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Safe and caring schools… Are a necessity for a student/teacher relationships to grow. The emotional attachment of a student to his or her school is critical to a good education, and the school climate is a major impact on this attachment and academic achievement.

School Connectedness… Includes school bonding, student relationships, teacher support, school liking and a lack of school isolation. (Blum & Libbey, 2004)

Building Climate A positive climate creates a sense of connectedness with others throughout the school environment.

Building a positive school climate … Climate is a term used to describe how people feel about their school. It is a combination of beliefs, values, and attitudes shared by students, teachers, administrators, parents, bus drivers, office personnel, custodians, cafeteria workers, and other who play an important role in the life of the school. Jim Sweeney, Tips for Improving School Climate (1988)

Building a Supportive School Climate… will not happen by accident. It must be intentional and reflect a clear focus as an essential mission of the school. Ernest Boyer. The Basic School (1995)

Building a Supportive School Climate… Consistent expectations for appropriate behavior Development of social skills on the part of all stakeholders Develop consistent rules and procedures

Research on School Climate has found… That if a child attended a high school with good order and discipline, there was only a 9% chance of becoming a juvenile delinquent whereas if the child went to a school with poor discipline, the probability of becoming a juvenile delinquent increased to 48%. Rutter and Colleagues

Building a Positive School Climate Requires a Concept of Civility Civility is defined as, “a courteous act or courteous acts that contribute to smoothness and ease in dealings and social relationships.”

Building a Positive School Climate Requires… Adults and students to serve each other and the broader community. We serve others to break the suck of self and show others that we are worthy of recognition based on our actions.

A Civil School has… a focus on the development of courtesy and manners in our treatment of all within the building. This is modeled, taught and practiced by the adults and students within the total school environment

Moving Forward…. Let us now consider the practices that will allow us to build a climate that is worthy of all stakeholders. In other words, what might we do to create a climate where all stakeholders flourish in our school?

Questions to consider in building a good climate 1. What do the adults model and subsequently stand for in your building? 2. What do the students see and hear from the adults in the building? 3. Is bullying tolerated in the presence of the adult? 4. Do the adults practice what they preach and preach what they practice? 5. Are the adults the moral compass in the classroom and in the school?

Perhaps Our Most Important Task… We must care about our students. This does not mean we will always like them! If you have children you know that there are times when we do not like them…but we never stop caring about them... we never stop loving them. A good climate requires that the adults in the building love our children. Only by loving children can we develop standards to promote excellence.

Consider the following… It is fine to establish standards of discipline, conduct, safety and civility in our schools. The question is not whether we establish these standards. The question is how we establish these standards.

What do we want our Students to be? How do we want our Students to act? Do we want our students, as well as ourselves, to be respectful? Responsible? Caring? If the answer is yes, then we must determine the practices that if repeated over and over will develop positive habits that will enhance the classroom and overall school climate. This will require that we develop rules and procedures for our school and classroom and that these rules and procedures should be developed with input from all stakeholders.

What are Rules? Rules establish standards of behavior. It communicates to all stakeholders what is expected of them in the everyday functioning of the class and school.

Two Kinds of Rules… Specific Rules General Rules Specific rules are clear and require no further explanations… “Come to class on time.” General Rules provide guidelines of expectations. They are broad based and essential...“Respect others in the building. Care for other members of the school community.”

General Rules shape the “ethos” or life of the school Respect Others in the School What does this look like in practice? What would one see and hear in a school to know that being respectful is understood by all? To be successful one must develop procedures or practices, that if done repetitively, will develop habits to promote being respectful.

A Good Climate is forged by… 1. Determining the habits we wish people to develop and practice. 2. Establishing rules as guidelines and practices that if practiced over and over will develop habits of civility 3. Developing consistency of expectations throughout the school 4. Insisting that all stakeholders work hard to develop habits of excellence that promote a positive school climate for all in the school

Strategies to build climate through the development of the civil school 1. All adults in the building must commit to model and teach, and have students practice habits that will enable students to be civil in their actions towards others. 2.The school must work to establish consistent rules and practices. 3. Get students involved in the process of developing consistent rules and practices. 4. Communicate your efforts to all stakeholders. Seek the input from the broader community. 5.Post the rules and practices throughout the school.

Strategies continued… 6.When students are referred to the office, have them write and discuss (if age appropriate) what they did to violate the climate of the classroom or school. 7.Consider how morning meeting time, homeroom or advisor/advisee periods can be used to share powerful readings or messages about the importance of civility in our treatment of others.