School climate and teacher beliefs in a school effectively serving poor South Carolina (USA) African-American students: A case study

The construction of parents and teachers as agents for the improvement of municipal schools in Chile

“…In six, schools showed improvements from the 2003/04 to the 2006/07 scores on the management processes measured by SACG and on SIMCE measures of student learning. Contrary to our expectations, only four of these schools had developed and nurtured social capital and other organisational characteristics associated with an improvement orientation (Hoy 1990;Bryk and Schneider 2003;Midthassel 2004;Brown and Medway 2007;Chan et al 2008;Spillane et al 2008;Goddard et al 2009). Two schools that had shown gains in those performance measures did not evidence the kinds of characteristics the literature associates with improvement.…”

“…The quality of school climate has been found to be associated with the level of achievement schools are able to attain. A number of studies have shown a relationship between a school's level of openness to parental participation with organisational variables such as trust and commitment, collective self-efficacy, depth and density of social interactions, leadership and the practices for collective accountability through reciprocity that school have developed (Bauch and Goldring 2000;Gunter 2005;Brown and Medway 2007;Chan et al 2008;Adams, Forsyth and Mitchell 2009;Addi-Raccah and Ainhoren 2009). From their qualitative study of the involvement of three Latino parents, Carreon, Drake and Barton (2005) posit that a reliable and trusting relationship with at least one school actor provides the scaffolding for a more fulfilling school engagement experience.…”

Strengthening bullying prevention through school staff connectedness.

“…Teachers who openly communicate with their peers also tend to be more open to pro fessional growth and innovation (Collie et al, 2011). These find ings have been replicated among schools most at risk for teacher attrition (Brown & Medway, 2007). In terms of bullying interven tion, Kallestad and Olweus (2003) found that staff members' openness and communication with one another significantly im pacted the implementation of an antibullying program.…”

Influence of Classroom and School Climate on Teacher Perceptions of Student Problem Behavior

“…Furthermore, teachers with low teacher efficacy, or negative beliefs about their ability to educate students, demonstrate less effective teaching practices, which result in poorer student achievement and increased likelihood for disruptive behavior (Reinke et al, 2013; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007). Research has shown that when teachers and staff feel supported by their administration, they report higher levels of commitment and more collegiality, and there is increased staff retention (Brown & Medway, 2007). Taken together, teachers’ overall perception of school climate will likely impact their teaching practices, which presumably influences how they view students’ behavior.…”