Strengthening Conditions for Learning in Cleveland Public Schools

Project

Following a school shooting in 2007, the City of Cleveland and its school district commissioned AIR to conduct a needs assessment and make recommendations for school improvement.

The resulting AIR report found that students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District faced numerous obstacles, including inadequate conditions for learning related to emotional and physical safety; student support; social-emotional competence; and level of academic challenge.

In response, the school district implemented a plan to improve student supports and learning conditions that included recommendations from the AIR report. Since then, the district has developed a strong collaborative leadership team, staffed planning centers and student support teams, and launched a research-based social-emotional learning curriculum for pre-Kindergarten to fifth-grade students.

In 2013, a follow-up assessment led by AIR and funded by the Cleveland Foundation was commissioned by the school district to guide continuous quality improvements. The assessment addresses four overarching questions:

What has been done to implement the recommendations from the 2008 report?
How have conditions for learning changed since 2008?
What gaps in conditions for learning and supports affect health and mental health needs, and reduce aggressive behavior and violence?
What is the capacity of the school district and partners to provide necessary supports?

AIR will report results from the follow-up assessment in October 2014.

Related Work

15 Dec 2020

Service

Youth Development Measurement Lab at AIR

AIR understands the critical importance of providing every child with a safe and supportive environment to learn and to thrive. Our approach to supporting schools, districts, states, federal agencies, youth-serving organizations, and foundations in their efforts to support youth focuses on AIR’s mission to use the best research and technical assistance to improve people's lives.

28 Oct 2015

Service

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Solutions at AIR

Practitioners and researchers agree that social and emotional learning (SEL) is essential to academic achievement and well-being in school, as well as success in college and career. Above and beyond the free supports that AIR’s federal technical assistance centers provide, SEL Solutions at AIR offers an approach to keep social and emotional learning at the center of students’ educational experiences.

30 Jul 2015

Report

Cross-District Implementation Summary: Social and Emotional Learning in Eight School Districts (2014)

Social and emotional learning is the process through which children learn the skills to handle themselves, their relationships, and their work effectively and ethically. This report presents findings about the outcomes of a complex eight-district demonstration project designed to learn about as well and show how and to what end school districts can make social and emotional learning an essential part of every student’s education.

29 Jul 2015

Commentary

Social and Emotional Learning Makes News—and Sense

Research findings continue to point to the importance of social and emotional learning in children's lives. In this response to David Bornstein's 7/24/15 New York Times article, David Osher describes initiatives in Cleveland and other districts that have improved students' social and emotional competence and school test performance. The key, he notes, is building the capacity of teachers and schools to implement the programs.

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