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A new comprehensive report, America’s Drop Out Crisis: The Unrecognized Connection to Adolescent Substance Use, has been released.  View Report

Topics and Research

Scholars, stakeholders and policymakers have defined school climate and conditions for learning in many different ways over the years. Definitions have addressed:

  • School structure or organization—School rules, enforcement of rules, average class size, collaboration between departments, leadership of administration. policies, disciplinary practices, school leadership, teaching and learning methods, curricula content and building designs (school level)
  • Culture–Ecology and culture of schools (e.g., patterns of behavior, shared beliefs, norms and value
  • Relationships within the school—Positive interactions between teachers and students, safety (classroom level)
  • Behaviors—Alcohol and drug use, bullying, positive engagement, peer relations, absenteeism, academic press
  • Internal aspects of school members—Academic engagement, commitment and attachment to teaching, quality of teachers, social and emotional skills like communication, listening, empathy and conflict resolution skills (individual level)

Educational researchers and practitioners, representing areas of comprehensive school reform, character education, and social and emotional learning, agree that school climate should be broadly defined and assessed. They suggest examining at least four aspects of school climate (National School Climate Council, 2009; Cohen, Pickeral & McCloskey, 2009): school safety, teaching and learning, interpersonal relationships, and institutional environment. Then, in late 2009, a team of leading climate scholars, policy makers and stakeholders were brought together to draft a proposed federal model for measuring school climate (see model below).
 


 

This Website includes resources according to the three main areas of the model: Engagement, Environment, and Safety, along with general resources on measuring school climate and implementing programs. 
 

Engagement  |  Environment  |  Safety  |  School Climate Measurement  |  Program Implementation