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"School climate" refers to the quality and character of school life. It has been described as "the heart and soul of the school ... that essence of a school that leads a child, a teacher, and an administrator to love the school and to look forward to being there each school day."
"School climate" refers to the quality and character of school life. It has been described as "the heart and soul of the school ... that essence of a school that leads a child, a teacher, and an administrator to love the school and to look forward to being there each school day."
According to the Safe and Supportive Schools Model (see below), which was developed by a national panel of researchers and other experts, positive school climate involves
Engagement. Strong relationships between students, teachers, families, and schools and strong connections between schools and the broader community.
Safety. Schools and school-related activities where students are safe from violence, bullying, harassment, and controlled-substance use.
Environment. Appropriate facilities, well-managed classrooms, available school-based health supports, and a clear, fair disciplinary policy.
These areas overlap in many existing frameworks of school climate, and it is critical that all three areas be considered as a single issue in policy and practice.
Engagement
Engagement
Student engagement is a key element of a positive school climate, with a large body of research linking it to academic achievement. The term student engagement can provide an overarching framework for many positive individual student processes, relationships within the school, and contextual qualities.
"Engagement" includes student connectedness or bonding. According to the American Psychological Association, school connectedness is the belief held by students that adults and peers in the school care about their learning as well as about them as individuals. Students are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors and succeed academically when they feel connected to school.
School Connectedness Resources
Safety
Safety
Safe schools promotes the protection of students from violence, exposure to weapons and threats, theft, bullying, and the sale or use of illegal substances on school grounds. School safety is linked to improved student and school outcomes. In particular, emotional and physical safety in school are related to academic performance. At the same time, students who are victims of physical or emotional harassment or who are involved in the sale or use of illegal substances on school grounds are at risk for poor attendance, course failure and dropout.
Environment
Environment
A positive school environment is defined as a school having appropriate facilities, well-managed classrooms, available school-based health supports, and a clear, fair disciplinary policy. There are many hallmarks of the academic, disciplinary, and physical environments of schools with a positive climate.
Supportive school environments have a meaningful influence on student outcomes.
An extensive amount of research has linked a positive school environment to higher test scores, graduation rates, and attendance rates. For example, effective and highly qualified teachers with high expectations for students and good teaching conditions have been linked to strong academic performance in multiple studies. Peer support for achievement-oriented behaviors, such as studying or participating in class, is also strongly tied to positive school climate and academic achievement.
In general, for students to achieve academic success they must attend and be engaged in school, and school environment can influence both attendance and engagement. School discipline policies that emphasize relational or restorative, as opposed to punitive, justice and are considered clear, fair, and consistently enforced by students are related to higher student attendance rates and levels of engagement. Relational responses to negative behavior are sensitive, individualized, and emphasize character strengths as a means of preventing future misbehavior, a common practice within schools with positive climate. Such responses rely upon staff member’s positive relationships with students to understand the current situation and be positioned as a trusted mentor in the student’s eyes.
Conversely, studies show that indicators of poor school environment are strongly linked to poor test scores, low graduation rates, low attendance rates, and student disengagement.
Indicators of poor school environment include low levels of teacher satisfaction, high rates of teacher turnover, low academic expectations, and a messy or unsafe physical plant.
Furthermore, a strong link exists between exclusionary policies—suspension, expulsion, and forced transfers—and high school dropout. In the 2007-08 school year, the latest date for which nationally representative information is available, students were suspended from school for 5 days or more 584,000 times. This translates to at least 19 million hours of missed school and instructional time.
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