Research shows that students learn better in an environment in which they feel safe physically, intellectually and emotionally. In this six-page laminated guide, Jonathan Cohen, PhD and Maurice Elias, PhD outline the components (norms, values, expectations) and standards of school climate, explain why it is so important to educate the whole child, present a detailed plan for improving school climate, and offer dozens of practical tips and strategies for improving school climate and overcoming common challenges. This concise guide is a remarkably comprehensive resource for teachers and school administrators that provides practical strategies that foster the social, emotional, ethical, civic, and intellectual dimensions of learning. The guide is written by two of the top experts in the field of social emotional learning and character development (SECD). Dr. Jonathan Cohen is a professor at Teachers College and the co-founder and president of the National School Climate Center (NSCC). D. Maurice Elias is the director of the Social-Emotional Learning Lab at Rutgers university, which focuses on understanding the relationship of academic achievement, social-emotion competencies, and the development of character and a core set of life principles, and the development of school-based interventions to strengthen social-emotion skills, character, and prevent bullying, violence and victimization, substance abuse, and related problem behaviors. Features of the guide include: • A step-by-step walkthrough of a 5-stage School Climate Improvement Process • A checklist of evidence-based strategies for improving classroom climate • Specific strategies to address each of the three most frequent and influential sources of school improvement: bully-victim-bystander behavior, relationships/connectedness, student engagement • Tips for sustaining school climate improvement efforts • A listing of additional online, print, and media tools and resources About the Authors: Jonathan Cohen, PhD is an educator-clinician who has worked with K-12 students, educators and parents since 1974 as a middle school special educator, school psychologist, professional development facilitator, and school climate improvement leader/learner. He is also the co-founder and president of the National School Climate Center: Educating Minds and Hearts Because the Three R’s Are Not Enough. He is an adjunct professor in psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University and a practicing clinical psychologist. Jonathan consults to school districts and state departments of education. He has been involved in President Obama’s Federal Bully Prevention Partnership and the United Nation’s Children’s Fund on social, emotional and civic learning, bully prevention, student leadership and school climate improvement efforts. He is the author of many papers and books, including the award-winning Educating Minds and Hearts: Social Emotional Learning and the Passage Into Adolescence, and Caring Classrooms / Intelligent Schools: The Social Emotional Education of Young Children. He is co-author, with Maurice Elias, of the laminated reference guide, School Climate: Building Safe, Supportive and Engaging Classrooms & Schools, published by National Professional Resources, Inc./Dude Publishing. Maurice J. Elias, PhD is a professor in the psychology department at Rutgers University and director of clinical PhD training. Other positions include: Academic director of The Collaborative, Rutgers' Center for Community Based Research, Service, & Public Scholarship (http://engage.rutgers.edu); Past president of the Society for Community Research and Action/Division 27 (Community Psychology) of the American Psychological Association; Co-founder of the Consortium on the School-Based Promotion of Social Competence, a research consortium comprised of nationally prominent scientists; Director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab (http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~melias/); Coordinator of Improving School Climate for Academic and Life Success (ISCALS) at Rutgers’ Center for Applied Psychology; Founding member of the leadership team for the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, or CASEL (http://casel.org). The focus of Elias’ work is on establishing the field of prevention, school-based preventive intervention, and social competence promotion as a credible, important, and rigorous area of research, practice, and public policy. With colleagues at CASEL, Elias was senior author of Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators, which is already circulated to over 100,000 educational leaders in the U.S. and internationally. Elias lectures nationally and internationally, has been featured on numerous television and radio programs, is frequently sought out as an expert in magazines and newspapers, and devotes his research and writing to the area of social-emotional and character development in children, schools, and families. In addition to professional publications, he has written an award-winning weekly parenting column and several books, including Emotionally Intelligent Parenting (2000); Engaging the Resistant Child Through Computers: A Manual to Facilitate Social and Emotional Learning (2001); Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools: The Next Generation of Prevention (2003); the Social Decision Making/Social Problem Solving Curricula for Elementary and Middle School Students (2006); The Educator’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement: Social-Emotional Learning in the Classroom (2006); Bullying, Victimization, Bullying, and Peer Harassment: A Handbook of Prevention and Intervention (2007); Urban Dreams: Stories of Hope, Character, and Resilience (2008); Talking Treasure: Stories to Help Build Emotional Intelligence and Resilience in Young Children (2012); and The Other Side of the Report Card: Assessing Students’ Social, Emotional, and Character Development (2016). He is also author of the laminated reference guide School Climate: Building Safe, Supportive, and Engaging Classrooms and Schools and Schools of Social-Emotional Competence and Character by National Professional Resources, Inc./Dude Publishing, and appears in the classic professional development video, Optimizing Intelligences: Thinking, Emotion & Creativity. Elias writes a blog on Social-Emotional and Character Development (SECD) for the George Lucas Educational Foundation, edutopia, at http://www.edutopia.org/user/67 |