Best Practices

• The Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire (OCDQ): This survey
measures teachers’ perspectives of school climate, focusing on principal and teacher
behaviors. There are elementary, middle school, and high school versions.
Information regarding the above instruments of measurement is available at
these websites:
http://www.emc.cmich.edu/charactered/instruments.htm
http://www.csee.net/climate/csciassessment/
http://www.coe.ohio-state.edu/whoy/instruments_6.htm
“Districtwide, we surveyed children in grades 4 through 8 about how they
felt about their learning environment, the relationship with teachers and
with each other. One of our objectives was to improve our school’s
learning climate. We are building an environment where kids feel safe, feel
comfortable, feel they have ownership. That’s a huge piece of what we
focus on—students’ autonomy, making sure their voices are heard, that
they have some control over what is happening to them. We hope we are
building a sense of belonging where they feel it wouldn’t be the same
school if they weren’t here.” PRINCIPAL
“Throughout the year, we have check-in meetings where we go back and
say, ‘How are we doing? Are we meeting our norms? Are we including
everyone and treating everyone respectfully?’ The children know that
these norms are important, whether it’s September or February. Our
classes set goals, and we check in on those monthly. We do what we call
‘ Reach Days,’ when we see how we are doing toward reaching our goals.
The children reflect on their personal goals as well as their classroom
goals and how they are meeting them.” PRINCIPAL
ENHANCING THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT — Measuring School Environment PAGE 29