School Climate and Effective Schools Presented by Temilyn Tilly

1. School Climate and Effective Schools Presented by Temilyn Tilly

2. Today’s Agenda • Define school climate • Look at key elements of school • climate • Look at some tools for measuring • school climate • Implementation of plans • How school climate is related to • student outcomes

3. So What Exactly is School Climate? • Well, everyone seems to define it a bit differently … • The “feel” of a school • The quality and character of school life • An aggregate measure of a school’s • characteristics including human relationships • and the physical facilities

4. What About Your School? How did your school “feel” the first time you entered it? What made it “feel” this way? - People? - Physical appearance of school? - What else? Were your first impressions correct?

5. What Creates a School Climate? Once again, there are many different ideas … the National School Climate Center lists 10 elements … • Environmental • Structural • Safety • Teaching & Learning • Relationships • Sense of school • community • Morale • Peer norms • School-Home- • Community partnerships • Learning Community

6. What Creates a School Climate? National Association for Elementary School Principals (NAESP) divides the elements of school climate into three dimensions: Physical, Social, and Academic.

7. The Physical Dimension of School Climate • Appearance of building and classrooms • School size and teacher/student ratio • in classrooms • Order and organization of classrooms • Availability of resources • Safety and comfort

8. The Social Dimension of School Climate • Quality of interpersonal relationships • (students, staff, and teachers) • Equitable and fair treatment of students by • staff and teachers • Degree of competition and social comparison • between students • Degree to which students, teachers, and staff • contribute to decision making

9. The Academic Dimension of School Climate • Quality of instruction • Teacher expectations for student • achievement • Monitoring student progress and • promptly reporting results to students • and parents

10. Pause and Ponder Which of these elements do you see having a positive influence on school climate in your school? Which of these elements are lacking and affecting the school climate negatively at your school? Which do you think are most important? Why?

11. So that’s what it is … Now what? How do we know if our school has a healthy, positive school climate? Do we trust our gut? What about data? How do we assess our school climate? Surveys!!!! Surveys!!!! And more Surveys!!!!!

12. The Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) http://www.schoolclimate.org/programs/csci.php The National School Climate Center (NSCC) offers this tool and other services … at a price. Gathers data from parents, students, and school personnel. Provides assessment tools, consultation services, and supports

13. Why is School Climate So Important? • Research shows that school climate affects: • Student motivation to learn • School attendance/absenteeism • Acquisition of learning skills • Students’ ability to learn and achieve • academically • Students’ self-esteem and self-concept • Students’ alcohol use and psychiatric problems • Rate of student suspension http://www.schoolclimate.org/climate/documents/school-climate-challenge.pdf

14. And This Brings Us to the Topic of Effective Schools What do we want for our students? http://youtu.be/qR3rK0kZFkg Wouldn’t it be great if we could inspire this sort of attitude in all of our students????

15. What Makes a School Effective? • OSPI researchers came up with 9 characteristics most often found in high-performing schools: • A clear and shared focus • High standards and expectations for all • students • Effective school leadership • High levels of collaboration and communication

16. What Makes a School Effective? • Nine characteristics continued … • 5. Curriculum, instruction and assessments aligned with state standards • 6. Frequent monitoring of learning and teaching • 7. Focused professional development • 8. A supportive learning environment • 9. High levels of family and community involvement

17. Pause and Ponder How do these relate to the elements (or dimensions) of a positive school climate? Which of these are present in your school? Which are lacking?

18. Let’s Break it Down … • 1. A clear and shared focus. • Describe “what is” using data • Identify gaps between “what is” and “what • should be” • Involve stakeholders in making decisions and • establishing goals • Communicate goals and focus to entire school • community

19. Let’s Break it Down … • 2. High standards and expectations for all students. (this is aimed at teachers mostly) • Examine level of expectations for class • Reflect on own teaching practice • Consider full range of abilities (different types • of intellectual abilities) • Keep expectations flexible and current • Provide feedback, diagnosis, re-teaching, and “stretching” of the students’ minds

20. Let’s Break it Down … • 3. Effective School Leadership • Lead by example • Focus first on students and their learning • Support and empower colleagues • Be a learner • Understand change process • Recognize and reward achievement and struggles of • others • Invite participation, share responsibility • Use expectations to change attitude and behavior • Create safe environments where others can take risks to • improve

21. Let’s Break it Down … • High levels of collaboration and communication • Build trusting relationships among professionals in the school or district • Creating structures and schedules that sustain interaction among professionals • Helping to frame joint work and shared responsibilities • Modeling, guiding, and facilitating participation in professional communities that value learning • Promoting a focus on learning and associated core values

22. Let’s Break it Down … • Curriculum, instruction, and assessments aligned with state standards • Understand the state standards • Assess current curriculum and materials to determine if they match • Identify effective instructional methods • Provide teachers with ongoing professional development opportunities • Map out a curriculum that will help students meet state standards • Ongoing formative and summative assessments

23. Let’s Break it Down … • Frequent monitoring of learning and teaching • Assess where students are (baseline) • Select an instructional strategy and use it • Assess student work (formative and summative) • Provide immediate and ongoing feedback • Adjust instructional strategies based on assessment results

24. Let’s Break it Down … • Focused professional development • Explicitly connecting teacher and student learning • Supporting professional collaboration • Coupling teaching and assessment practices • Developing a common language • Developing structured tools and protocols to guide discussion

