Description

Leadership For the Evolution of School Culture - Changing the Game

For leaders, the humility to admit and own mistakes and develop a plan to overcome them is essential to success. The best leaders are not driven by ego or personal agendas. They are simply focused on the mission and how best to accomplish it.

~ Jocko Willink & Leif Babin - Extreme Ownership

Dr. Clete Bulach - discusses his considerable experience and personal evolution in school management as a teacher, principal, and school superintendent. Today his greatest consultation interest is the revision of school climate and school culture, and the essential downstream effect on student achievement. Related areas that impact environment and culture are leadership behaviors, teacher caring behaviors, bullying behaviors, "character-related" behaviors, and improved levels of openness and trust.

On the show notes here at CBJ/173, Dr. Bulach offers downloadable surveys below to collect data on specific student achievement related variables. In our CBJ interview, Dr. Bulach speaks with practical street wisdom from years of experience. If you're interested in school improvements that can work in Anytown, you will appreciate his insights. His humility and knowledge set out new maps for ancient territories.

With focused attention on these details, kids can improve connections with their educational objectives.

Dr. Bulach's Activities

• He formed a consulting agency called The Professional Development and Assessment Center (PDAC).
• The agency provides training to improve leadership skills in human relations, conflict management, and group management. See the link Leadership Development Seminars to read a description of these seminars.
• Additionally, personnel from the agency serve as evaluation and research design consultants. School districts that want to develop data-driven school improvement plans that are further designed to improve the quality of instruction have found the services of the PDAC to be beneficial.
• Bulach was the external evaluator for the character education grants (1999-2003) for the State of Georgia's and West Virginia's Departments of Education (2002-2006).
• He collected "character data" on over 200 schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. On-site visits were made to every school district in the State of WV.
• He has written two books based on data collected during interviews with students and teachers during those on-site visits, with co-authors Dr. Fred Lunenburg and Dr. Les Potter.

Personal Note On Responsible School Leadership 

You will notice on the front page of CBJ the interesting parallel between the book by Jocko Willink & Lief Babin, two exemplary SEAL training commanders, and these insights from Dr. Clete Bulach. Great minds travel on the same paths.

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Website & Books

• Professional Development and Assessment Center - Download Data Collection Surveys
• Enhancing a High-Performance School Culture - Bulach - Global Amazon Link
• School Climate and Culture vis-a-vis Student Learning - Bulach - Global Amazon Link