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Interventions to Promote A Positive School ClimateCreating a Climate for Learning and Safety
Robin J. MorrisonInstructional Supervisor
Division of Special EducationClinical Behavioral Services
Clemson University National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities
Interventions to Promote A Positive School ClimateCreating a Climate for Learning and Safety
Dr. Sandra Covington SmithM-DCPS National Coordinator
Coordinator of Technical Assistance and Training Senior Research Associate
Clemson University
National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities
School Climate
Conceptualizing School Climate:
Importance, Organization, and Composition
MeaningfulFunctional
School Climate:Organization and Composition
Values Norms Beliefs Sentiments Practices Social Interactions National Research Council
Institute of Medicine
of the National Academies
School Climate:Organization and Composition
Atmosphere Culture Environment Morale School Morale School Ethos National Research Council
Institute of Medicine
of the National Academies
School ClimateOrganization and Composition
Community Democracy Ethic of Caring Students’ attachment to school and their
academic and behavioral/social achievement are contingent on first satisfying teachers’ and students’ social and personal needs
National Research Council
Institute of Medicine
of the National Academies
Measuring School Climate
Importance of understanding perceptions of school experience through the eyes of
– Students– Teachers– Parents
Issues of– Safety and social relationships– Conducive environment for working/learning (often times a
therapeutic milieu) – Experiences in the classroom
• Example survey findings in Baltimorewww.baltimorecityschools.org/Student_Performance/Institutional_Research/index.asp
The Center For Social and Emotional Education
School climate refers to the quality and character of school life as it relates to norms and values, interpersonal relations and social interactions, and organizational processes and structures.
School climate sets the tone for all the learning and teaching done in the school environment and, as research proves, it is predictive of students’ ability to learn and develop in healthy ways.
Research proves that a positive school climate directly impacts telling indicators of success such as increased teacher retention, lower dropout rates, decreased incidences of violence, and higher student achievement.
The Center For Social and Emotional Education
School climate refers to the quality and character of school life.
School climate is based on patterns of students', parents' and school personnel's experience of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures.
The Center For Social and Emotional Education
A sustainable, positive school climate fosters youth development and learning necessary for a productive, contributing and satisfying life in a democratic society.
This climate includes: Norms, values and expectations that support people feeling socially, emotionally and physically safe.
The Center For Social and Emotional Education
People are engaged and respected. Students, families and educators work together to
develop, live and contribute to a shared school vision. Educators model and nurture attitudes that emphasize
the benefits and satisfaction gained from learning. Each person contributes to the operations of the school
and the care of the physical environment.
(This definition of school climate and a positive, sustained school climate were consensually developed by the National School Climate Council that CSEE co-leads with the Education Commission of the States.) www.schoolclimate.org
Activity 1:School Climate: Improvement Efforts
Organization and Composition
1. How would you summarize your school’s past and current bully prevention and/or school climate improvement efforts?
2. What has been most successful?
3. What has been most challenging?
4. Please review your schools mission and/or vision statements. *Consider to what extent current instructional and school improvement efforts are or are not aligned with the mission and vision statements. Describe.
5. How would you rate the level of trust shared between you and your students? Colleagues? *Some school communities have worked to establish higher levels of trust and collaborative problem solving abilities and others are colored by a culture of blame and distrust. *These experiences color and shape our ability to improve school climate!
*Key recommendations to remember.
School Climate: Improvement EffortsOrganization and Composition
Activity 1 – Answer Sheet
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Background on Research on Importance of School Climate
Educators have recognized the importance of school climate for a hundred years (A. Perry, The Management of a City School, New York: MacMillan). However, it was not until the 1950’s that educators began to systemically study school climate. The development of scientifically sound school climate assessment tools spurred a research tradition that grows to this day.
