Rhinebeck Central School District Evaluating and Improving School - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Rhinebeck Central School District Evaluating and Improving School Climate Presented to the Rhinebeck Community by the Center for Social & Emotional Education May 12, 2008

School Climate: What is it?  School Climate refers to the quality of school life as experienced by members of the school community.  It includes:  School norms and values, like tolerance and mutual respect  Relationships and social interactions – the way people treat one another  & Organizational structures and processes – rules, regulations, and enforcement

Why is it important?  More than 30 years of research shows that a healthy school climate supports:  Positive youth development  Effective risk prevention  Academic achievement  Life „success‟  Teacher retention

New Study from CASEL  School-based programs focused on SEL improve student outcomes:  Social and emotional skills  Attitudes about self and others  Social and classroom behavior  Conduct problems, e.g. aggression  Emotional distress, e.g. stress & depression AND enhances academic achievement! (CASEL Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning www.casel.org)

CSCI: Comprehensive School Climate Inventory  Safety  Physical  Social-Emotional  Relationships  Respect for Diversity  Community & Collaboration  Morale  Teaching & Learning  Quality of Instruction (Support for Learning)  Social, Emotional & Ethical Learning  Professional Development (school personnel only)  Leadership (school personnel only)  Environment

10 Dimensions in Detail

Benefits of the CSCI  Shared definition and basis for communication  Shared understanding of status and needs  Objective benchmarks for improvement  “Whole - school” profile of the learning environment (Data-based processes) “replace hunches and hypotheses with facts ; identify root causes of problems, not just the symptoms; assess needs and target resources to address them; set goals and keep track of whether they are being accomplished; and focus staff development efforts and track their impact " (Bernhardt, 2000).

CSCI – Opportunity for Community Engagement  School & Community Support:  Community building and information gathering  Value of broad participation  importance of “voice” & buy -in  quality of the information  quality of subsequent support  Communicate Purpose and Value  Communicate Intentions for Action

Survey Context  All responses are anonymous – protected down to the reporting level. The school never sees individual responses.  The CSCI is a needs assessment – used to highlight areas of strength and possible areas of need to help focus initiatives. This is not a blame game!  Responses are more authentic and findings are more productive when these two principles are respected and stressed.

Survey Results – Chancellor  Very positive!  Color-coded:  Positive >3.5  Neutral 2.5-3.5  Negative <2.5  Almost all positive for all groups  Environment rating skewed by questions on time not facilities  Impressive Response rates – students/ staff 90%, parents @ 75%!

Survey Results - Bulkeley  High-neutral or positive ratings across all populations!  Typical to see some fall off for students in middle school  Social Emotional Ethical Learning lowest for students & parents  Good response:  Students @ 93%  Staff @ 73%  Parents @ 66%

Survey Results – Rhinebeck HS  Still strong! More neutral for students & parents  Even more typical to see a steep falloff in high school  No negative ratings  Physical Safety consistently strong  Most informative to look at relative ratings  Staff & students @ 90% / Lower parent response rate @ 40%

Relative Strengths & Needs – Students Strengths &  needs similar Climate Ratings Across Schools (Students) across district 4.3 Highest Rated  4.1 Physical Safety  3.9 Lowest Rated  3.7 Respect for  3.5 Diversity 3.3 Social-  Emotional 3.1 Safety 2.9 Most Variable  2.7 Social,  2.5 Community Physical Emotional Instruction SEL Morale Environment Emotional, & Respect for Quality of Social- Diversity School Ethical Learning Morale  Rhinebeck HS Chancellor Livingston ES Bulkeley MS

Relative Strengths & Needs – Staff Climate Ratings Across Schools (Staff) Strengths &  needs are 4.65 very similar 4.45 across schools 4.25 Highest Rated  4.05 Physical  3.85 Safety Morale 3.65  Lowest Rated  3.45 Social,  3.25 Emotional Community Physical Emotional Instruction SEL Morale Environment Leadership Quality of Respect for Development Professional Social- Diversity School Safety Environment  Rhinebeck HS Bulkeley MS Chancellor Livingston ES

