The UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools recently published: Turning Around, Transforming, and Continuously Improving Schools, a policy report that takes a critical look at the school turnaround models and the current federal priorities illustrated by Race to the Top, the School Improvement Grants and the US DOE's Blueprint for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Findings highlight the ongoing marginalization of practices (e.g., student and learning supports) that directly address barriers to learning and teaching and re-engaging disconnected students. The analyses highlight the need for federal school improvement policy to shift from the two-component framework currently dominating school improvement thinking to a three-component framework, which includes the critical aspects of engagement and learning supports.
The report concludes that only by unifying student and learning supports will it be feasible to develop a comprehensive system to directly address many of the complex factors interfering with schools accomplishing their mission. And only by developing such a system will it be feasible to create school environments that foster successful, safe, and healthy students and staff. School climate is emphasized as an important quality of this system that ensures schools are dedicated not only to instruction and management/governance, but to essential learning supports as well. We at CSEE, strongly believe that school climate is an integral link to student success, and provide comprehensive assessments, targeted professional development supports, and free resources to support schools in this effort.
What do you think encompasses a truly successful school improvement system? How is your school or district meeting the needs of students and staff?
Another week has gone by, ushering in the month of March! We at CSEE are busy with exciting new projects, such as ongoing professional development, school climate assessment projects, and the planning of our 13th Annual Summer Institute. Here are some interesting links we've been passing around the office:
As before, I encourage you to share your knowledge and wisdom — leave a comment, start a dialogue, and ask questions. If you are so inclined, you might want to join CSEE's Facebook Pages and Twitter feeds. Until next week!
The national statistics about teacher retention are still troubling: one-third of all new teachers leave after three years, while 46% are gone within five years. Attrition has grown by 50% over the past 15 years.
What will keep teachers in our schools? The question is not new. Research and insight from experts in the field have long offered a variety of explanations for teacher to-and-fro, such as: salaries and compensation models; level of education, training and mentoring; NCLB mandates; low funding; perceived level of success in the classroom; and working conditions and support, etc. CSEE's own work with schools nationwide underscores that social support, professional relationships, and leadership are all integral to whether educators stay or go (as well as, more generally, to perceptions of school success).
This week marked a bevy of fresh insight from the frontlines. On Wednesday, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Scholastic introduced Primary Sources: America's Teachers on America's Schools, a report containing findings from more than 40,000 public school teachers across the country. According to the report, supportive leadership is the factor that's most likely to keep apt educators in the classroom -- and it's more integral to retention than higher salaries or performance pay. While 45% of teachers said that higher salaries are absolutely essential for retaining good teachers, 68% said that it's absolutely essential to have supportive leadership and 54% said it's essential to have time to collaborate.
In addition to reflections on the link between retention and leadership are more findings about the needs and effects of teacher climate:
Make time today for two informative webinars about SEL and School Climate:
And if you haven't heard it yet, take a minute to check out ASCD Whole Child's most recent podcast: School Climate: Developing the Quality and Character of School Life. Listen to Dr. Jonathan Cohen, President of CSEE and co-chair of the National School Climate Council, and Marvin Kreps, director of Curriculum and Instruction for Rhinebeck (N.Y.) Central School District, discuss how school climate standards can help educators and communities improve the quality and character of school life.
Last but not least, our friends over at WINGS for Kids have recently launched a Listen Lab, where they'll be sharing live and archived podcasts about their SEL initiatives and after school programming.
Stay tuned to the blog for news and updates about forthcoming podcasts.
"Just as we have standards around academic goals, we need standards around school climate because what gets measured is what gets done. We’re only going to put school climate at the priority level it deserves—which to me is at the top—if we have standards around it and start measuring it."
—Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Education in Phi Delta Kappan (PDK) magazine
Now is a truly exciting time for education reform as the Administration defines its priorities and sets new goals for student achievement, spending allocations, and legislative focus. Last month, President Obama released the Federal Budget projections for FY 2011, including an increase of more than $3.5 billion overall. A critical piece of this proposed spending ($410 million) is slated to go toward the new Successful, Safe and Healthy Students Program, which will consolidate programs currently offered under the Office of Safe & Drug-Free Schools. These changes point to a significant shift in focus, with school climate reform becoming one of the main priorities for driving student success. CSEE is proud to have been at the forefront of this effort for many years, and we applaud the government for deepening its commitment to school climate funding and reform.
With these pivotal changes in sight, the new issue of School Climate Matters introduces several new and exciting resources from CSEE and the National School Climate Council: National School Climate Standards, a School Climate Guide for District Policy Makers and Educational Leaders; and a School Climate Implementation Road Map. The Standards present a vision and framework for a positive and sustainable school climate that is then reinforced with the supports included in the District Guide and Road Map. Together, these resources will help your school or district align current practices with the shift in federal guidelines and make real progress toward school climate improvement this year. In addition, we are launching a new periodic publication—the School Climate Briefs—which will provide detailed commentaries from experts in the field on key school climate topics. The first in this series is a 2010 School Climate Research Summary (PDF).
These tools add to CSEE’s proven supports in this area—including our leading school climate measurement tool, the CSCI—and build directly from our experience working with thousands of educators and students nationwide. In this issue, we bring this work to life with inspiring profiles of two NYC public schools dedicated to building more effective learning communities. We are also thrilled to announce that registration is now open for our 13th Annual Summer Institute, which will include a keynote by Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education, Kevin Jennings. Sign up today to learn about the most up-to-date school climate efforts and supports nationwide. We hope to see you there!
Click here to download the PDF of the newsletter. As always, we want to learn from you, too. Please tell us what your school or district is doing to actively address school climate needs and let us know how we can help. Share your thoughts at: newsletter@csee.net.
All the best for a positive and productive spring!