An emerging consensus exists in the school reform literature about what conditions contribute to student success.'** Conditions include high standards for academic learning and conduct, meaningful and engaging pedagogy and curriculum, professional learning communities among staff, and personalized learning environments. Schools providing such supports are more likely to have students who are engaged in and connected to school. Professionals and parents readily understand the need for high standards and quality curriculum and pedagogy in school. Similarly, the concept of teachers working together as professionals to ensure student success is not an issue. But the urgency to provide a personalized learning environment for students especially with schools struggling to provide textbooks to all students, hot meals, security, and janitorial services is not as great in many quarters. While parents would prefer their children experience a caring school environment, does such an environment influence student academic performance? Research suggests it does. For students to take advantage of high expectations and more advanced curricula, they need support from the people with whom they interact in school.^''

Relationships Matter: Linking Teacher Support to Student Engagement and Achievement.

For more than a century, there has been a growing interest in school climate. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute for Educational Sciences, a growing number of State Departments of Education, foreign educational ministries, and UNICEF have focused on school climate reform as an evidence-based school improvement strategy that supports students, parents/guardians, and school personnel learning and working together to create ever safer, more supportive and engaging K–12 schools. This work presents an integrative review on school climate research. The 206 citations used in this review include experimental studies, correlational studies, literature reviews, and other descriptive studies. The review focuses on five essential dimensions of school climate: Safety, Relationships, Teaching and Learning, Institutional Environment, and the School Improvement Process. We conclude with a critique of the field and a series of recommendations for school climate...

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A Review of School Climate Research

Background/Context: Educators have written about and studied school climate for 100 years. School climate refers to the quality and character of school life. School climate is based on patterns of people’s experiences of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures. However, school climate is more than individual experience: It is a group phenomenon that is larger than any one person’s experience. A sustainable, positive school climate fosters youth development and learning necessary for a productive, contributive, and satisfying life in a democratic society. This climate includes norms, values, and expectations that support

School Climate: Research, Policy, Practice, and Teacher Education

A decade ago, Hoover‐Dempsey and Sandler offered a model of the parental involvement process that focused on understanding why parents become involved in their children’s education and how their involvement influences student outcomes. Since then, we and others have conducted conceptual and empirical work to enhance understanding of processes examined in the model. In this article (companion to Walker and colleagues’ article about scale development on the model in this issue), we review recent work on constructs central to the model’s initial question: Why do parents become involved in children’s education? Based on this review, we offer suggestions for (1) research that may deepen understanding of parents’ motivations for involvement and (2) school and family practices that may strengthen the incidence and effectiveness of parental involvement across varied school communities.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/499194

Why Do Parents Become Involved? Research Findings and Implications

Social and School Connectedness in Early Secondary School as Predictors of Late Teenage Substance Use, Mental Health, and Academic Outcomes

(1997). School Climate as a Factor in Student Adjustment and Achievement. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation: Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 321-329.

School Climate as a Factor in Student Adjustment and Achievement

James Comer's educational philosophy and his ideas for school reform place child development and human relationships at the center of school change. These ideas, and the School Development Program (SDP) that he founded in 1968, have had considerable influence on school reform and school improvement strategies in the United States and abroad. The notion of creating and maintaining a caring and supportive community, in which the climate of the school supports the total development of the child, is fast becoming a universal aspect of school reform. Many schools across the country are now placing a greater focus on the nature and quality of their climate and on changing climate factors to enhance the development of their students. The result of this progression is that traditional evaluations comparing Comer SDP schools with other schools as non-SDP controls are no longer effective as an approach to studying SDP effects. A more meaningful and practical form of evaluation must now be utilized to pay closer att...

School Development Program Effects: Linking Implementation to Outcomes.

Norman S. Weir Elementary School epitomizes the transformation that occurs when the Comer School Development Program is implemented well. The school has risen from one of the lowest achieving schools in the district to one of the highest achieving. The leadership of the principal, combined with the commitment of a highly professional and caring staff, transformed Norman S. Weir into an excellent academic and social development learning community.

A School Transformed: The Case of Norman S. Weir.

In a national education climate where change is the only constant, Norman S. Weir Elementary School has maintained and expanded the reform efforts that have resulted in striking academic achievement and improved school climate. Despite changes in administration and staffing, a highly professional and committed staff has continued the implementation of the Comer School Development Program and sustained Weir as an outstanding intellectual and social development learning community.

Christine L. Emmons

Papers

School Climate as a Factor in Student Adjustment and Achievement

School Development Program Effects: Linking Implementation to Outcomes.

A School Transformed: The Case of Norman S. Weir.

Maintaining Excellence While Managing Transitions: Norman S. Weir Revisited