School climate and culture, and its relevance to student achievement has traditionally been a topic of discussion among educators. There have been many research studies dedicated to determining if a school's culture and climate had an effect on student achievement. This study sought to determine if teachers' perceptions of school culture and climate had an impact on student achievement at the elementary and secondary level. In 1963, Halpin and Croft began their research on the organizational climate of schools and suggested that further research be conducted based on their findings. This research sought to determine if there was a relationship between teachers' perceptions of school culture and climate and students' marking period/trimester 1 grades, teachers' perceptions of school culture and climate and students' Start Strong scores, and teachers' perceptions of school culture and climate and school leadership. The New Jersey School Climate Survey was distributed to teachers in four small school districts in Warren County, NJ. Survey data was collected from a total of 62 respondents, and academic data was provided to the researcher on coded spreadsheets. Data analysis was performed using Pearson correlation tests and independent sample t-tests through the use of the SPSS program in order to determine if any potential relationships existed. The data revealed that teachers' perceptions of school culture and climate did not have an impact on student achievement. Additionally, there were a number of relationships that existed with regard to teachers' perceptions of culture and climate and school leadership. The results indicated that the high school respondents answered less favorably compared to the elementary school respondents on the school leadership survey questions. This study may help school leaders have constructive conversations with their staff with regard to the school's culture and climate.(ProQuest abstract).

Build a positive school climate to impact students, teachers, and the community! Is improving school climate on your to-do list? Do you think about it as a top-down directive or as a dialogue to build equity within the school? A healthy school environment should never be seen as an option, but instead supported as a must-have. Peter DeWitt offers leaders practical high impact strategies to improve school climate, deepen involvement in student learning, and engage a broader family network. In addition to international vignettes focused on community stakeholders and research-based practices, this book features tools such as · a leadership growth cycle to help leaders build their self-efficacy · a teacher observation cycle centered on building collective efficacy · an early warning system to identify potential at-risk students · action steps following each chapter to apply to your own setting · discussion questions for use in team environments Establishing a supportive and inclusive school climate where professionals can take risks to improve the lives of students is vital to maximize learning in any school community.

Together, culture and climate can make or break your school improvement efforts. Authors Todd Whitaker and Steve Gruenert help educators understand how to leverage culture and climate to drive deep and lasting change. Learn how to assess current culture, address climate issues, combat challenges, and work toward a collaborative school community dedicated to achieving high levels of learning for all. Rely on this book's effective school improvement strategies for creating a collaborative culture in schools: Understand the commonalities and differences between school climate and school culture. Identify the characteristics of specific types of classroom cultures for self-assessment and improvement in creating a positive classroom climate. Learn how to assess the values and beliefs of educators at the classroom and school levels. Discover your school's capacity for culture change using a step-by-step process. Consider how the elements of climate and culture influence school effectiveness and school improvement efforts. Contents: Introduction: How Culture and Climate Can Improve Schools Chapter 1: How to Define School Culture Chapter 2: Differences Between Culture and Climate Chapter 3: Elements of Climate Chapter 4: Classroom Cultures Chapter 5: The Culture Scorecard Chapter 6: The Capacity to Change Chapter 7: School Culture Assessment Chapter 8: The Necessity of Culture Change Chapter 9: A Closer Look at Values Chapter 10: Not the Perfect Culture, the Right Culture Epilogue References and Resources Index

Like a strong foundation in a house, the climate of a school is the foundation that supports the structures of teaching and learning. This book provides a framework for educators to look at school and classroom climates using both informal and formal measures. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of climate and details techniques which may be used by heads or classroom teachers to judge the health of their learning environment. The book sets out to enhance understanding of the components of a healthy learning environment and the tools needed to improve that environment. It also looks at ways to assess the impact of change activities in improving and sustaining educational excellence. The international team of contributors bring perspectives from the school systems in America, UK, Australia and Holland.

This book demonstrates how the school principal’s consideration of culture and climate of the school can significantly improve and sustain student achievement over time. Highlighting an innovative approach to organizational health and student achievement, this volume uses inferential statistical data analysis to quantify the way school leaders can strategically interact within school culture and systems to improve student achievement. A cutting-edge analysis of the importance of school climate, this book draws on current research from the Organizational Health Inventory diagnostic framework to provide data-based conceptual models of the relation between culture and leadership.

This book focuses on the effect of psychological, social and demographic variables on student achievement and summarizes the current research findings in the field. It addresses the need for inclusive and interpretive studies in the field in order to interpret student achievement literature and suggests new pathways for further studies. Appropriately, a meta-analysis approach is used by the contributors to show the big picture to the researchers by analyzing and combining the findings from different independent studies. In particular, the authors compile various studies examining the relationship between student achievement and 21 psychological, social and demographic variables separately. The philosophy behind this book is to direct future research and practices rather than addressing the limits of current studies.

The most trusted guide to school culture, updated with current challenges and new solutions Shaping School Culture is the classic guide to exceptional school leadership, featuring concrete guidance on influencing the subtle symbolic features of schools that provide meaning, belief, and faith. Written by renowned experts in the area of school culture, this book tackles the increasing challenges facing public schools and provides clear, candid suggestions for more effective symbolic leadership. This new third edition has been revised to reflect the reality of schools today, including the increased emphasis on high-stakes testing, federal reforms such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state sponsored improvement programs, and other major issues that impact organizational culture and the role of school leaders. Each chapter features new examples and cases that illustrate persistent problems, spelling out key cultural implications and offering concrete examples of overcoming the challenges while maintaining a meaningful learning environment. The chapter on toxic schools continues to provide the field's most trusted advice on navigating this rocky terrain, and the discussion's focus on how to manage negativity remains especially integral to besieged school administrators across the U.S. Recent years have jolted the nation's school system with a number of new developments that spell problems for the cultural tapestry of schools. This book provides expert perspective and sage, doable advice for administrators tending to external pressures while sustaining?or evolving?a more positive school culture. Navigate new challenges including Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and waning confidence and faith Turn around a toxic school culture with confidence and success Foster a culture of passion, purpose, and meaning Adopt a more active form of symbolic leadership to support students, faculty, staff, parents, and community Test scores as the primary metric, relentless reforms, waning public support, and timid initiatives wrapped in bureaucratic packaging: while among the most prominent issues administrators face are only the tip of the iceberg. Shaping School Culture charts a route through competing pressures to help educational leaders hew a positive learning environment for schools.