25. Let’s Break it Down … • Supportive learning environment • Safe and orderly school • Fostering resiliency • Positive relationships between adults and students • Personalized learning environments • Sense of belonging and opportunities to participate actively in the school community • Engaging students emotionally, intellectually, and socially • Culturally responsive and sensitive • Classroom management and discipline

26. Let’s Break it Down … • High level of family and community involvement • Make a special effort to involve parents from populations that tend to be underrepresented • Work with cultural minority parents and community members to help students cope with differences • Communicate repeatedly with parents • Offer parents different involvement options • Keep parents informed about and involved in curriculum, instruction, and assessment • Invite parents to sit on committees • Conduct home visits

27. Where do we start? http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/modules/module1/handout4.pdf

28. Project Cornerstone A project that brings the community into the school and encourages students to give back to the community. Includes bully prevention program “Expect Respect” Addresses cultural issues and encourages cultural expression through “Los Dichos” http://www.projectcornerstone.org/ http://youtu.be/_FmW2tan1m8 http://youtu.be/Cf9dHhp47Ms

29. Pause and Ponder So … what did you learn? What do you still need/want to know? How does all this relate to you in your role as a school counselor?

30. Resources WEBSITES National School Climate Center ... has information and links to resources for assessing and improving school climate. Also a site for promoting and selling an assessment tool (CSCI) that is research based. Also puts out a quarterly newsletter, School Climate Matters, that contains up to date information about school climate and the work that the National School Climate Center is doing. http://www.schoolclimate.org/ The Center for Effective Schools ... a website with lesson plans, resources, ideas, and links. http://ces.ou.edu/index.html

31. Resources WEBSITES A website with information on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a school wide intervention plan to help create positive school climate and improve student outcomes Sig Network ... resource library http://www.signetwork.org/content_pages/172 Center for Study of School Climate http://schoolclimatesurvey.com/index.html

32. Resources WEBSITES Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) ... an association focused on promoting the success of each learner ... many good resources here ... http://www.ascd.org/about-ascd.aspx National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) A great resource for information even if you aren’t a principal or a member of the site http://www.naesp.org/

33. Resources WEBSITES E-Lead ... another site for principals, but contains resources for assessing school climate and resources for improving it. http://www.e-lead.org/resources/resources.asp?ResourceID=25

34. Resources WEBSITES Project Cornerstone … a program used in the Silicone Valley … some great ideas and information here. http://www.projectcornerstone.org/ Project Cornerstone video from Fisher Middle School http://youtu.be/Cf9dHhp47Ms Project Cornerstone and Expect Respect from Trace Elementary School http://youtu.be/_FmW2tan1m8

35. Resources DOCUMENTS Nine Characteristics of High Performing Schools 2nd Ed. 2007, Office of Superintendant of Public Instruction, Olympia Washington, http://www.k12.wa.us/research/default.aspx The school climate challenge ... narrowing the gap between school climate research and school climate policy http://www.schoolclimate.org/climate/documents/school-climate-challenge.pdf

36. Resources DOCUMENTS National School Climate Center, (2007). The school climate challenge: Narrowing the gap between school climate research and school climate policy, practice guidelines and teacher education policy. Available at www.nscc.csee.net Best Practice Briefs, School Climate and Learning (Michigan State University) http://outreach.msu.edu/bpbriefs/issues/brief31.pdf

37. Resources DOCUMENTS Consortium to Prevent School Violence (CPSV) Fact sheet #7: School Climate http://www.ncsvprp.org/resources_assets/CPSV%20Fact%20Sheet-7-School%20Climate%201-25-09.pdf

38. Resources SURVEYS Communities That Care (CTC) youth survey http://www.sdrg.org/ctcresource/CTC_Youth_Survey_2006.pdf California School Climate Survey ... for faculty and staff members http://cscs.wested.org/resources/cscs-1112.pdf California School Climate Survey ... parent form http://csps.wested

39. Resources SURVEYS Washington Healthy Youth Survey (2010 samples) http://www.doh.wa.gov/healthyyouth/pastsurveys/default.htm .org/resources/csps.pdf CSCI School personnel survey (Comprehensive School Climate Inventory) Have to pay for the materials from this site http://www.schoolclimate.org/programs/documents/CSCIv3-sample-Personnel.pdf

40. Resources SURVEYS CSCI parent survey http://www.schoolclimate.org/programs/documents/CSCIv3-sample-Parent.pdf CSCI elementary survey http://www.schoolclimate.org/programs/documents/CSCIv3-sample-StudentES.pdf CSCI middle/high school survey http://www.schoolclimate.org/programs/documents/Student-MS-HS-CSCI%20v-3.pdf

41. Resources ASSESSMENT TOOLS Inventory of Practices for Promoting Social Emotional Competence ... a comprehensive checklist for eduators http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/modules/module1/handout4.pdf School Climate Quality Analytic Assessment Instrument http://www.calstatela.edu/centers/schoolclimate/assessment/school_survey.html

42. Resources ASSESSMENT TOOLS Inventory of Practices for Promoting Social Emotional Competence (a great assessment tool for staff and teachers to use to inform them of their own practices that are contributing to a positive school climate) http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/modules/module1/handout4.pdf