This white paper from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is part of the NIJ’s Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI), a research-focused program that focuses on increasing the safety of schools nationwide and reducing school crime and violence. School climate has a clear impact on all members of the school community; students in schools with a positive and communal climate demonstrate stronger academic achievement and engagement, better socio-economic health, and lower levels of absenteeism, truancy, dropping out, and victimization. On the whole, however, the benefits resulting from a positive school climate have not been translated into effective educational practice, and the gap between school climate research and policy is wide. As part of the CSSI, this new report explores the ways to help address this problem and improve school climate through four policy and research recommendations which involve defining, assessing, exploring, and improving school climate.
Source: JusticeCenter