1. Building Community in School
Adopted from a presentation by Eric Schaps
Developmental Studies Center
Oakland CA

2. Overlapping terms Sense of community Connectedness
Belonging, belongingness
Relatedness
Relational trust
School bonding
Creating an ethical culture for the entire school

3. What’s core
Students’ experience of being valued, contributing, influential members of their classroom(s) and school

4. How to build community
•  Actively cultivate respectful, supportive relationships among and between students, parents, and school staff
Provide opportunities for collaboration and
service to others
Provide opportunities for influence and
self-direction
Proactively teach values, norms, social skills

5. Sense Of Community Building Community
Opportunities for
influence and
self-direction
Respectful and
supportive relationships
collaboration and service
Teaching core
values and skills
On the left are the theoretical constructs that have to be considered with caring community of the school.
Voice and Choice: not just who is the loudest, although often that is how children think a person wins an argument.

6. Measuring Sense of Community (Values)
Classroom Supportiveness (14 items)
“My class is like a family”
“Students in my class help each other learn”
Measuring how strong sense of community in school by operationalizing this. Questionnaires, observations of classroom settings.

7. Measuring Sense of Community (Values)
Autonomy & Influence in the Classroom
(10 items)
In my class students have a say in deciding what goes on
Students in my class can get a rule changed if they think it is unfair

8. Measuring Sense of Community (Values)
School as a Caring Community (14 items)
Students at this school really care about each other
I feel that I can talk to the teachers in this school about things that are bothering me

9. DSC philosophy
People have a need for intimacy and autonomy. You need a caring community to foster intimacy and autonomy. Theory-driven moral development program would be Voices, for instance.

10. Student Outcomes Building Community Sense Of Community
PREVENTION
Reduced aggressiveness,
violence, & delinquency
Reduced drug & alcohol use
Building Community
Opportunities for
influence and
self-direction
Respectful and
supportive relationships
collaboration and service
Teaching core
values and skills
SOCIAL
Social competence
Positive interpersonal behavior
Sense Of
Community
ETHICAL
Concern for others
Prosocial motivation
SCHOOL-RELATED
Liking for school
Educational aspirations
Operationalize ideas about how community is built. Ethos of this program was research-based from the very beginning. These are outcomes that are predicted if you implement Caring School Communities. Currently, Academic Motivation/Achievement is the key outcome of interest for many groups.
ACADEMIC
Academic motivation
Achievement

11. Research validation
Multiple studies of Child Development Project/Caring School Community program
(download from
• When consistently implemented, program had broad-ranging effects on:
-Academic attitudes (e.g., achievement motivation)
-Pro-social tendencies (e.g., concern for others)
-Resistance to problem behaviors (e.g., use of
gateway drugs, delinquency, violent behavior)
• Nearly all effects mediated by sense of community in causal modeling analyses
• Long-term effects shown by follow-up study

12. Research validation (of theory, not program)
Resnick, M. et. al. (1997). Protecting adolescents from harm.
Journal of the American Medical Association. 278:
• Home survey of 12,000 adolescents grades 7-12
• Connectedness to school (and to family) negatively correlated with:
-Use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana
-Violent behavior
-Emotional distress; suicidal thoughts and behaviors
-Early sexual debut
• Connectedness to school positively correlated with academic grades
Contrast with Beach Boys’ “Be true to your school” this is about whether your school will support you, not about fitting into the school

13. (download from www.learningfirst.org)
Research validation
Learning First Alliance. (2001). Every child learning: Safe and supportive schools.
(download from
• Uses extant research to formulate educational policy and practice recommendations
• Puts building community in school at the center of these recommendations
• Provides differentiated recommendations for “problem students”

14. Difficulties with implementation?
More turnover with low-income schools
More turnover over time? (contrast with more stable communities previously, community cohesion)
Teacher perceptions?
Gangs in Chicago: adolescence, desire for belonging, which was not found elsewhere.
RLS: Connection to belief in this program that autonomy and belonging are fundamental human motivations and you need to structure your institutions to support them.
Previously in EdWeek article: whole school initiatives not as helpful as classroom based? What to do?

15. What sense of community provides
Physical and psychological safety
A sense of positive connection to others
A sense of being a capable, worthy person
Opportunities for voice and choice–autonomy

16. DSC evaluation of own program
* RLS: First, not optimal to evaluate own program due to bias. DSC found that impact was down to how much fidelity whole school had to the program. No impact between control/experimental group if there wasn’t a lot of investment in the program. DSC insisted on 3 years of professional development (PD). 85% buy in from the school. We will not come to your school until we have 85% buy in from teachers, principals, and you must commit to 3 years of PD. It costs money, must be resistant to administrative turnover.

17. What strikes you as unusual about this class meeting, pro or con?
Video: “Teasing” (fifth or sixth grade) (DSC Caring School Communities)
What strikes you as unusual about this class meeting, pro or con?
A number of students pointed out that the facilitator really sets the tone and expectations for these kinds of discussions. Do you think this is a weakness in the program, especially with regard to implementation fidelity?

18. A third priority for school improvement
• High expectations for all students (good test scores)
• Engaging learning opportunities for all (good teaching)
•  Sense of community in school for all