School Climate and Safety

Girl with crayonHealth and learning are interdependent. From early childhood through higher education, educational settings have the potential to nurture young people’s health and well-being. The climate of these settings affects whether students feel and are safe, connected, supported, and challenged.

Adults can model and teach young people the knowledge and behaviors essential to promote healthy lifestyles and prevent illness and violence. Social–emotional learning activities can develop a range of competencies in communication, anger management, conflict resolution, empathy, and other life skills.

Through partnerships with families, communities, and social service agencies, educational settings can provide critical access to needed preventive and treatment services.

Related Topics

School Discipline
Social and Emotional Learning

Related Center

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE)

Many schools, colleges, and universities across the country face challenges in creating safe and supportive learning environments. Positive school climate and conditions for learning contribute to improved test scores, attendance, grade promotion, and graduation rates. NCSSLE is improving conditions for learning in schools so that all students have the opportunity to realize academic success.

Latest Work

28 Feb 2019
Q & A

Meet the Expert: Monique M. Chism

Monique M. Chism, Ph.D., a vice president for Policy, Practice, and Systems Change, leads AIR’s six federally funded comprehensive and content centers and District and School Improvement portfolios. Prior to joining AIR, she served as deputy assistant secretary for policy and programs in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. She also brings experience from the Illinois State Board of Education, Learning Point Associates (now AIR), and her time as a teacher.
Image of Cleveland district CEO Eric Gordon with students
12 Dec 2018
In the Field

Advancing School Safety, Climate, and Culture in Cleveland

Research tells us that cultivating a culture where students feel safe, engaged, and ready to learn is an important factor in their success both inside and outside the classroom. Learn how the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has made notable progress in building this capacity, spurred in part by a tragedy that has become all too common.
26 Nov 2018
Book

Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools: A Comprehensive, Evidence-Based Approach to Supporting Students

Safe and supportive school communities foster students’ social, emotional, and academic needs. Educators want actionable strategies and practices to ensure that all students can access equitable learning environments. Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools helps school leaders make sense of the various evidence-based resources and frameworks designed to support the whole child.
14 Nov 2018 | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Event

How Do Education Systems Differ Around the World? An Examination of OECD's Education at a Glance

On November 14, 2018, AIR hosted a presentation and discussion focusing on the latest international results from the OECD’s 2018 Education at a Glance. The webinar highlighted findings related to the following questions: How much time do students in the United States spend in the classroom compared to their international peers? How do early childhood education systems differ around the world? How do salaries for teachers and school heads vary by country? How can I find and work with these data?
Young children arm in arm
5 Sep 2018
Spotlight

Building Safe, Engaging, and Equitable Schools

There are no quick fixes or easy solutions to respond to the tragedies that have occurred in schools across the country—but there are evidence-based ways to change school environments so that students and teachers feel safer.
Image of boy with backpack holding his father's hand
2 Jul 2018
Journal Article

Building Schools’ Readiness to Implement a Comprehensive Approach to School Safety

Schools and communities encounter enormous challenges in articulating, synthesizing, and implementing all the complex aspects of a comprehensive approach to school safety. This paper aims to bridge the gap between scientific evidence and the application of that evidence in schools and communities by defining the key components of a comprehensive approach to school safety and describing how schools can assess their readiness to implement a comprehensive approach.
30 May 2018
Toolkit

Trauma-Sensitive Schools Toolkit

Commissioned by the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, AIR developed a collection of guides and online training for college campus health staff caring for students who have experienced sexual assault and other trauma.
30 Mar 2018
Report

Best Practices, Strategies, and Recommendations for Improving School Climate and Culture

As states move forward with implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the topic of school climate is becoming increasingly important.

