District Support of Teachers, Leaders, and Schools: An Evaluation of a Service Culture Program in an Urban, Midwestern School District

Abstract

Some scholars believe district offices are primarily a compliance-driven, bureaucratic hindrance to transformational change. Other scholars believe that districts can play a key role in school and student success, but exactly what this role looks like remains very much in question. Particularly in large, urban districts, the focus seems to be more on policy and procedure than achieving interconnectivity among and connection with each one of its schools, its staff, and students. The business sector, on the other hand, has long recognized that knowing and satisfying customer/client needs is a key component of success. To improve teacher perceptions, some districts have begun to initiate service culture programs. Although research exploring the business sector finds that service culture enhanced the quality of service to customers, there is limited research on the effects of service culture in the education sector. Many principals and teachers in a focal urban, Midwestern district, report a disconnect between school sites and district office personnel resulting in a perception among school site staff that district personnel do not care. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the design, success measures, and preliminary outcomes related to the implementation of a service culture program in this school district. The primary research question asks, “Did perceptions of service culture among staff change after the implementation of the district’s service culture initiative?” The service culture evaluation design was quantitative. Surveys and sign-in logs were used to measure change in service culture, trust, quality of service, and volunteer participation over time, and were measured prior to the intervention and after the intervention had been in operation for over a year. The researcher found that service culture and trust both declined over the study period, with trust declining more sharply. However, perceptions of service quality and volunteer participation, two other important intervention outcomes, grew over the study period.