![]() Personalized learning is one instructional approach that could reverse these trends. 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. By the time students reach eleventh and twelfth grades, only one-third of students report feeling engaged. Recent Gallup data shows a troubling trend-as students move through the K–12 education system, they become increasingly less engaged. 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. 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. 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. However, school discipline policies and codes of conduct do not always support a positive school climate. To have a safe learning environment, students must feel welcomed, supported, and respected. Safety extends beyond the physical well-being of students. 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. 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. The need to establish positive conditions for learning is clear, but what exactly does it take for schools to get there?īefore students can succeed academically, they must feel safe, both physically and mentally. ![]() 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. Exposure to violence, in particular, affects more than the family and friends of those involved and ripples through communities, ultimately impacting individual students. New research also shows that a positive school climate, of which the conditions for learning are a critical part, can narrow achievement gaps.īut 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. 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. These “conditions for learning” are the elements of a school’s climate that students experience personally. For students to learn, they must feel safe, engaged, connected, and supported in their classrooms and schools.
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