“P” Soup: Creating Healthy School Environments Through Culture Audits

Abstract

Recognizing the role of cultural audits in identifying a school's organizational and cultural characteristics, this article offers insight about developing school improvement plans. The multiple cultures that shape the “null curriculum” of a school, in which certain concepts and skills are left out of students' scope of learning, strongly influence their learning experiences and academic achievements. Cultural audits can help in designing school improvement plans that address the values of the marginalized and ensure equitable learning environments for all students. The Six Ps identified in this article—policies, practices, personnel, programs, processes, and parents—provide the foundation of a comprehensive, planned approach involving school and families. Such a process of planning and policy-making can have significant implications for systemic reform geared toward closing student achievement gaps, especially among minority student populations.