Introduction to Importance of School Climate
Over the last two decades, there has been a growing appreciation that school climate, the quality, and character of school life, fosters – or undermines – children’s development, learning, and achievement. Research confirms what teachers and parents have claimed for decades: a safe and supportive school environment, in which student have positive social relationships and are respected, engaged in their work, and feel competent, matters.
Definition of School Climate
School climate refers to the quality and character of school life. It is based on patterns of school life experiences and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching, learning and leadership practices, and organizational structures.
A sustainable, positive school climate fosters youth development and learning necessary for a productive, contributing, and satisfying life in a democratic society. This climate includes norms, values, and expectations that support people feeling socially, emotionally, and physically safe.
People are engaged and respected. Students, families, and educators work together to develop, live, and contribute to a shared school vision.
Educators model and nurture attitudes that emphasize the benefits and satisfaction gained from learning. Each person contributes to the operations of the school and the care of the physical environment (A. Perry, ibid.).
Benefits of Supportive School Climate
Moreover, when such activities are presented in a supportive and collaborative learning environment, they encourage students to build upon one another’s ideas in productive and engaging ways. (K. Wentzel and D. Watkins, “Peer Relationships and Collaborative Learning as Contexts for Academic Enablers,” in School Psychology Review, vol. 31, no. 3, 2002, pp. 366-367.) Together, the experience realistically represents the social situation that they may find themselves part of in the greater civil society. (A. Bandura, “Social Cognitive Theory: An Agentic Perspective,” Annual Review Psychology, vol. 52, 2001, pp. 1-26; Power, et al., 1989; J. Torney-Purta, R. Lehmann, H. Oswald, W. Schulz, Citizenship and Education in Twenty-Eight Countries, Amsterdam: International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement, 2001.)
Benefits of a Supportive School Climate (Continued)
In an overlapping manner, positive school climate promotes cooperative learning, group cohesion, respect, and mutual trust. (G. Ghaith, “The relationship between forms of instruction, achievement and perceptions of classroom climate,” Educational Researcher, vol. 45, no. 1, 2003 pp. 83-93; D. Kerr, E. Ireland, J. Lopes, et al., Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study: Second Annual Report: First longitudinal Study, England: National Foundation for Educational Research, 2004, pp. 1-154; C. Finnan, K. Schnepel and L. Anderson, “Powerful learning environments: The critical link between school and classroom cultures,” Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, vol. 8, no. 4, 2003, pp. 391-418).
Benefits of a Supportive School Climate (Continued)
Positive school climate, by definition, is characterized by strong collaborative learning communities.
Research shows that this improves teacher practice as well as student learning through dialogue and collaboration around engaging classroom instruction. (R. Marzano, The Art and Science of Teaching: A Comprehensive Framework for Effective Instruction, Alexandria, VA: Association for Curriculum and Supervision Development, 2007; National Association of Secondary School Principals, Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Reform, Reston, VA, 2004.)
Benefits of a Supportive School Climate (Continued)
In other words, when student, in partnership with educators and parents, work to improve school climate they promote essential learning skills (e.g., creativity and innovation skills, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, communication and collaborative skills) as well as life and career skills (e.g., flexibility and adaptability, initiative, social and cross-culture skills, productivity and accountability, leadership and responsibility) that provide the foundation for 21st century learning. (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Learning for the 21st century: A report and mile guide for 21st century skills, 2002, www.21stcenturyskills.org, accessed November 10, 2007; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Beyond the Three R’s: Voter Attitudes toward 21st Century Skills, 2007, www.21stcenturyskills.org, accessed November 10, 2007.)
School Climate
Upon Further Examination…
School Climate Indicators Students are most engaged when the physical and social
context promotes safety, provides structure, and opportunities for youth to develop new skills in the context of warm, supportive relationships, and promotes positive social norms.
Students need support from the people with whom they interact and trust.
Each dimension of school climate should allow for meaningful and functional academic, emotional, and social engagement, as well as success!
