How to Create a Positive School Culture and Climate?
Furthermore, this work suggests that students who are attending 10th grade, in spite of their difficulties in reading, seem to be particularly engaged in learning activities. Our results support our hypotheses, showing an impact of assets and appraisals on the student actions and revealing that well-being experience influence engagement in school activities beyond the effect of school-climate perception. Also in this regression model the coefficient corresponding to reading speed is negative oriented, suggesting the students with less reading skills are more involved in school activities. The negative coefficient of reading speed suggests that students who are attending 10th grade, in spite of their difficulties in reading, seem to be particularly engaged in learning activities. Overall, Supplementary Table S1 shows strong correlations among personality traits, perception of school climate and engagement in learning activities, in the expected direction. In this group there were 18 students with learning disabilities (11.8%), 2 students with sensory disabilities (1.3%), and 3 students with other special needs (2%).
Building Community and Relationships is Vital
Exclusionary discipline does not teach new strategies students can use to solve problems, nor does it enable teachers to understand how they can reduce problem behavior.Losen, D. As students of color are disproportionately removed from class and school compared to White students who exhibit the same behaviors. Effects of conflict resolution training on elementary school students.
Mental Health
Having and valuing peer support also enhances feelings of school safety (Cowie & Oztug, 2008) with students’ perception of safety at school negatively influenced by bullying. This transition to secondary school is a period of life known to affect the psychological, social and intellectual wellbeing of students and is aptly described as ‘one of the defining parameters of development in the second decade of life’ (Barber & Olsen, 2004b). Recommendations for effective school policy and practice in both primary and secondary schools to help enhance the mental and emotional wellbeing of adolescents are discussed. In the second year of secondary school, peer support was the strongest protective factor for mental wellbeing, while feeling safe at school, feeling connected to school and having support from peers were predictive of emotional wellbeing. The development of the WHITS-P provides education systems, individual schools, and researchers with a reliable and economical tool for assessing and understanding primary school students’ experiences. Given that small fluctuations in school climate represent a substantial difference in students’ experiences (Capp et al., 2022), the notion of leveraging school climate factors could be a sine qua non for improving the goals of system-wide and national policies.
- School counselors utilize individual counseling interventions to address students’ mental health or situational concerns .
- Moreover, the quality of the school climate perceived by the students was found to influence engagement in school activities, as well.
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- Variables included in the imputation models included the school and students’ characteristics, student-reported school climate and the outcomes at baseline and 36 months.
Specifically, SLT guides teachers and school counselors to intentionally choose teaching strategies that provide rigorous opportunities for students to understand and implement school-wide behavior expectations. Morning meetings can be a daily activity for teachers to remind students of behavior expectations, and school counselors can use school counseling class instruction to reinforce behavior applications discussed in morning meetings. Once SMART goals and lesson objectives are created, teachers and school counselors can develop lesson plans using SLT strategies to strengthen the implementation of lessons taught to students. Furthermore, both programs are data-driven, which can inform school counselors to provide targeted interventions when students need additional support. These evidence-based programs share the goal of helping students succeed academically and socially. For example, teachers and school counselors could ask students to think about when they felt safe at school, pair up with a partner to discuss their thoughts, and finally share their ideas with the class.
The results suggested that two items were problematic (item 2 for the School Connectedness scale and item 1 for the Affirming Cultural Diversity scale). All correlations were relatively low and well below the cut-off of 0.8 which, when combined with the results of the factor structure reported above, provides strong support for the discriminant validity of the WHITS-P. The component correlation matrix generated during oblique rotation was used to support the discriminant validity of the WHTIS-P. Table 2 shows that 293 of the 294 (21 items x seven scales × 2 − actual and preferred responses) possible factor loadings were 0.4 or more on their own scale and less than 0.4 for all other scales. In response, and using the results of an initial factor analysis, an additional item from each scale was removed (except the High Expectations scale which only had three items to start with). The factor structure and internal consistency were examined to provide evidence to support convergent validity.
School dropout rates are linked to physical and mental problems, substance abuse, antisocial behaviour, negative school attitudes, low quality of education, parenting problems and family challenges (Ramsdal and Wynn, 2021). However, they converge on focus on positive relationships among a school community and safety. Schools are important settings for intervention to improve mental health. Effective communication practices enable schools to address concerns, resolve conflicts, and make informed decisions that support the well-being and success of all members of the school community. These experiential learning opportunities promote active participation, meaningful learning experiences, and a NYSED Evidence-Based Interventions sense of purpose and belonging among students. Engaging students in project-based and service learning activities provides opportunities for collaboration, critical thinking, and community engagement.