Tools to build positive school climate

Part Two of the Turnaround 4C Plan
Bryan Wright and Mark McBeth discuss tools used to build a positive school climate in order for students to feel safe in their school which will increase student learning. Tools such as norms vs. rules, and being visible in the community. 

For more information about the the topics discussed,
Bryan Wright: brwright44@gmail.com
Mark McBeth: mark@educationalrelevance.org

Thanks for listening. If you would like to share your thoughts or topic ideas, or would like to be a guest, you can find Educational Relevance on Facebook, YouTube or contact us at oliviaw1201@educationalrelevance.org

Transcript

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 0:00

Hello. Welcome to educational relevance. My name is Brian, right? I'm currently an adjunct professor at university. also 28 years as a high school or secondary school administrator with me is Mark Macbeth, who's a esteemed educator in his own right. educator author. today, we're going to continue our series on the turnaround for C plan, and talk about school climate. Now we talk about the four C plan being climate. Culture curriculum and connections. We've discussed that and we discussed each one of them last week. We discussed climate we want to make sure we really bring it to climate today. So, last week we talked about our codes and without important code was developing a climate in the building and climate. We talked about who we are. So that being said, I want to discuss my code right now. code is Respect is earned, not just given, but common courtesy demanded of all. And Mark,

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 0:56

learning first, and then I, I build off of that with rigor, relevance, relationships, builds results.

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 1:03

Thank you, Mark. So once the leader knows his or her code, establishing, strengthening, and maintaining a positive climate in the organization is the first step. So we're going to talk about discussion points today on building that school climate and why it's so important that you have that climate ready to go. So the first thing we want to talk about, is get Need to feel safe in their environment. That's why we want to make sure we start with climate instead of curriculum. All right. And the whole idea to make sure that learning can take place. So students feel comfortable or safe in that environment. So they can learn that they're going straight to curriculum. Mark, I want to make sure I ask you about your opinion and thoughts on that, that idea and process. And maybe you can talk to maybe some research based strategies from that.

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 1:49

Yeah, well, I think, 1 of the things when we think about climate is that, we don't, need to deal with climate if things are already. comprehensive. the school's, discipline records are in really good order. There's very few discipline issues, good attendance. Those things mean the climate's in place. We're addressing climate when kids are not feeling safe in the school. When the disciplines off the charts, when kids don't feel comfortable there, when teachers are blaming and administrators, administrators, blaming teachers and et cetera. Parents are not encouraged by what's going on. Those are the things we talked about a little bit last week. So when we're talking about climate. we're talking about the environment that exists inside that school. We're talking about the safety, the overall type of relationships with kids. when we think about researchers, Brian, they, all they doing is validating what you and I have been doing for years. I mean, seriously, you and I have been in and out of that system. I've used research to give validation to what I'm doing, but in reality, you and I did it by gut feel. We just say, Hey, what does kids need? What's going on? Hey, let's deal with this first. Climate is first. So we have to establish things that deal with discipline. attendance, daily procedures and the environment of that school. So, one of the things, I'll jump into, a school that had really bad discipline that I went and it was lots of gang related type stuff going on. kids were coming to the office for everything under the sun, discipline, for the students was hit and miss across the board of how they would get their consequences and et cetera. and one of the things I did was I sat down with the, school management team. and they're a perfect team to build things around the environment that's going on in the school. And we started talking about frustrations with discipline and et cetera. And we created a tool called the, the discipline matrix. And from there, what we did was we established procedures and methodologies for teachers in the classroom. How to deal with kids behavior in the classroom, hallways, and et cetera, and how they can interact with those kids, and then what those procedures were when they hit the office. What happens when an assistant principal gets a kid? it's the same thing you and I would do, because we look at the matrix, and we say, oh, here's the plan, it says this, it says this, and then, the student already knows the rules, that's the way it is. It helps establish climate because it helps create consistency and expectations. Now for me, we created the tool. It worked great. You've taken that tool and given it the hundreds of school administrators, with all the people going through your classes as a professor and et cetera. you used it in schools. Talk a little bit about how you've evolved that to actually deal with climate.