23 Mar 2018 | 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Event

Congressional Briefing: School Violence, Safety, and Well-Being: A Comprehensive Approach

On March 23, 2018, the National Prevention Science Coalition will be convening a Congressional Briefing on school violence. The session focused on bringing together top thinkers and practitioners who recognize that our common goal is to achieve student safety and well-being in addition to the absence of violence. AIR's David Osher discussed the establishment of guidelines focused on recognizing early warning signs of mental health disturbances, the screening and assessment of students who exhibit these signs, and providing the needed mental health services to these students.
Image of teacher with middle school students
2 Mar 2018
Spotlight

Social and Emotional Learning: Creating Supportive Learning Environments for All

Recent research has demonstrated that when schools and districts focus on social and emotional learning (SEL), students’ academic achievement, prosocial behaviors, and positive attitudes improve, while their behavior problems and emotional distress decrease. Explore these selected resources, tools, and reports to discover our research and technical assistance on SEL practices.
Project

Indicators of School Crime and Safety

The purpose of this project is to plan, research, design, and execute the annual Indicators of School Crime and Safety, a flagship report co-sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Image of teacher with happy young students
31 Jan 2018
Brief

School Climate and Social and Emotional Learning: The Integration of Two Approaches

School climate and social and emotional learning (SEL) have often been treated separately by researchers and practitioners, but both are necessary to build healthy schools. This brief reviews research on how positive school climates support SEL and how improved SEL contributes to improved school climate in elementary and secondary schools.
18 Dec 2017
Report

Identifying, Defining, and Measuring Social and Emotional Competencies

Reviews of social and emotional competency frameworks and indicators increase understanding of what competencies are critical for healthy development and how to measure them. This report summarizes the results of AIR's comprehensive scan and analysis of social and emotional competency frameworks from over 20 areas of study.
Project

Digging Deeper into Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): Exploring the SEL Landscape

Social and emotional skills and competencies are essential for young people to succeed in school, work, and life. In the past decade, there has been an increasing number of studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and syntheses that focus on the key role that social and emotional learning (SEL) plays in the success and well-being of children and youth. AIR, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, designed and executed two related activities to explore and describe SEL for practitioners and researchers.
20 Sep 2017 | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Event

Ensuring a Safe and Inclusive School Environment for LGBTQ Students

How can we affirm and support LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning or queer) students and their families in schools? Although a lot of progress has been made in shifting public opinion in the last decade, LGBTQ students still face high incidents of bullying, harassment, and discrimination. In this webinar, hear from presenters as they share diverse perspectives and strategies on how to create safe and positive school environments to protect the civil rights and socio-emotional well-being of LGBTQ students.
23 Aug 2017
Spotlight

Spotlight on School Crime and Safety

Educators, parents, and communities want their schools to be safe havens for teaching and learning, free of crime and violence. Explore these selected reports, tools and informational graphics to learn more about crime and safety incidents in schools, how they are handled, and what approaches may be having a positive effect.
In 2015, about 15 percent of U.S. fourth-graders and 7 percent of U.S. eighth-graders reported experiencing bullying at least once a month. These percentages were lower than the international averages of 16 and 8 percent
18 May 2017
Infographic

Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2016 Compares Bullying Internationally

According to data from the 2016 Indicators of School Crime and Safety report, in 2015, about 15 percent of U.S. fourth-graders and 7 percent of U.S. eighth-graders reported experiencing bullying at least once a month. These percentages were lower than the international averages of 16 and 8 percent; this infographic breaks down the differences by country.
Greta Colombi
27 Apr 2017
Video

Long Story Short: What Can Districts and Schools Do to Improve School Climate?

School climate reflects how members of a school community experience their environment. Greta Colombi discusses how to identify and measure the many factors that affect conditions for learning and her work to improve school climate through the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments.
18 Feb 2017
Report

The Intersection of School Climate and Social and Emotional Development

Two related strands of research—social and emotional learning and school climate—provide guidance on how to support students in an equitable, collaborative, and healthy environment. This paper shares propositions from a project with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation about how to create healthy, safe, nurturing, and developmentally supportive schools.
3 Feb 2017
Podcast

It’s (Not) Academic! Social-Emotional Learning

The Communities for Just Schools Fund's Allison R. Brown speaks with David Osher, vice president and Institute Fellow at AIR, about social-emotional learning and its impact on students and teachers alike over the years.
19 Jan 2017
Toolkit

California School Safety Toolkit

Schools that are safe create conditions for learning and well-being. Drawing on research and best practices, the California School Safety Toolkit allows any school or district to assess its safety system. Districts and schools can use the toolkit to improve how schools use data, apply best practices in school safety, engage students, promote a healthy school environment and reduce the use of exclusionary discipline and referrals to law enforcement that disproportionately impact students of color.
Project