Relative Strengths & Needs – Parents Strengths &  needs are Climate Ratings Across Schools (Parents) very similar across 4.15 schools 3.95 Highest Rated  3.75 Morale  Respect for 3.55  Diversity 3.35 Physical  Safety 3.15 Lowest Rated  2.95 Social,  2.75 Emotional, & Community Physical Emotional Instruction SEL Morale Environment Quality of Respect for Diversity Social- School Ethical Learning Social-  Emotional Rhinebeck HS Bulkeley MS Chancellor Livingston ES Safety

District Scores By Grade Student  ratings tend to Climate Scores By Grade (Students) fall off by grade for Physical 4.30 Elementary 4.10 Social- & Middle Emotional School 3.90 Quality of Instruction 3.70 SEL Strong  3.50 transition to Respect for grade 6 3.30 Diversity School 3.10 Community For High  2.90 Morale School – lower ratings 2.70 Environment in transition 2.50 year 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

District Scores By Gender  Some vulnerability by gender High School Students By Gender 3.9  Males lower, 3.7 3.5 especially at 3.3 Boys 3.1 Girs middle & high 2.9 2.7 2.5 school Community Physical Emotional Instruction Morale Environment SEL Respect for Quality of Diversity Social- School Middle School Students by Gender Chancellor Students by Gender 3.9 4.25 4.15 3.8 4.05 3.7 3.95 3.6 3.85 3.5 Boys Boys 3.75 3.4 Girls Girls 3.65 3.3 3.55 3.2 3.45 3.1 3.35 3 3.25 Community Community Physical Emotional Instruction Morale Environment Physical Emotional Instruction Morale Environment SEL Respect for SEL Respect for Quality of Quality of Diversity Diversity Social- Social- School School

Opportunities to Address Within Schools Patterns Highest-rated Students Staff Parents Chancellor: Dimension  Strengths to be Physical Safety leveraged 3 1 2  Needs to be Lowest-rated/ Students Staff Parents addressed Variable Dimensions  Differences in perceptions Social, Emotional, 5 2 8 Ethical Learning between: Social-Emotional 6 6 6 Students/staff  Safety Students/parents  Respect for 8 3 3 Staff /Parents  Diversity

Opportunities to Address Within Schools Patterns Highest-rated Students Staff Parents Middle School: Dimension  Strengths to be Physical Safety leveraged 1 1 2  Needs to be Lowest- Students Staff Parents addressed rated/ Variable  Differences in Dimensions perceptions between: Social-Emotional 3 8 4 Safety Students/staff  Respect for 3 7 4 Students/parents  Diversity Staff /Parents  Social, Emotional, 7 4 8 Ethical Learning

Opportunities to Address Within Schools Patterns Highest-rated Students Staff Parents High School: Dimension  Strengths to be Physical Safety leveraged 1 1 2  Needs to be Low-rated / Students Staff Parents addressed Variable Dimensions  Differences in perceptions Social-Emotional 3 7 6 Safety between: Respect for 5 6 4 Students/staff  Diversity Students/parents  Social, Emotional, 8 3 8 Staff /Parents  Ethical Learning

District-wide Strengths  Physical Safety, Community & Collaboration, and Morale  Leverage strengths to improve areas of need  Initiatives to address potential embedded weaknesses in strengths (maintain while improving)  Lessons learned from past efforts to address strengths  Supportive resources for addressing problems

District-wide Areas of Need  Social-Emotional Safety  Lower ratings than Physical Safety for all three populations across district  Ranked in the bottom third consistently for distinct populations at each school  Relates to lower ratings in Respect for Diversity, especially at high school and upper middle school  Social, Emotional & Ethical Learning  Lower ratings for parents and students than school personnel – typical pattern  Challenges of explicit vs. implicit teaching from lower to higher grades

 So . . . What‟s next?

District Action Steps  Dig deeper into results  Create profile of core strengths and needs  Identify vulnerable groups  Look for broad patterns in results, e.g. social-emotional safety and social, emotional, and ethical learning  Prioritize areas for action  Develop plans for improvement  Track improvements against initial benchmarks