Department of Education
Releases Resources on Improving School Climate
Free, First-of-Their-Kind
Tools Will Support Enhanced Learning Environments for all Students
The U.S Department of Education today released new school climate surveys and a
quick guide on making school climate improvements to help foster and sustain
safe and supportive environments that are conducive to learning for all
students.
The ED School Climate Surveys (surveys)
and the Quick Guide on Making School Climate Improvements will enable states, local
school districts, and individual schools to collect and
act on reliable, nationally-validated school climate data in real-time. These
new free and adaptable resources will enable educators, administrators, and
school system leaders to understand and create environments where every child
can be successful.
“All students
deserve schools that work to ensure safe and supportive school climates in
which they can reach their full potential,” said James Cole Jr., General
Counsel, Delegated the Duties of Deputy Secretary of Education. “These new
surveys and quick guide will support any school that seeks to make significant
improvements in all students’ safety and sense of respect and connectedness at
school. We owe it to our children to ensure that school is not only safe and
engaging, but that we are also working to continuously improve school climate
by using resources like these.”
Research shows
that students learn best when they are in environments in which they feel safe,
supported, challenged, and accepted. Positive school climates foster trust,
respect, communication and cooperation among students, school staff, parents
and the community at-large. By improving school climate, schools lay the
foundation for improving daily school attendance and high achievement by all
students.
These new resources build on two Administration
initiatives: President Obama’s Now is the Time Plan, and his My Brother’s Keeper Taskforce, which recommended
that the Department work on the issue of school climates. As part of Now is
the Time, the Department announced efforts to place a high priority on
helping schools create safer and more nurturing school climates. One result was
that the Department funded its National Center for Education Statistics to develop the surveys to create a school
climate measurement platform in coordination with the Office of Safe and Healthy Students.
The new school
climate surveys, which are on a web-based platform, are designed for middle and
high school students, instructional staff, non-instructional staff, and parents and guardians. Moreover, the platform
can process real-time data and provide user-friendly reports. Education
agencies and schools administering the survey can store school climate survey
data on their state, local, or school-based data systems. The federal
government is planning to conduct a sample-based study using the surveys for
benchmarking but will not collect or store data generated by the
schools using the surveys for any other purposes.
In addition to
the Quick Guide, a series of tools will be released later this this spring and
summer as part of the School Climate Improvement Resource Package, a web-based suite of action-oriented,
research and evidence-based resources to help create and support positive
school climates.
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