School Climate: Serving More Students

School climate constitutes one of the eight priorities that school districts must address in their Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs). Addressing school climate is not only required under the new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), but essential to the diverse processes comprising K-12 schools and districts. As Thapa, Cohen, Guffey, and Higgins-D’Allesandro (2003) argue in a review of research on school climate, not only does school climate impact immediate concerns, the climate of a school may have long reaching effects:

“Research in [school climate] demonstrates the critical importance of individuals and communities of educators in every school, as they hold in their hands the power to create schools that substantially better the quality of the future lives of their students and future generations.”

Given the importance of school climate, scholars have collectively compiled a broad literature on the topic. In this brief report, the school climate is defined and key themes in research are presented. Specifically, the National School Climate Council (2007) defines school climate broadly as: “[the] pattern of people’s experiences of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures.”

Building off of this definition, Thapa, Cohen, Guffey, and Higgins-D’Allesandro (2013) reviewed 206 articles spanning experimental, descriptive, and meta-analysis literature in order to summarize research on five facets of school climate: safety, relationships, teaching and learning, institutional environment, and the school improvement process. These five aspects of school climate are summarized below, including how the climate of educational institutions influences the experiences of students, school personnel, and families in their social and academic interactions both in and around school.
 
As school climate permeates all experiences taking place within a school, it is perhaps unsurprising that a positive school climate is associated many facets of education. Research shows that a positive school climate is associated with healthy youth development, risk prevention, student learning, increased completion rates, and teacher retention. More specific findings from research on school climate are subsequently summarized categorically below:

Safety

• Students in schools lacking positive school climate are more likely to experience violence, peer victimization, high absenteeism, and reduced academic achievement.
• Consistent structure and fair enforcement of school discipline is associated with school safety and lower student delinquency.
• LGBT students experience harassment at school more frequently — roughly 85% of LGBT students report experiencing harassment in the past year.

Relationships

• Feeling connected to other people is integral to positive school climate.
• Schools in which students perceive more positive student-teacher relationships experiences lower frequency of behavioral problems.
• Early grade teacher-student relationships have been shown to impact students’ later behavioral and academic success in school.
• Teachers’ peer relationships and feelings of inclusion contribute to school climate.
• Race and ethnicity can predict perceptions of school climate; proactive approaches are more successful in promoting intergroup relationships.

Teaching and Learning

• Positive school climate bolsters students’ abilities to learn; multiple correlational studies show that school climate is directly related to academic achievement.
• Evidence-based character education programs have been linked to higher achievement scores for elementary students.
• Implementing service learning beyond the classroom promotes both civic and academic learning.
• One study found that students are more sensitive to school-level climate — e.g. principal turnover, student-teacher relationships — while teachers were more sensitive to classroom level factors.
• Teachers that feel supported by both principal and peers are more committed to their profession.

Institutional Environment

• Broadly, institutional environment encompasses school connectedness and the physical resources and environment of a school.
• School connectedness promotes academic achievement and is a protective factor against sexual violence and drug use.
• The size of the school correlates with school connectedness, although larger schools can improve the learning environment by forming smaller learning communities.
• Factors like classroom layout can influence feelings of safety; for example, students report feeling unsafe in unsupervised areas of school buildings.

The School Improvement Process

• School climate influences the success of implementing school reform programs.
• Factors like professional capacity, safety and norms, parent-school-community relationships, and instructional guidance can support or undermine school reform.

The above summary of research on school climate offers a bird’s eye view school climate research. Many of these findings are solely relational or related to specific settings. While this does not negate the value of these findings, school administrators and teachers should not seek to implement these findings as cookie-cutter solutions or expect identical results. The best use of these data is to broadly steer decision-making supporting school climate; any resulting programs or policies should take into consideration individual schools’ unique situations.

To assist in this process, below are several school climate and LCAP resources.

LCAP Resources for School Climate

A Model for LCAP – School Climate for Design
 
Assessing School Climate: California School Climate, Health, and Learning Surveys

Sample LCAP for School Climate
 
School Climate Resources
 
Safe and Supportive Schools