Chapter 8 of a revised volume on school leadership, this chapter defines school climate and suggests ways to improve the learning environment at the school building level. School climate is defined as the feeling an individual gets from experiences within a school system. More specifically, climate is the composite of norms, expectations, and…

This pamphlet reviews five recent research studies that focus on various key aspects of school climate, a popular metaphor that is difficult to define, measure, or manipulate. "The Search for School Climate: A Review of the Research," by Carolyn Anderson, surveys the full scope of school climate literature, concluding with a summary of…

Chapter 7 of a volume on school leadership, this chapter defines, describes, and suggests ways to improve climate at the school building level. After citing a number of definitions of school climate, the authors conclude that school climate is the feel an individual gets from experiences within a school system, or the global summation of the…

In this annotated bibliography of 12 publications on school climate are 3 entries that suggest specific ways to improve the school climate and 1 that outlines leadership techniques for principals. Ways to assess school climate are covered by a review of assessment instruments, a discussion of the measurement issues, a description of major…

This document is intended to provide the higher education community with information from recent and classic research studies that can serve as a guide to improving the climate for diversity on campus. The first section of the report examines the literature on campus climate for diversity, the experiences of various racial/ethnic groups, and the…

This Critical Issue Bibliography (CRIB) Sheet focuses on resources to help a higher education institution create a multicultural climate. Because creating a multicultural climate is a combination of many factors, this annotated bibliography describes resources on recruitment, retention, climate issues, teaching and curriculum, organizational…

The 11 publications reviewed in this annotated bibliography were selected from the ERIC database as significant and useful information about aspects of the school environment--the instructional climate--that lead to school effectiveness. Among the topics discussed are teacher expectations, staff morale, student input, self-discipline, and…

Effective schools have staffs that stress the importance of educational goals and have a well-defined mission. They also clearly communicate the expectation that all students can and will reach the stated goals. Reviews of studies of exemplary schools find that the principals express high expectations for both teacher and student performance,…

This monograph reviews empirical studies on various aspects of higher education relating to the effectiveness of instruction in regard to four areas: curriculum, instruction, campus psychological climate, and academic advising. After an introduction, the first section describes the development of critical skills, how these skills develop, and the…

This digest examines ways in which learning and educational objectives can be maximized to achieve diversity while improving social and learning environments for students from different racial/ethnic backgrounds. The digest examines the literature on campus climate for racial/ethnic diversity, looks at the impact on student diversity of the campus…

Most of the 10 publications reviewed in this annotated bibliography focus on the principals' role in communicating high expectations for student achievement. The first article describes techniques principals can use to encourage excellence, such as complimenting teachers for exemplary efforts, carefully monitoring instruction via supervision and…

The ongoing process of developing new academic programs is slow, and the process by which this gradual reshaping occurs involves all aspects of the institution of higher education. The overlap of innovation in organizations, strategic planning, and program evaluation is important in this development. Administrators, trustees, and faculty members…

The school reform movement has been a major societal and political agenda item for nearly two decades. As a result of the pressure stemming from the movement to make schools more effective, many changes have occurred. The most obvious of these changes is an increased emphasis on assessment. Furthermore, school counselors, like teachers and…

The CRitical Issue Bibliography (CRIB) Sheet describes resources concerned with creating a multicultural environment in higher education. Creating a multicultural environment is a combination of recruitment, retention, climate issues, pedagogy and curriculum, organizational values, culture and structure, and faculty and staff development. This…

The convergence of three trends makes service to minority students an imperative for continuing education: (1) increasing proportions of diverse groups in the U.S. population and work force; (2) continuing education and retraining as keys to survival in a workplace of change; and (3) declining college enrollments of diverse populations and…