about CORESTRATEGIES

What are the 6 CORESTRATEGIES for Improving School Climate and Learning?

Schools that have positive, safe, respectful school climate use some combination of these six strategies.

1. Work from data... school climate data offers students an opportunity to give voice to their perceptions and experiences; allows teachers to see other perspectives; allows schools to see the profound differences in school climate perceptions within their school. Data helps a school set climate improvement goals, focuses leadership, and documents progress over time.

2. Connect climate and learning... because the brain does! Quite simply, students can’t learn when they are feeling unsafe, threatened, or upset. Social and emotional factors either inhibit or enhance optimal student (and teacher) learning.

3. Design empowering roles... because taking on active, positive, empowering roles is one of the most powerful ways to get engaged and to change a person’s attitudes and behavior. Line leaders stand taller, peer leaders take school more seriously, teacher-led professional development more effectively changes teachers’ attitudes and practices.

4. Build positive teacher culture... how adults treat each other in a school can be the “elephant in the room’ when it comes to positive school climate. Focusing on teacher respect, relationships, and social and emotional factors deserve more attention. School leadership styles can build or tear down teacher morale and this affects everything in a school.

5. Use engaging instructional methods... great teaching and great teachers matter most of all! What happens in classroom everyday can have the greatest impact on school climate, respect, relationships and learning in a school. Active, engaging, technology-rich, cooperative learning promotes positive student engagement and positive attitudes and behavior. We know that great teachers’ classrooms are islands of engagement, respect, and learning in any school.

6. Teach beyond academics... the Common Core can be used to free schools up from endless lists of standards, teaching to a bad test, and outdated, “inch-deep/miles wide curriculum”. Habits of Mind can show students what ‘good’ people do to become successful in their lives. The web contains nearly all the information ever created for FREE, Millions of experts and teachers available to students any, anywhere, anytime…schools need to dare to go beyond the traditional curriculum and when they do, magical things begin to happen.

The Center for School Climate and Learning (CSCL) has over a decade of national leadership experience helping schools to stop bullying and improve school climate, safety, respect, and learning. We have developed powerful tools to help schools become more rigorous and effective in meeting students needs in the 21st century.

Let us provide your school, district, agency, or organization with one or more of these exciting professional development and school improvement options.