Four Elements for Creating a Positive Learning Environment 1

By Caroline Waldman

November 07, 2016 11:43 am

For students to learn, they must feel safe, engaged, connected, and supported in their
classrooms and schools. These “conditions for learning” are the elements of a school’s
climate that students experience personally. They contribute to students’ academic
achievement and success and are associated with improved grades and test scores;
strong attendance; positive relationships between students, adults, and their peers; and
minimal engagement in risky behaviors, according to The School Discipline Consensus
Report (SDCR) developed by The Council of State Governments Justice Center. New
research also shows that a positive school climate, of which the conditions for learning
are a critical part, can narrow achievement gaps.

But external factors—such as the fatal shootings from this summer and fall—and
internal factors—such as exclusionary discipline practices, which disproportionately
affect students of color, students with disabilities, and English language learners (ELLs)
—can undermine efforts by teachers and school staff to create the learning conditions
necessary for students to thrive. Exposure to violence, in particular, affects more than
the family and friends of those involved and ripples through communities, ultimately
impacting individual students.

With this context in mind, it is critical to explore what educators, parents, and
communities can do to support students, especially students of color and students from
low-income families who traditionally are underserved, to help them achieve academic
and personal success. The need to establish positive conditions for learning is clear, but
what exactly does it take for schools to get there?

1. Safety

Before students can succeed academically, they must feel safe, both physically and
mentally. Although schools use a variety of measures to ensure students’ physical
safety, certain efforts sometimes have negative effects on students, particularly those
who are traditionally underserved. While data shows that the rates that teens experience
violent crimes in their schools has declined, issues such as racial bias prevail and impact
the effectiveness of school safety measures.
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https://all4ed.org/four-elements-for-creating-a-positive-learning-environment/
Safety extends beyond the physical well-being of students. To have a safe learning
environment, students must feel welcomed, supported, and respected. However, school
discipline policies and codes of conduct do not always support a positive school climate.
For example, exclusionary discipline practices, like removing students from the
classroom, suspensions, and expulsions, negatively impact students’ academic
performance and their likelihood of graduating from high school. Even more
concerning, data shows that schools discipline traditionally underserved students at
much higher rates than their peers even though research does not show that these
students misbehave more frequently. Building a positive school climate and ensuring
students are ready to learn requires school district codes of conduct that promote
positive adult and student relationships and work to keep more students in the
classroom.

2. Engagement

Recent Gallup data shows a troubling trend—as students move through the K–12
education system, they become increasingly less engaged. By the time students reach
eleventh and twelfth grades, only one-third of students report feeling engaged. In
a survey of parents of students from low-income communities, the Alliance for Excellent
Education (Alliance) finds the majority expressed concern that students’ individual
learning needs are not being met and that students are not learning the knowledge and
skills they need to succeed in the real world.

Personalized learning is one instructional approach that could reverse these trends. This
student-centered approach to learning tailors instruction to students’ unique strengths
and needs and engages them in challenging, standards-based academic content.
Personalizing learning helps students develop skills including thinking critically, using
knowledge and information to solve complex problems, working collaboratively,
communicating effectively, learning how to learn, and developing academic mindsets.
These skills, known as the deeper learning competencies, are not only the skills
students need to succeed in school, but the ones that will enable them to succeed in
careers and life.

Personalized learning is greatly increasing student engagement in one school district in

North Carolina. In the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district, currently in its third year
of a personalized learning initiative, 81 percent of personalized learning students report
feeling engaged in class, compared to only 47 percent of other students in the district.
 3. Connectedness

Students must feel connected to teachers, staff, and other students. Schools can nurture
these connections by focusing on students’ social and emotional learning (SEL). SEL
helps students understand and manage their emotions and interactions with others and
build the skills necessary to communicate and resolve conflicts. “SEL programs have
been shown to improve students’ social competence, self-awareness, connection to
school, positive interactions with others, and academic performance,” according to
the SDCR. There are specific practices that educators can adopt to embrace SEL in the
classroom, which also create a positive school climate and environment that supports
students’ deeper learning.

Teachers are an essential part of fostering the type of learning environment in the
classroom that supports student success. And yet many students, particularly students
of color and students from low-income families, do not have access to prepared and
effective teachers. Educators and administrators need professional development
opportunities and training to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of
students to create a positive school climate.

4. Support

Students must feel supported by all those connected to their learning experience. This
includes teachers, classmates, administrators, family, and community members. These
parties should share an understanding of what positive school climate at the school and
classroom looks like so they can work together toward this common goal. School leaders
can engage community members, teachers, students, and parents in school climate
improvement work through conversations, meetings, surveys, and creating school-
community partnerships. School leaders should gather and incorporate the feedback of
all of these groups in any school climate improvement work. A quick guide for district
and school leaders, teachers, and other members of the school community on how to
initiate, implement, and sustain school climate improvements is available here.

How can parents help create a positive learning environment in their

children’s schools?

 Encourage your school leaders to take this survey to measure the current climate
at your child’s school and help to identify opportunities for improvement.
 Learn more about school safety efforts and how they can impact students by
reading this blog post. Then follow the action steps outlined in the post to help your
child’s school provide a safe environment for students.
 Check out these actions you can take to learn more about your school or district’s
discipline policies and find out how you can advocate for equitable practices.
 Learn more about personalized learning and advocate for it and other innovative
instructional approaches that engage students.
 Ask your school leaders about the training and professional development
opportunities in place for teachers that focus on the social and emotional needs of
students.
 Communicate to your school leaders about the need to incorporate parent,
student, and community voice and feedback in any on-going or future school climate
improvement work.
 Check out the Alliance’s Climate Change series to learn more about the
conditions that support a positive school climate.

Caroline Waldman is a communications associate at the Alliance for Excellent

Education.