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 4:57

thanks, Mark. Well, two things we did. And first of all, you're absolutely right. When you presented that to me, a few years ago, I'm like, Hey, this is pretty good. Let's see how we can build upon it and hopefully work with this thing within the same framework of the school they had. So we started building, a five step plan, but five step plan. Something we incorporate into the matrix, and it was basically a form of progressive discipline, given students and teachers five steps that they can put in 40 wrote a office referral form or something to us, disciplinary form. So they, they have opportunity to work with that student. So they can find ways to alongside that students, they can find success before the, school administration could deal with that student. That's the first thing, but then the second thing, what we did, we changed what we're talking about in the classroom. And that's where it's so fun. We discussed norms instead of rules. We always say rules are meant to be broken. Norms are meant to be followed. And what that did was that we established ideas. So teachers. Along with the students can set up norms themselves under the guise our, matrix. So they can say, Hey, this is what we're doing in this classroom. This is how we're going to make it work. So that the whole idea and the whole thing we're talking about is student success And Mark, I want to make sure I bring it back to you, throw it back to you because, and we're ping ponging here, I love this, but talking about, why it's more student success and student focus than it is any

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 6:20

Yeah, well, it goes right back to our codes, right? you know, student learning first and, and the student is our product. I mean, we're, we're like anybody else on an assembly line and a factory. We're producing a product and our students are our product, but it's really important that, kids feel that safety, that security. I used to work at an alternative school, in Quincy, Illinois, and, the kids were there for, several different reasons But one of the things that kids would say was, you know, people don't love me. People don't care for me because I can do whatever I want. I can go out and I can be out until two o'clock in the morning. Nobody cares, right? They want rules. Even the most challenging kids want rules. They want expectations. They want to know what they're going to be held accountable for. and we talked about this, offline earlier, a little bit about how. a lot of our schools are still stuck in this need for climate, due to COVID, and, it's because of the situation that they were thrown into to be homeschooled and et cetera. And so now that environment's changed. Could you talk a little bit about that? Go ahead and add on to that.

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 7:37

Well, we always had a statement, with schools I was in since the COVID time because I was an administrator in four different schools since that time. We're talking about having 2024 problems and 2020 18 solutions for those 2024 problems. When we came back off COVID, the thing that a lot of schools, and this is a mistake they made, and I'm just being honest with you. They made the mistake of saying, hey, let's get right back into curriculum because kids were not learning. And they felt that we had to hit curriculum first. They forgot that kids had to feel safe in their own environment. So if they felt safe in the school, then they could learn what you were doing, but they had to feel safe because they don't, they missed their socialization aspects about school amongst other things, their friends, the whole idea about working together, the whole idea of getting used to the teacher and trying to follow through with those rules and norms we're talking about. These are the things that, uh, those students did not have. And so when we get back in schools, we had to make sure we established those again in the successful schools since COVID did exactly that. They re established having those norms, having kids feel good about who they are, establishing that safety environment. Then what they found out once they did that, Kids were willing to learn what was being taught and a lot of kids started getting more and more successful. And as you saw it gradually since COVID, more schools are going right back to understanding that climate is so important in their building if they want to achieve that next step. And make sure I also say this to you, Mark, since we're talking about this, we want to make sure we discuss, how climate has to be just the

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 9:11

Yeah.

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 9:12

And how we're talking about how climate is going to be there. And then we have to make sure we establish culture. You know, before we start talking about that, let's talk about schools with reputations, because you said something earlier, and I want to bring back with what you're saying, you mentioned, at risk schools and I was at a North Suburban school. out here, in this area I'm at, and I thought, we did the, just for matrix there, we found success there as well. again, so this program we're talking about can be utilized effectively Not just in at risk schools, but in any school that feels that they want to improve on their climate. What do you think

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 9:44

Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, sometimes, you know, where we really want to be in school improvement is really doing analysis design, new practice, monitoring the results and starting all over just this figure a infinity model of what we're doing. Sometimes we have to slow down just a little. To go back to the design phase and say, Hey, some of the climate issues, it was that, statement you made last time, the five step rule, you step into the building, five steps, you determine the, climate of that building pretty quick. And then if you're doing that, or you're starting to get complaints or kids aren't still feeling free or you're starting to see discipline, escalating for some reason you go back and you re you reanalyze that's the difference between people like you and I, Brian and some other school administrators is that we're always analyzing what's going on today. And where does that put us at? So when we're going into a turnaround school, it's pretty obvious that there's issues where they wouldn't have called you or I anyway, you know, over the years. But, the thing is, when we, when we go in, we're analyzing and then we're saying, oh, okay, now I have established climate. Now I'm going to move the culture. Now I'm going to move the curriculum. We're, we're analyzing data to determine that. And at any point we think we're ready. you talk about building plans, Which always have timelines. Sometimes you might say, well, in six months, I'm going to have my climate established. But in six months, the data says, nope, I haven't made it yet, Then you don't just move to curriculum. You still are going, eh, we got to work a little bit more. I can be working on culture, but I really still need to work on my climate. That's the difference, of why we're constantly analyzing. And what's really, important is that analysis, of looking at the picture of where we're at and where we're going. that's when you determine whether we need to be working in climate or not, even if we're an established school. And that's why the discipline matrix is a great tool, because it can be adjusted. Like you said, you've adjusted it several times, based on what was going on in that school.

