Want to improve grades? Ask students how they feel in class.
| Boston
Glorya Wornum knows how different a classroom feels when a teacher listens.
In her sophomore year, students in her Boston charter school took a survey that included questions about what they 鈥渨ent through in class.鈥� And her history teacher listened.听
鈥淢y teacher was like, 鈥業鈥檝e read the survey and just want to let you guys know I鈥檓 going to change things up,鈥� 鈥� recalls听Ms. Wornum, who had been听frequently kicked her out of class at her previous high school for speaking out of turn or not paying attention.
And she did. Her students of color spent the next week teaching classes on their own ethnic backgrounds, and the teacher changed her teaching methods to accommodate their visual learning style.
鈥淚鈥檒l always remember my history class, because that鈥檚 where I felt my most comfortable culturally,鈥� says Wornum,听who is now project coordinator of听the Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC), the group which came up with the survey.
Experiences like Wornum鈥檚 are still a rarity in American classrooms, educators and researchers say. But when schools do make changes based on feedback from students and parents, it can help dissolve negative cultures some say contribute to the chronic academic underachievement among low-income and minority students.
鈥淓very school, every school district, and every state should be very serious about routinely and systematically assessing school climate, because it really is one of many key determinants of student performance and success,鈥� says Shaun Harper, executive director of the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. 鈥淚f we do not pay attention to school climate, I would argue that we will continue to be unsuccessful in moving the student achievement needle.鈥�
For around three decades, education researchers have recognized the听need for a data-driven strategy听to strengthen relationships, school connectedness, and prevent dropouts. However, efforts on this front bump up against an educational paradigm that focuses on standardized testing and graduation rates as the benchmarks for measuring schools.
This might change as President Obama鈥檚 Every Student Succeeds Act 鈥� the replacement of No Child Left Behind 鈥� kicks in over the next few years. States are being asked to adopt at least one additional indicator for the way they measure school success. This听听who would like to see measures like 鈥渟chool climate鈥� included in school accountability systems.
It's a key deficit in many US schools. Only one in three 6th- to 12th-graders feel their school has a 鈥減ositive culture,鈥� according to across 24 states.听Discipline and respect in student-to-adult relationships were the standout issues.
鈥淭he first step is in embracing the hard truths of these findings,鈥� says Sonya Heisters, director of partnerships for YouthTruth, which conducted the three-year survey. 鈥淚nstead of waiting till those students are already dropping out and skipping school,鈥� school districts should really see that [data] as a leading indicator to intervene with these students who are struggling, and work with them and partner with them and their families early on.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 鈥� a huge opportunity to bring our parents and kids on board to raise their voice about what they need and want,鈥� says John Boyd, superintendent of the sprawling Quincy School District in Washington state. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 essential, and if we can do it well, I think it鈥檚 going to get us a little bit closer to the promised land of getting them to succeed.鈥澨�
Many of his students' parents are agricultural workers who don't speak a lot of English, so Mr. Boyd recently sat down with their field supervisors, to learn about the 鈥渂arriers and frustrations鈥� they struggle with. (The district听serves an 85 percent Latino population, and roughly 87 percent live below the poverty line.)听He recalls hearing things like, 鈥淲e鈥檙e called when our kid is bad, but not when they do something good鈥� and 鈥淲hen we give feedback, teachers get defensive.鈥�
When it comes to school discipline, black students feel the greatest sense of injustice among their peers, according to the听YouthTruth survey.听But students also acknowledge their role in an often mutually inharmonious school atmosphere, with 57 percent of students saying that adults in schools treat students with respect, while 34 percent thought students treated adults with respect.
Improving the school climate requires special teaching skills.
鈥淚f a student is late to my class [and] she鈥檚 coming from a low-income background, I can鈥檛 berate her the second she comes in the room," says听Kevin Cournoyer, a Baltimore public school teacher. "I need to first pull her aside and ask her: 鈥楧id you make the bus? Was the bus late? Is everything cool at home?鈥� "
"And after that it鈥檚, 鈥極K, let鈥檚 talk about why you were late and how that affects your academics,鈥櫶�� he adds. 鈥淎ttending a school with a positive culture is just vital for reversing the cycle of poverty.鈥�
Wornum, the 2015 high school graduate of Boston's Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers, remembers how the survey she took in her favorite history class also asked demanding questions of the students about their role in upholding a strong school culture, instead of just blaming the teacher.
鈥淭here are just so many walls built up in our school system that we need to work on tearing down, and that really just goes straight back to that school climate," she says. "It's so hard to achieve and get anything done ... if you can't even sit in the classroom with one another and teach effectively and learn effectively.鈥�
[Editor's note:听This version was updated to correct one data point on school discipline.]
