Who we are
Imagine a world where every school is a safe, thriving, data-rich ecosystem where positive relationships, relevant learning opportunities, and personal and professional support for everyone is the norm. That's the vision that has been driving the Center for School Climate and Learning for more than two decades. We're dedicated to transforming school environments to build safe, inclusive educational spaces where every student can flourish. Through our unique action research-based programs, we empower students and their adult partners to cultivate a culture of respect, resilience, joy, personal growth, equity, and academic excellence.
Our mission
We help schools unlock the power of student voice to empower students and teachers to transform their schools and learning together.
Our vision.
At the Center for School Climate & Learning, we envision a future where every school, and all students, teachers, and school leaders thrive through the power of mutual respect, positive relationships, empowerment, and collaboration. Schools are places where all individuals take responsibility for themselves and each other. Everyone engages in ongoing personal growth and learning. Everyone focuses on meeting their common human needs for safety, belonging, power, freedom, and fun. Working together to solve problems, address common challenges, and rely on each other, they create joyful schools where all voices are heard, respected, and valued, and build a culture that enables students and educators to shape the future together.
Our core values
Everyone has the same basic human needs
We believe that William Glasser got it right when he said, every human needs to fulfill their “basic human needs for belonging, power, freedom, and fun.”
Students will not learn in a toxic, threatening, boring, or irrelevant learning environment
There is a growing body of neuroscience research that shows the importance of a safe, respectful, relevant, and engaging school environment to optimize student learning.
School culture really matters
We believe Peter Drucker nailed it when he famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast!”.
The dignity of expertise
Do students see and know things about their school that the adults in that school do not? Do BIPOC students understand their schools in ways that members of majority groups fail to understand? “OF COURSE”! We must seek and value the wisdom, knowledge, expertise of ALL students, and engage with these students as partners in understanding if we really want to improve schools. This is the bedrock of our YPAR process.
Students bring out the best in grownups
Dr. Terry Cash, and his research team from The National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University found THIS when they studied the effects of the CSCL’s Safe Measures YPAR process; “When students come to the table with data, and worked with adults to improve their schools, it brought out the best in the adults.”
If you want to change students’ lives, just PICK THEM!:
We believe that the act of selecting and inviting a student –especially those who are always left out--to be part of a team, to share their ideas or voice, and to serve as “an expert” on what it is like to be THEM in their school…can change that student’s life, transform them into a leader, and help adults develop more effective educational environments and learning opportunities.
Collect and use rigorous data to capture and amplify student voices:
Our Safe Measures action research process engages upper elementary school, middle school, high school, and college students as “action researchers”. These students learn to engage in and lead a process that most teachers are expected to use in their master’s degrees programs. This work is rigorous, respectful, and important!
Our experience
The CSCL has worked with hundreds of schools across the country over the past 20 years to measurably improve their culture and climate through student voice, data analysis, and professional development.