Activity 2:Identifying the Indicators of School Climate
Within Your School
12 Dimensions of School Climate Measured
– Review and reflect upon the information received thus far.
Clearly define each of the indicators according to the twelve dimensions listed. Come to a consensus as a team. Record your teams responses in the major indicators’ columns. Answers will be reported to the group aloud.
Dimensions Major Indicators
Safety
1. Rules and Norms
2. Sense of Physical Security
3. Sense of Social-Emotional Security
Teaching and Learning
4. Support for Learning
5. Social and Civic Learning
Interpersonal Relationships
6. Respect for Diversity
7. Social Support - Adults
8. Social Support - Students
Institutional Environment
9. School Connectedness/Engagement
10. Physical Surroundings
Staff Only
11. Leadership
12. Professional Relationships
Accessed 4/16/10 from http://www.schoolclimate.org/programs/csci.php
The Indicators of School Climate
Taking A Closer Look:
Assessing School Climate and
Making Relevant Connections
Indicators of School ClimateDimensions of School Climate
Rules and Norms: Clearly communicated rules about physical violence and verbal abuse and clear of consistent enforcementPhysical Safety: Sense that students and adults feel safe from physical harm in the schoolSocial and emotional security: Sense that students feel safe from verbal abuse, teasing, and exclusion
Support for learning: Supportive teaching practices, such as constructive feedback and encouragement for positive risk taking, academic challenge, individual attention, and opportunities to demonstrate knowledge and skills in a variety of waysSocial and civic learning: Support for the development of social and civic knowledge and skills, including effective listening, conflict resolution, reflection and responsibility, and ethical decision making
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Indicators of School ClimateDimensions of School Climate
Respect for diversity: Mutual respect for individual differences at all levels of the school – student-student, adult-students, and adult-adultSocial support – adults: Collaborative and trusting relationships among adults and adult support for students in terms of high expectations for success, willingness to listen, and personal concern.Social support-students: Network of peer relationships for academic and personal support
School connectedness/engagement: Positive identification with the school, a sense of belonging, and norms for broad participation in school life for students and families.Physical surroundings: Cleanliness, order, and appeal of facilities and adequate resources and materials.
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Adapted from J. Cohen, T. Pickeral, and M. McCloskey, “The Challenge of Assessing School Climate,” Educational Leadership 66, no. 44 (2009).
Evidence-based Education and Traditional Teaching and Learning
When evidenced-based social, emotional, and ethical education is integrated into traditional teaching and learning, educators can hone the essential academic and social skills, understanding, and dispositions that support effective participation in a democracy.
There are two core processes that promote children’s school success and health development: (a) promoting children’s social-emotional competencies and ethical dispositions throughout their pre-K-2 school experience, and (b) creating safe, caring, participatory, and responsive school systems and homes. I use the term “social, emotional, ethical and academic education” (SEEAE) as shorthand for sustained preK-12 programmatic efforts that integrate and coordinate these pedagogic and systemic dimensions.
Exploring the Aims of Education within the Context of School Climate
What do we really want our children to have accomplished when they graduate from high school?
Educational philosophers have answered these questions in a variety of ways, ranging from national prosperity, to managerial efficiency, to individual happiness (Dunne and Hogan, 2004: Marples, 1999; Noddings, 2003).
Parents tend to answer this question in a more consistent manner. For example, the 2000 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll found that over the past thirty-two years, Americans have said the single most important purpose of public schooling was to prepare people to become responsible citizens (Rose and Gallup, 2000).
Creating a Climate for Learning and Safety
Systemic intervention to create a safe, caring, and responsive school climate is the unifying goal for evidence-based work in this area, as it provides the platform upon which we teach and learn.
Perceptions of School Climate
When students as well as parents, educators, and community members walk into a school, they quickly begin to form judgments about the experience of living and working in that school.
Will this school help to motivate my child to do well academically and learn to be a “life-long learner?”
