19 Oct 2016
Spotlight

Spotlight on School Climate

Girl with crayon

Schools and communities contend with many factors that affect the conditions for learning, such as bullying, harassment, violence, and substance abuse. Accurately measuring school climate helps schools identify areas of improvement and choose evidence-based interventions for effecting positive change.

Read what our researchers are finding out about how learning environments affect whether students feel—and are—safe, connected, supported, and challenged.

Measuring School Climate

students raising their hands

Are You Ready to Assess Social and Emotional Development?

The Ready to Assess suite of tools helps education leaders, practitioners, and policymakers decide whether and how to assess social and emotional development.

Measuring School Climate for Gauging Principal Performance

This policy brief provides principal evaluation system designers information about the technical soundness and cost (i.e., time requirements) of publicly available school climate surveys.

Creating a Positive School Environment

Girls and boys talking over schoolwork

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE)

NCSSLE aims to improve conditions for learning in schools so that all students have the opportunity to realize academic success. The Center includes resources for measuring school climate; guides and training products to support building and promoting safe and supportive learning environments for all students; and technical assistance and training services for stakeholders such as state administrators, personnel in institutions of higher education, and district and school administrators to improve conditions for learning.

Creating Healthy Schools: Ten Key Ideas for the SEL and School Climate Community

Supporting young people socially and emotionally—not just academically—is key to lifelong success. In this report, Elizabeth Devaney and Juliette Berg shares the ten critical ideas for moving forward with social and emotional learning and school climate work in states and districts across the country.

The Good Behavior Game: Success in the Classroom and Beyond

The Good Behavior Game is a team-based classroom behavior management strategy designed for early grades, helping children master the role of student and be successful at the demands of the classroom. The AIR approach to implementing the Good Behavior Game is grounded in research on adult learning and professional development.

Beyond Shame and Blame in the Classroom

In this blog post, Angela Minnici and David Osher contend that the video and some reactions to it reveal a faulty understanding of the kind of educational experiences students—especially the most vulnerable—need to succeed in school, career, and civic life and of the role the adults play in creating those experiences.

Absent for a Reason? Addressing School Attendance Problems

While some students happily return to school in the fall, others face stress and disconnection. In this commentary, David Osher argues that criminalizing attendance problems is unproductive, and that we should instead be creating engaging and supportive school environments that meet student needs and address the unique cluster of factors that contribute to each student’s attendance problems.
Preventing Violence and Harassment

bullied girl at locker

Bullying Prevention

As more is being learned about the negative psychological and physical effects of bullying, researchers are focusing on how to address the problem. The research and resources featured here relate to efforts to prevent violence in schools and help young people feel safe and supported.

Safe Place to Learn Resource Kit

The Safe Place to Learn resource package provides a range of materials to support school efforts to prevent and eliminate peer-to-peer sexual harassment and sexual violence. This resource package supports school district and school staff efforts to comply with Title IX sex discrimination prohibitions and create a positive school climate.

Safe Place Resource Kit: Trauma Sensitive Practice for Health Centers Serving Higher Education Students

Roughly one in five women nationally is sexually assaulted while in college. This diverse collection of tools uses trauma-informed care as a foundation for helping university health centers deal with this crisis.

 

Related Work

24 Jul 2015
Spotlight

Exclusionary School Discipline

Recently experts from across the nation convened at the White House to discuss best practices that foster safe, supportive, and productive learning environments that keep kids in school and out of the juvenile justice system. A planning guide aimed at promoting positive school climates and ending disparities in administering student discipline, Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline, An Educator’s Guide, developed and written by AIR experts, was released at the event.
Topic: 
Social and Emotional Learning, Education, School Discipline
25 Mar 2016
Video

Long Story Short: How Can Schools Reduce Disparities in Disciplinary Action and Promote Student Mental Health?

In this video interview, Ken Martinez discusses steps schools can take to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in school discipline and increase access to mental health services for students who struggle after being expelled or suspended.
Topic: 
Social and Emotional Learning, School Climate and Safety, Health, Mental Health
29 Jun 2016
Report

Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students’ Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions

Competency-based education makes student mastery of learning goals—rather than seat time—the metric to determine student credit and progression. Take a closer look at how schools implement competency-based education, and how it is related to what students need to learn effectively.
Topic: 
Social and Emotional Learning, Education, School Climate and Safety
13 Nov 2015
Video

How Research Can Offer Solutions to the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Helping youth at risk escape the school-to-prison pipeline is a growing concern for educators, researchers, communities and providers. The School-Justice Partnerships Certificate Program, the first of its kind, brings together Georgetown University's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, AIR experts, and educational and juvenile justice leaders to provide research-based solutions for those who work with youth at risk. In this video, experts speak to their experiences addressing the school-to-prison pipeline and how the program can help.
Topic: 
School Climate and Safety, School Discipline, Families, Communities, and Social Systems, Juvenile Justice, Youth-Serving Systems
11 Aug 2015
Video

Long Story Short: How Can Non-Academic Supports in Schools Lead to Better Student Achievement?

Issues besides academics, such as mental health and safety, often affect student attendance and learning. In this interview, AIR principal researcher Allison Gandhi discusses how schools can foster well-being by providing non-academic support services, enabling students to thrive and achieve better academic outcomes.
Topic: 
Social and Emotional Learning, Education, School Climate and Safety, Mental Health
21 Jun 2012
Commentary

Special Olympics--Making a Difference, in One Way or Another

In this blog post, David Osher, AIR vice president and international expert on school climate, social emotional learning, and student support, shares an interesting perspective about making a difference through school climate.

Further Reading