For many of Ohio’s students, the conditions for teaching and learning must be right or they will not learn what they need to know to succeed and graduate. The State Board of Education and the Ohio Department of Education are pleased to provide you with Ohio’s School Climate Guidelines, which describe how schools can create environments where every student feels welcomed, respected and motivated to learn. While these guidelines target building and district administrators, they also can be useful as springboards for policy discussions with staff, students, parents, school boards and other community members. Use of the guidelines is voluntary, and policies that are established from these guidelines will be developed by local school boards.
We know that in schools with safe, supportive learning environments where students become connected to school, they are less likely to engage in disruptive and destructive behavior and more likely to graduate from high school. We also know that the primary mission of schools is to educate and graduate students. Therefore, school leaders should keep the following in mind when reviewing the guidelines:
- School staff need to work closely with parents whose children have issues that affect learning and must respect parental decisions about what is best for their children.
- School staff should be cognizant of the federal Protection of Pupil Rights amendment, which permits parents to review instructional materials and requires schools to obtain parental permission prior to conducting certain surveys of student attitudes.
- School staff need to work with parents and community organizations, when appropriate, to provide services that address issues and behaviors that could interfere with learning and graduating.
These guidelines reinforce how educators, families and communities can improve their schools. School climate policies established by local school boards should be based on the evaluation of school data, be included in comprehensive continuous improvement planning, and be monitored regularly for improved performance.