How safe is the school? Is the physical environment (e.g., temperature,
cleanliness, size) supportive of learning? How respected and “connected” do students feel?
Perceptions of School Climate
Are teachers and students engaged in interesting and meaningful work?
Is there a culture of intellectual rigor? To what extent are people in the school promoting the
social, civic, emotional and ethical as well as cognitive skills and dispositions that provide the foundation for learning and effective participation in a democracy?
The ways in which groups of students, parents, and school personnel answer these questions reflect group norms and values that have a profound impact in creating – or undermining – a climate for learning.
Gap Between Research and Policy Re: School Climate
The critical gap in research and policy in terms of school climate is a result of several problems: (L. McCabe, J. Cohen, and T. Pickeral, School Climate: On the Gap between Research and Policy, submitted for publication,2007.)
The first major problem is inconsistency and inaccuracy in terms of school climate definition
Second, while there are superior options, state policymakers have made poor choices in terms of school climate measurement at the state level.
The third problem is a lack of defined climate-related leadership at the state level. Fourth, many states continue to isolate school climate polity in heath, special
education and school safety arenas, without integrating it into school accountability policies, or the beliefs of the community at large.
Finally, many states have not yet created quality or improvement standards, which can easily link data to improvement plans and technical assistance.
Policy and Practice
This situation presents many questions for policy and practice and teacher education leaders:
What policy options are available for state policymakers and education leaders to ensure school climate is a critical component of accountability and school improvement systems?
How can we integrate research-based information about school climate into the preparation and credentialing of teachers, school-based mental health professionals, and school administrators?
What are the basic components of research-based school climate improvement efforts?
How can building, district and state school leaders learn from one another to further research and understanding about effective school climate improvement efforts?
Guiding Principles
School climate is an essential element of successful schools to promote student achievement, preparation for democratic life and preparation to be successful in the 21st century workplace.
School climate evaluations need to be carried out with tools that have being developed in a scientifically sound manner and are comprehensive in the following two ways: (1) K-12 student, parent, and school personnel “voice” is recognized; and (2) all of the major dimensions of school life (e.g., safety, relationships, teaching, and learning, the (external) environment) are assessed.
Guiding Principles (Continued)
Comprehensive school climate assessment provides data that should be used as a springboard for community-wide understanding, school improvement planning, and implementation efforts as well as accountability. Currently, there are research-based guidelines that recognize the unique nature of each school’s history, strengths, needs and goals, and provide benchmarks and a road map for school improvement efforts.
School personnel, whether they are aware or not, are school climate leaders. Students, parents, and community leaders naturally follow their lead. Therefore, emphasis on school personnel training in classroom and school climate is pivotal for educational reform.
The Effects of School Climate
Effects of School Climate on Engagement and Learning
1. Shared value system that pervades the school and derives from a shared history
2. Common agenda for school members involving coursework, activities, rituals, and traditions that function as a unifying factor
3. Ethic of caring that permeates relations among students and staff and between staff and students
A Positive School Climate
Increases academic engagement Increases behavioral engagement Increases cognitive engagement Increases psychological engagement Increases social engagement
A Positive School Climate
Assists in increasing SCHOOL COMPLETION – Increases attendance – Increases prosocial behavior – Increases academic competence – Increases student engagement– Increases parent engagement
A Positive School Climate
Increases the holding power of our classrooms Increases the holding power of our hallways Increases the holding power of our schools,
universally Increases the holding power of our communities Assists in decreasing the drop out rates for
Students with Disabilities!
Organized schools should share a common
mission… Staff and students interact outside the classroom
Teachers see themselves as responsible for students’ total development and success [in partnership with families], not just for the transmission of lessons
Teachers share responsibility for students’ academic success, often exchanging information and coordinating efforts between classrooms and across grades
Organized schools should share a common mission…
Adults must belief and set high expectations for all students based on their abilities and not their disabilities – you must act upon your beliefs and follow through.
