we all complain we never have the time, and a 4 day week cuts that time but, the ME time - yall we need that time to recharge and reconnect with ourselves and our families
These are really the two big ones I can think of.
Like I said so far I am loving the 4 day week. 

After a Decade

A decade of teaching. A. DECADE. 

Here is what a decade looks like for me:

3 states. 4 districts. 6 schools. 8 classrooms. 13 administrators. 333 students. 1800+ days teaching.

Year 1: cross category special education grades k and 4

Year 2: self contained emotional disabilities grades 3-5

Year 3 and 4: General Education Second Grade

Year 5: General Education Fifth Grade

Year 6: General Education Third Grade

Year 7: General Education First Grade

Year 8: General Education Fourth Grade

Year 9: General Education Fifth Grade 

Year 10: Sixth Grade Math Teacher

Here is what I know about teaching after 10 years. It's hard. For those in the back...IT'S HARD. And I don't mean the standard duh it's hard it's your job hard. I mean really hard. Heart wrenching, bone tired, belly aching, beyond exhausted HARD. And sure I could have gone into a different career path, one where I felt more appreciated by society, where I could leave at 4:30pm and not have to bring hours of work home to do from my couch while my dog looks at me wishing we could go for a walk. A profession where I get bonuses for doing well and overtime pay for working more than expected. Instead I CHOSE to be a teacher. And I honestly question it every year and when I ask myself 

"if you leave teaching, what would you do?"

The very loud answer back is

"I have no idea, I can't picture myself anywhere but in a classroom." 

Which if I'm being honest is a not all that helpful when you're feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. 

But none the less I CHOSE to be a teacher. I choose to be a teacher every day and I'll keep choosing to be a teacher.

After 10 years of teaching I've learned that I am not going to please every administrator, every parent or every child. And that doesn't define me anymore than state tests define my kids. I've learned that the kids that need the most love ask for it in the most unloving way. I've learned that while my kids have parents and families that love and care for them, I do too. I have learned that I would do just about anything for my kids; whether they sat in my classroom 10 years ago or this year or even if they never have and they were in the teacher's class across the hall.

I've learned after 10 years of teaching I love teaching. It's etched into my soul. 

Up Next, Year 11: Seventh Grade Math

I would love to get better at Blogging. I seriously dream about blog posts sometimes and yet they never actually make it to fruition. Will definitely need to work on that.

6th grade here I come!

First year in Colorado was a roller coaster...BUTTTTTTTTTTTTT

I'm going to a new school and a new grade level! Currently 6th grade is in the elementary schools but that could change next year with as much growth as we are having in my district. I am so excited to just be teaching math and for my new school! :)

SIXTH GRADE HERE I COME!