Research on Lowering Violence in Communities and Schools (ReSOLV)

A comprehensive approach to school safety requires a focus on the root causes within the school and larger community setting. In support of the National Institute of Justice's Comprehensive School Safety Initiative, AIR—in partnership with Virginia Tech, The Wandersman Group, and a group of nationally recognized school safety experts—is conducting Research on Lowering Violence in Communities and Schools (ReSOLV).
1 Jan 2017
ESSA

ESSA │School Climate and Safety

Many factors affect school climate and safety, determining the conditions for learning and teaching. By managing engagement, safety, and a supportive learning environment properly, schools at all levels can grow stronger. AIR has developed toolkits and resources to support educators in their efforts to transform school climate and improve safety in our nation’s schools.
Infographic thumbnail: Homeschooling in the U.S.
14 Nov 2016
Infographic

Homeschooling in the United States

Who’s homeschooled in the U.S.? Why did their parents make that choice? We share the answers to these questions and more in our latest infographic using data from Homeschooling in the United States: 2012 report.
1 Nov 2016 | 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Event

ESSA’s Non-Academic Measure: What States Should Know About School Climate and SEL

The Education Policy Center at AIR convened social and emotional learning and school climate experts who offered ideas on what non-academic accountability measures states should consider, as allowed under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Catch up by watching a recording of the event.
1 Nov 2016
Report

Homeschooling in the United States: 2012

Since 1999, the National Household Education Surveys Program has collected nationally representative data that can be used to estimate the number of homeschooled students in the U.S. This report provides estimates of the number, percentage, and characteristics of homeschooled students in the U.S. in 2012, and provides historical context by showing overall estimates of homeschooling in the United States since 1999.
Among students who started high school in 2009, a higher percentage of Black students than of Hispanic, White, and Asian students had ever been suspended or expelled by 2012.
24 Oct 2016
Infographic

Infographic: School Suspensions and Expulsions

How do suspensions and expulsions differ for students from various racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds?
19 Oct 2016
Spotlight

Spotlight on School Climate

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.
10 Oct 2016
Toolkit

Safe Place to Learn Resource Kit: Preventing, Interceding, and Responding to Sexual Harassment of K-12 Students

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.
6 Oct 2016
The Ten Series

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

Healthy schools and supportive school environments provide connection, support, engagement, and physical and emotional safety, as well as access to social networks and resources for students. This brief, which evolved from a larger project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, outlines the central principles needed to support students in an equitable, collaborative, and healthy environment.
Project

Maximizing Student Agency: Implementing and Measuring Student-Centered Learning Practices

The purpose of this study was to identify the instructional practices that may be useful for the development of different aspects of student agency (i.e., self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, and persistence) and determine whether these instructional practices are equally helpful for different subgroups of students.
Teacher working closely with student
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.
Ken Martinez
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.
Image of smiling African American teacher with student
7 Mar 2016
Guide

Quick Guide on Making School Climate Improvements

This Quick Guide provides district and school leaders, teachers, school staff, and other members of the school community with information about how to initiate, implement, and sustain school climate improvements. This guide will help you plan; engage stakeholders; collect, analyze, and report school climate data; identify and implement interventions; and monitor and evaluate your progress.
16 Feb 2016
Commentary

Implementing Evidence-Based Interventions in Real-World Settings

In this commentary (part of our longform essay, Applying Social Science in the Real World), David Osher discusses three research-to-practice challenges to successfully implementing evidence-based practices and programs.
David Osher
16 Feb 2016
Blog Post

Beyond Shame and Blame in the Classroom

On February 12th, a New York Times story linked to a video of a teacher in a well-known New York City charter school losing her temper and humiliating a first grader. 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.
19 Jan 2016
Toolkit

ED School Climate Surveys (EDSCS)

Measuring school climate is critical for improving school climate because high quality school climate data allow you to understand the perceptions of the students, staff, and parents in your school or district; monitor progress; make data-driven decisions; involve stakeholders; and adapt to shifting needs related to school climate. The U.S. Department of Education has developed the new, high-quality, adaptable ED School Climate Surveys, which allows states, local districts, and schools to collect and act on reliable, nationally-validated school climate data in real-time.
23 Dec 2015
Blog Post

