Describes a study of students, teachers, and staff at one Brewer, Maine, elementary school. The purpose was to see whether benefits attributed to sense of community and belonging were present and, if so, what role Community of Caring played in creating such an environment. (Contains 1 figure and 16 references.) (AUTHOR)

Examines the relationship between rural students' perceived connection with school and their perception of safety, harassment, and empathy by gender and grade level. Finds positive relationship between school connection, perceived safety, and empathy and negative relationship between school connection and reported harassment. Finds differences in…

Reactive measures such as metal detectors, I.D. badges, and zero-tolerance policies can reduce violence, but cultivating order is more effective than imposing it. Building a respectful, caring learning environment by enhancing students' sense of belonging, implementing a comprehensive character-education program, and teaching conflict-resolution…

Caring, a valued attribute, might fade from attention unless it is shown to benefit children academically and socially and becomes readily available in school and classroom communities. This paper provides rationale and context by grounding caring in the research on sense of community and belonging. Although findings for students are…

Two elements of caring (the need to develop students' caring about others and caring as a moral reasoning mode) provide the framework for a study that explored possible relationships among self-esteem, gender, grade level, and caring in adolescents. Results (analysis of variance) found that all three factors were related to caring and were…