The Center for

School Climate & Learning

Unlock the power of student voice to transform your school.

What is the power of student voice?

“Children are humans. They have a voice, and not only do they deserve to be listened to, their thoughts and perceptions are crucial to designing effective educational interventions”.   - Carol Gilligan

The CSCL’s Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) process will help you discover your school's strengths and needs, and guide student and adult leadership and effective action to bring out the best in everyone. 

CSCL Services

Professional Development

The CSCL offers a wide array of professional development for students, teachers and staff, and school administrators.  We work with your school to design and plan customized PD that meets your needs and budget.

School Climate Surveys

Our Safe Measures (TM) survey provides schools with qualitative and quantitative data from students, teachers, staff and parents about perceptions of their schools’ climate, culture and learning that is used to guide leadership, design professional development and take action.

The Safe Measures Process

Unlock the transformative power of our unique YPAR process through a two-year commitment with our CSCL design team to develop a customized, in-person and online, student and adult leadership training and coaching process. Click here to learn more.

Outcomes

Pre-Post school climate assessments have shown that CSCL’s work has resulted in:

  • improved school safety

  • more effective student discipline and behavioral interventions

  • protection of marginalized students from violence, threats, bullying and racial harassment

  • increased student engagement and excitement toward learning

  • more respectful and positive relationships for students and adults

  • teachers’ and school leaders’ ability to seek, value and utilize student’s points of view.

  • engaging students as public advocates to campaign for adequate school funding

  • “This experience has easily been one of the most valuable in my teaching career thus far; frankly, I can’t imagine anything coming close just now. The information we have taken in is incredible, but even more so is the fact that what we have done with it has made an impact.”

    – Teacher, Conval High School,  Peterborough, NH

  • “When students come to the table with data, and work with adults to improve their schools, it brings out the best in the adults.”

    Terry Cash, National Dropout Prevention Center, Clemson University

  • “We needed this and didn’t know it. It took outside eyes, strong leadership and a good education process for staff and students to make it happen – and it did.”

    School Leadership Team Member, Sullivan County, TN

  • “On the surface, Someday Wishes is a simple [Sweet Spot} activity: (1) Offer each child the opportunity to complete the sentence. “Someday in school, I would like to….” And (2) work hard to make everyone’s Someday Wishes come true. Ultimately, it’s a commitment to radical listening and to the healing power of student voice, agency, and empowerment.”

    Rachael Kelly, Project TREE, Colby College, Waterville, ME