CREATING A POSITIVE SCHOOL CLIMATE

1
CREATING A POSITIVE SCHOOL CLIMATE

2

3
Creativity
4
What Do We Believe?

5
Positive School Climate Starts At The Curb
6
The Bell-Shaped Curvesome just wont make it

7
Do We Accept the Bell-Shaped Curve in Other
Professions?

• Do you accept less than a 100 success rate from
• Your surgeon?
• Your airline pilot?
• What are you willing or not willing to accept
  from the professionals who educate your child?

8
Challenge Educate The Kind Of Kids We Have

• Not the kind we used to have
• Not the kind we want to have
• Or the kind that exists in our dreams

9
Important Research

• Journal of the American Medical Association
  (September 10, 1997)
• Longitudinal study on adolescent health
• Survey of over 90,000 youth
• Findings-two key indicators for lowering the
  risk of a child's involved in negative behavior
  and improvements in academic achievement
• Connectedness to a parent
• Connectedness to a school based person

10
Key Predictor of Problem Behavior

• Based upon the federally funded national
  longitudinal study of at risk youth behavior the
  single most common risk factor for
• crime, substance abuse, violence, teen pregnancy
  and educational performance is unsupervised time.
• Source research from-Americas Promise,
  Communities in Schools, OJJDP, and Title V

11
Even The Playing Field

• July 11th 1984
• Two babies born-July 11th was the first and last
  day those two children were on the same playing
  field
• We are not comparing apples to apples
• Social Isolation

12
Hiring-Tiggers and
13
Get the right people on the bus, get the wrong
people off the bus, get the right people in the
right seats and the bus will drive itself

• Jim Collins

14
Deal with CAVE people
15

16
The best way to change the attitude of one of
your peers is to change your attitude and model
it
17
Involve Youth

• Decision making
• Student council
• Board of education
• Leadership training
• Give youth a voice

18
What would help all students do better in school?
19
What would help all students be better students?

• What students said
• More hands on activities
• More enthusiastic teachers
• Teachers expand their teaching techniques
• Teachers improve their attitudes
• Have students learning from students
• Teachers show more respect towards students
• (Results of a five year study of students ideas
  on improving learning, school safety, risk
  prevention and relationships. James Ciurczak.
  February 2004).

20
Additional Findings

• What would help all students be better students
• Students drive to achieve academically is often
  driven more by the student-teacher relationship
  than by a fundamental interest in the subject.
• Students see a positive relationship with
  teachers as the pillars that come before learning
• (Results of a five year study of students ideas
  on improving learning, school safety, risk
  prevention and relationships. James Ciurczak.
  February 2004).

21
Engage vs. Disengage

• Step Team
• Break Dancers
• Mural Project

22
RECOGNITIONENGAGEMENTRELATIONSHIPCONNECTIONS
- Individual - Institution PERSONALIZATION
23
Keep School Open

• After school programs
• Evening programs
• Vacation periods
• The danger of unsupervised time

24
Visibility

• Run for governor
• Practice active visibility
• Be seen where students dont expect you to be
  seen
• Cafeteria
• Bathrooms

25
Know Your Customers

• Meet with students everyday
• Five per day
• Notes-letters
• Meet with staff everyday

26
Practice Zero Tolerance with 100 Enrollment
27
Reach the Unreachable
Terrell Young
28
We need to get schools ready for kids, not kids
ready for schools.
29
Go the extra mileits never crowded!
30
Final Thoughts

31
For Specific QuestionsRegarding This
Presentation

• Steven W. Edwards, Ph.D.
• Phone [phone]
• Email stevewedwards_at_comcast.net