Commentaries on the National School Climate Standards. Benchmarks to Promote Effective Teaching, Learning and Comprehensive School Improvement. School Climate Brief, Number 2
Author: National School Climate Center (NSCC)
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Collected Works - General
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Environment,National Standards,Benchmarking,Administrator Attitudes,School Safety,School Psychologists,Social Justice,Family School Relationship,Learner Engagement

The majority of Americans have a shared vision that K-12 education needs to support children's ability to love, work and participate effectively in a democratic society. The National School Climate Center, a growing number of State Departments of Education and recently, the United States Department of Education believe that when school communities work to measure and improve school climate we mobilize the &quot;whole village&quot; to support the whole child developing these abilities that provide the foundation for school and life success. One of the most important goals that the National School Climate Council suggested in the 2007 &quot;School Climate Challenge&quot; was that the country needs school climate standards. When a State Department of Education develops standards, they are setting a &quot;bar&quot; that all schools need to achieve. In 2009, the Council was asked to develop these standards. The benchmarks provide a framework to begin to define what can be done to support children and adolescents developing in healthy ways and learning. The National School Climate Center has invited a group of building, district, State and national educational leaders to comment on the following five questions: (1) Do we need national school climate standards? Why or why not?; (2) What do you most value and agree with about these standards? Is they're something important that is, in your view, missing?; (3) What do you most dislike and disagree with about these standards?; (4) How could standards like these be used most helpfully to support student learning, positive youth development and the promotion of skills, knowledge and dispositions that support an effective and engaged citizenry?; and (5) What are the most important recommendations you would make to teacher educators, school leaders, teachers/ others who seek to implement the standards? It is the hope that these commentaries spur discussion, reflection and debate. When measuring and working to improve school climate the following can occur: (1) Recognizing the essential social, emotional, ethical and civic as well as intellectual aspects of learning and our school improvement efforts; (2) Supporting shared leadership and learning; (3) Promoting School-Family-Community Partnerships; and (4) Promoting student engagement. We hope that States and Districts will consider adopting or adapting these standards in order to narrow the socially unjust gap between school climate research, policy, practice guidelines and teacher education. Following an Overview by Jonathan Cohen, the following commentaries are included in this report: (1) National School Climate Standards: A Critique (Gene Carter); (2) Can standardizing climate insure safety? (Mary Grenz Jalloh); (3) National school climate commentary (Eileen Santiago &amp; JoAnne Ferrara); (4) School climate standards and dialogue (John Devine); (5) Response to the National School Climate Standards (National Association of School Psychologists); (6) Reaction to National School Climate Standards (Jo Ann Freiberg); (7) National School Climate standards: New Tools for building respectful schools (Bill Preble &amp; Rick Gordon); (8) Feedback on National School Climate Standards (John Eller); (9) Commentary on the National School Climate Standards: Using an Equity Lens to Reconsider the Standards (Randy Ross &amp; Elizabeth A'Vant); (10) Coda: Reflections and next steps (Richard Cardillo, Jonathan Cohen &amp; Terry Pickeral). (Individual papers contain references.)