Why Measure School Climate? New America's Comments on Proposed Surveys

Today, New America’s Education Policy Program submitted comments on an important new benchmark study, the U.S. Department of Education’s School Climate Surveys (EDSCLS). Set to roll out during the 2016-2017 school year, the EDSCLS strives to create accessible survey tools so that any middle or high school can collect and report school climate data from the perspectives of various stakeholders: students, teachers, non-instructional school staff and principals, and parents and guardians. While the surveys can be used to produce school-, district-, and state-level findings on various indicators of school climate, the Department also plans to administer it to a nationally representative set of schools to create a national benchmark and provide a “basis of comparison between data collected by schools and school systems and the national school climate.” But what is “school climate” and why should we be trying to measure and compare it?

For decades, education experts and researchers have acknowledged the critical role school climate plays in influencing student outcomes and driving teacher satisfaction and retention. As highlighted in New America’s report, Skills for Success, studies have found that school climate—i.e., school environments, policies, and practices—can influence the behavior, academic performance and socioemotional wellness of students. A positive school climate has the ability to encourage collaboration, cohesion, and feelings of safety and trust, all of which promote a better teaching and learning environment.

Despite this knowledge, many schools have not yet intentionally focused on improving school climate, in part because of lack of knowledge and/or capacity to do so in a meaningful way. It is difficult for schools and local educational agencies (LEAs) to undertake this work, without a clear idea of what types of school climate information are important to collect and reflect upon or what “good” results might look like. Thus, providing a no-cost survey tool, collecting nationally-representative data using this survey, and providing benchmarks for comparison will aid schools and LEAs in meeting their objectives for students.

This movement by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to provide benchmark data on school climate is a step towards strengthening the academic experience of students across the nation. Providing schools with a ready-to-use survey and the opportunity to compare their results to others nationally will pave the way for schools to engage in self-reflection on their climates and focus on necessary climate changes to best serve their students.

Still, there are specific areas where the Department could enhance the utility and clarity of the information EDSCLS provides and minimize its burden on respondents. Below are just a few of our recommendations to do just that.

• Update the benchmark on an annual basis. Schools’ climates are not static: they are influenced by changes among school staff, policies, and practices, not to mention changes among the students and communities they serve. Additionally, if schools are successful in using data from this and related surveys to improve climate, as is the objective of this survey, then a national benchmark should be trending upward over time. Thus, data from one year, while a critical starting place, is not sufficient to promote continued efforts to improve school climate or longitudinal research on school climate’s impact on staff and student outcomes. As a result, we recommend updating survey results on an annual or biennial basis.

• Disaggregate national survey results by various school characteristics. Schools exist in many varied contexts and environments, and hence may not feel a “national benchmark” is fully applicable to them and their circumstances. For the tool to be seen as useful by a variety of schools and LEAs, the Department should disaggregate results by different types of school characteristics (e.g., urban vs. suburban vs. rural, size, student demographics, middle vs. high schools), wherever base sizes allow. This information will also be helpful to researchers attempting to understand which aspects of school climate may be more or less correlated with certain types of schools and school performance.

Overall, in order for EDSCLS to help states, districts, and schools improve climate and best serve their students, we recommend the Department make the tools as relevant, inclusive, and easy-to-use as possible.

The Department of Education (ED) has already committed considerable resources to promoting positive school climate. In addition to EDSCLS, this past summer ED launched its Skills for Success 2015 Competition, which will provide grants to districts to implement new approaches for developing the non-cognitive skills of middle-grade students. The Department also launched a #RethinkDiscipline campaign focused on improving school discipline and will continue to explore the connection between climate and performance at the National Center on Safe and Supportive Learning Environments. While these efforts are all a move in the right direction, we must not view school climate and skills for success in isolation from one another. As recommended in Skills for Success, school climate and non-cognitive skills are interconnected issues which should be approached together.

In the pursuit of equitable educational outcomes, assessing and improving school climate should be considered as one strategy for generating better academic and life outcomes for all students."