New Year's Resolution for Policymakers: End Zero Tolerance

Zero tolerance policies were born out of fear and even desperation. After the 1999 school shootings in Colorado, some educators and public figures adopted a tough law-and-order stance; but, instead of deterrence, we got a discipline regime of mass suspensions. In this blog post, AIR's Peter Cookson argues that zero tolerance discipline and other failed, counter-productive policies should disappear into the void.
David Osher
21 Dec 2015
Blog Post

Zero Tolerance and Bias Reinforce the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Schools must be places of safety and support for all students. And yet, in an effort to make our schools safe havens, districts have adopted zero-tolerance policies and increased school policing. The result, however, has driven some of our most vulnerable students out of school and into a judicial system often built for punishment rather than support: the school-to-prison pipeline. In this blog post, AIR’s Jeffrey Poirier and David Osher argue that re-evaluating zero tolerance policies, training staff to deal with non-threatening but disruptive student behaviors, and working to eliminate bias can go a long way to ending the school-to-prison pipeline.
Georgetown School-Justice Partnerships Certificate Program video
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.
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.
College campus at night
13 Oct 2015
Toolkit

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.
Girl being bullied
1 Oct 2015
Spotlight

Bullying Prevention

October is Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that, during the 2012-2013 school year, about 22 percent of students ages 12–18 reported being bullied at school during the school year. 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.
Teenage boy with backpack
11 Sep 2015
Commentary

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.
31 Aug 2015
Report

Advancing School Discipline Reform

During the past two decades, there has been an increase in exclusionary and punitive discipline in US schools. These disciplinary approaches have been discriminatory in their impacts and have failed to improve school safety. Luckily, a growing body of evidence shows that changing discipline policies and practices can improve school climate and student achievement. This report focuses on how to address students’ behavioral issues while enabling them to succeed.
12 Aug 2015
Report

Focusing on the Whole Student: Final Report on the Massachusetts Wraparound Zones

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Wraparound Zones (WAZ) Initiative is designed to create coordinated district systems that allow schools to proactively and systematically address students’ nonacademic needs. AIR's evaluation of the initiative found that students in WAZ schools experienced greater gains in English language arts and math achievement than students in similar schools that did not receive the grant. These effects were significant after two and three years of implementation, with particularly strong gains in the grades 3 and 4 for limited English proficient students.
Allison Gandhi
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.
25 Jul 2015
Guide

Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline: An Educator’s Action Planning Guide

Discriminatory discipline practices in our nation’s schools disproportionately impact students of color; students with emotional, behavioral, and cognitive disabilities; and youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning, and the impact on students, families, schools, and the community is serious. This guide provides tools to assess and systematically address disparities in school discipline. It describes how to carry out a descriptive analysis of disparities in school discipline and how to conduct a root cause analysis to systematically address school-based factors that contribute to disparities.
Project

School Climate Survey Compendium

The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) maintains a compendium of valid and reliable surveys, assessments, and scales of school climate that can assist educators in their efforts to identify and assess their conditions for learning. The intent of this compendium is to gather student, faculty and staff, family, administrator, and community surveys in Pre-K/Elementary School, middle and high school, and higher education environments. The surveys can be used in whole or in part; that is, whole surveys or individual scales can be administered to target respondents. All scales in the compendium have been tested for validity and reliability.
27 Feb 2013
Testimony

Protecting Students and Teachers: A Discussion on School Safety

David Osher addresses the tragedy at Sandy Hook and the research around creating safe school environments. Stating that there are no quick fixes or easy solutions to respond to the tragedy at Sandy Hook – or any of the other school shootings that have abruptly altered so many lives he asserts there are steps we can take to change the school environment so that students and teachers feel safe.
4 Apr 2007
Report

Effects of a Universal Classroom Behavior Management Program

The Good Behavior Game (GBG), a method of classroom behavior management used by teachers, was tested in first and second grade classrooms in 19 Baltimore City Public Schools beginning in the 1985–1986 school year. The intervention was directed at the classroom as a whole to socialize children to the student role and reduce aggressive, disruptive behaviors, confirmed antecedents of later substance abuse and dependence disorders, smoking, and antisocial personality disorder.