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 12:13

you brought some good things up. when we talk about climate, what we look for as well, we look for short winds. Immediate wins, short, short wins. So we can say, Hey,

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 12:22

Yeah.

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 12:23

We get some really short, quick wins, but the whole idea about short, quick wins, which take them because we think they're always good to have short immediate wins that people see that's going on and they feel supportive, but they see the wins happening, but the whole idea is that those wins. Are just a beginning. We want to make sure that when we talk about climate, let's talk about culture right now in this short time, climate is great. The first year you'll get those wins. You'll get raised in test scores. We've talked about that. You will get these things. Um, and in schools I've been in, we've seen the success and what's going on in schools, but then we got to talk about things that then have become embedded. Start working on culture. And you did talk about the, the five steps into your school building. What culture, what do you see that become part of the culture? And that's what we're just talking about. The climate is making sure you take the test. The culture is what they see and what do you do after that? And that's what we're just talking about last week. So Mark, I agree with you. Especially about that, about short term wins, good things are happening, but also, and that's talked about what we're gonna do when you talk about culture. Next time we discuss our turnaround foresee plan.

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 13:29

Yeah. So I think, you know, one of the things when we're looking at leadership, we're looking at structure, in the climate, then we're going to make a shift. we're going to feel differences. We're going to see those small wins that you're talking about and when we do and we start hearing people talking about student learning when they start saying, hey, I'm not just trying. We're going to do we want to do something different. We really want to move. That's when you feel the culture and it's stated in several different ways, but basically what you're listening for is when they start utilizing your code. You've talked about that where all of a sudden people are saying your code and then you know that you've shifted the culture and when that culture shifts, we start to work on, way more extensive, student learning structure, really putting student learning out there. We start focusing on our professional development. we start focusing on comprehensive reform more. and we're not, we're not just adapting and adopting curriculum. We're not quite there yet. What we're doing is laying the foundation for student learning. Not just the environment anymore. We're really focusing now on student learning as a central focus. And that's that shift to culture and it's essential.

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 14:55

I agree. Also, we're going to talk about a couple more things and different tools we're going to incorporate next time we speak, let's talk about a school improvement plan, how a school improvement plan while starting with climate. It becomes embedded into the culture of the building we're discussing. So we want to make sure we talk about school improvement plans and the goals each, school wishes to attain and the goals each staff member wishes to attain within those, within the school goals. We also want to talk about how we want to connect the community. And a quick synopsis for climate. For example, I used to always be go into the community before I even took the job. I wanted to go see what community was, how they felt about the school, how they felt about the reputation of the school, what they thought was right about the school, what they felt was wrong about the school, I always. I took a position, I always went into the community to see what the community felt about the program. So as we're doing that, we can talk about a parent five by five contract. So we can talk about how are we going to incorporate that and how that works on building, not just climate, but being embedded into the culture as well. So, I'm thinking along different avenues that we're going to take this thing, Mark, and take this, turnaround foresee plan

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 15:57

Yeah,

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 15:58

So, sir, are you

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 15:59

yeah, definitely. Yep. one of the things I'll just reemphasize with what you just said, Brian, is everything I've ever noticed about you. That was impressive above and beyond is your involvement in the community And we're talking about urban big schools where you're still heavily involved in the community It's not just a rural school because rural school principals often get engaged in the community But you are engaged in them. You're bringing parents in. there was a program and I can't remember exactly what it was called, that you are engaging these parents in the educational system and all those things I think are worthy of a conversation. It might even be a whole nother session by itself. so there's so much more to climate than what we have for 18 minutes. but your shift to the culture conversation is great, and I am ready for culture next

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 16:53

Well, I'll tell you what, let's do it this way. first of all, as always you can look for our email addresses in the comments section below. can get in contact with either one of us. We're more than happy to speak to you about climate at the same time to turn around for a sea plan. Mark, as always, man, thank you for coming and joining today. I think we had a great conversation. We look forward to speaking about culture

mark_1_07-17-2024_093603: 17:16

Thank you.

bryan_1_07-17-2024_093631: 17:17

Take care, my friend.