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School Climate Resources

This page includes the following resources to support School Climate:

Articles, Websites and Research
Tools (Surveys, Self-assessments)
Presentations

Articles, Websites, and Research
Building Safe, Engaging and Equitable Schools NEW	American Institutes for Research website includes reports, toolkits, and a quick guide to making school improvements.
School Climate Research Summary	Produced by the National School Climate Center.
National School Climate Standards	The five National School Climate Standards provide a research-based framework and benchmark criteria for educational leaders (School Boards, State Departments of Education, Superintendents, Principals and After School leaders) to support and assess district and school efforts to enhance and be accountable for school climate.
Opportunities for Meaningful Participation in Schools	Students' well being and academic success differs according to the level of opportunities for student participation. Increased opportunities for participation positively correlates with academic performance, student connectedness to schools, and student perception of school safety.
School Climate and Academic Performance across California High Schools	The School Climate Index (SCI) has a direct relationship to the Academic Performance Index (API). As SCI increases, student API increases as well.
School Climate and Mental Health	A summary of literature that suggests that school climate can impact student learning and social, emotional, and psychological development.
School Climate Improvement Process	A helpful diagram on the key stages of the school climate improvement process.
School Climate Research Gist List	A brief collection of school climate research facts in relation to safety, teaching and learning, relationships, institutional environment, and school improvement.
School Climate Matters	A two-page brief article describing the research.
Supporting Teachers Is Part of Positive School Climate	Effective learning conditions for students must begin with effective working conditions for staff.
Teacher Support: High Expectations and Caring Relationships	Caring relationships and high expectations improves a student's academic success, decreases instances of truancy, and improves the perception of school safety.

Tools (surveys and self-assessments)
Data Dialogue Resources	These are process templates to conduct data dialogues with school climate stakeholders using survey results.
Fixed Discipline Mini Toolkit NEW	The Fix School Discipline Mini-Toolkit is a collection of resources for students, parents, community, advocates, educators and anyone interested in learning how to eliminate harsh discipline practices that push students out of school, and instead enact solutions that work for all students. The Mini-Toolkit includes individual quick reference tools on important topics related to ending punitive discipline practices and improving school climate, such as The School to Prison Pipeline or Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices.
Guidelines for Conducting Student "Fishbowl" Focus Groups	Process developed by Dr. Bonnie Bernard to involve students in making school a place where they feel connected and contributing.
Impacting School Culture: Examining Rituals, Traditions, & Ceremonies	This learning activity presents a four-step process to examine a school's rituals and traditions for the messages they send to the whole school community.
Inventory of Adult Attitudes & Behaviors: How Do You View Students?	Does school staff view students as problems or problem solvers? Here’s a tool to find out and can be a touchstone for a conversation.
Quick Guide on Making School Climate Improvements NEW	Quick Guide provides district and school leaders, teachers, school staff, and other members of the school community with the basics on how to initiate, implement, and sustain school climate improvements.
Safe and Supportive Schools	The USDOE Safe and Supportive Schools has a technical assistance website to support the improvement of conditions for learning for students and conditions for teaching for educators.
School Climate Survey Compendia NEW	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.
USDOE School Climate Surveys	High-quality, adaptable USDOE School Climate Surveys and associated web-based platform allows schools to collect and act on reliable, nationally-validated school climate data in real-time.

Presentations
Character, Connectedness, Community and Cognition	This presentation addresses the link between cognitive development and social-emotional-character development. It presents the elements of an intentional classroom community and the teacher-student relationship as the foundation of effective instruction.
High Expectations and Meaningful Participation: What Do These Have to Do with Learning? (Archived Webinar)	A school environment in which all students are nurtured and challenged helps foster greater attachment to school and student learning (Hattie, 2009; Klem & Connel, 2004).
Impacting School Culture: Examining Rituals, Traditions, & Ceremonies	A conference presentation about the impact of a culture of community on learning and student well-being, student connectedness, and the examination of a school’s rituals, ceremonies and traditions for the messages they send about core ethical values.
Making the Case for the Importance of School Climate and Its Measurement in Turnaround Schools (Archived Webinar)	This webinar was presented by the USDOE’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students’ Safe and Supportive Schools (S3) Technical Assistance Center and the School Turnaround Learning Communities presented the Webinar, “Making the Case for the Importance of School Climate and Its Measurement in Turnaround Schools," on September 20, 2012.
The School Experience: Risk or Protective Factor for Bullying?	Four questions are addressed in this presentation: What is school climate and how does it impact student behavior? What school factors facilitate bullying behaviors? What school factors decrease bullying? What school-wide practices prevent and reduce bullying?
School Climate Webinar Series	Webinar 1: The “What” and “Why” of School Climate Archived Slides Webinar 2: Measuring School Climate and Using the Data Archived Slides Webinar 3: Best Practices for Improving School Climate Archived Slides Learn about school climate national standards, criteria for selecting school climate measurement tools for LCAP, and best practices to improve climate. Presenter: Lucy Vezzuto, Ph.D., Orange County Department of Education
School Climate: Creating a Context for Positive Behavior Change	A keynote presentation for the yearly launch of the Orange County Dept. of Education PBIS Initiative.
School Climate: The Missing Link in School Reform Efforts	A presentation shared at the U.S. Dept. of Education Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools National Conference August 2011
Promoting Authentic Student Voice	Fully engage the power of your students to enhance and maintain a positive school climate.