Make certain students feel supported and are aware that you believe in them.
Universally Students Must… Feel physically safe Feel social and emotional security Believe they are supported in their learning and
goals (both short & long term) Believe their social and civic learning and
activities are imported and supported Believe they are respected, trusted, and
connected to the adults and the learning environment
Within the Classroom Students Must…
Feel welcome Be disciplined and not punished Be encouraged to contribute ideas for resolving
problems Be Offered choices Be Taught replacement behaviors Be disciplined and taught how to self manage
their behavior Taught social skills
Hard to Engage Students…Targeted Group, Classroom, or Individual Student
Model positive, engaging, and rewarding relationships with their peers.
Facilitate positive interactions with other staff members.
Communicate that every day of attendance counts! You want to see their face. Acknowledge their presence.
Hard to Engage Students…Targeted Group, Classroom, or Individual Student
Consider environmental, instructional, and behavioral systems within classrooms
Both universally and within the classroom, students are more likely to feel welcomed and engaged when then is a sense of order. Strategies: 1) Schools draft a clear statement of
purpose that focuses on both academic and social outcomes for all students and included staff’s roles.
Activity 3:Targeted Group, Classroom, or Individual Student
Strategies: 1) Schools draft a clear statement of purpose that focuses on both academic and social outcomes for all students and included staff’s roles.
Activity 4A:) Consider your school’s commitment to create, provide, and maintain a positive school climate. Teams, develop a “draft” statement of purpose that focuses on both academic and social outcomes for all students and included staff’s roles. Teams will share their goal statements aloud with the whole group. Statements become a part of the team’s action plan.
Activity 4B:) Specifically list all strategies and/or activities that support a positive school climate for SWD. Be as specific as possible, noting that many SWD are not involved in extracurricular activities or service learning activities and are often isolated from adults and their peers. As a team, list and describe three strategies that provide and support a positive school climate at your school for SWD. Teams will share with the whole group.
Activity 3: Answer SheetTargeted Group, Classroom, or Individual Student
Strategies: 1) Schools draft a clear statement of purpose that focuses on both academic and social outcomes for all students and included staff’s roles.
Activity 4A:)
Activity 4B:)
Team Strategies
1) School teams develop a clearly defined set of expectations (expected behaviors).
2) School teams develop procedures for teaching expected behavior. Educators subsequently receive training on a variety of strategies to teach social skills.
3) School teams develop procedures for encouraging expected and school-appropriate behavior.
Team Strategies
4) School teams develop procedures for discouraging problem behavior. Specifically, teams should review current discipline policies to (a) provide clear definitions of infractions; (b) determine which behaviors should be managed in the classroom and which should be sent to the office; and (c) develop data decision rules to ensure appropriate strategies are used with repeat offenders.
Team Strategies
5) School teams develop procedures for record keeping and decision making. In addition to developing formative and summative data-collective systems, school teams should be taught to make informed decisions based on data patterns.
School Climate In Review
Characteristics at the school level that are not drawn from student performance
Daily experience indicates that the environment in which one operates influences an individual’s ability and willingness to engage, perform, and succeed
62
Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health (December 13, 1999)Dr. David Satcher M.D., Ph.D.
16th Surgeon General of the United States (1998-2002) Assistant Secretary for Health (1998-2001)
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1993-1998)
Prevention-based approach be emphasized Contingencies be arranged so an intolerant attitude toward
antisocial behavior is established Antisocial networks are actively broken up and monitored Schools provide parents with strategies to increase their
efficiency and effectiveness in the home Commitment to school is enhanced Academic success is increased Positive school climate is created and fostered Individual social skills and competence are taught and
encouraged across all students
School Climate: Meaningful and Functional
“The work of Meaningful Student Involvement is not easy or instantly rewarding. It demands that the system of schooling change, and that the attitudes of students, educators, parents and
community members change.”
(Fletcher,2003)
