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School Climate Implementation Road Map
Promoting Democratically informed school communities and the continuous process of school climate improvement

This Road Map is a resource designed to support school leadership teams and school community members measure and improve school climate in ways that support student - and adult - learning and the healthy development of K-12 students. School communities can use measuring and working to improve school climate as a data driven strategy that promotes the skills, knowledge and dispositions that provide the foundation for a democratically informed school communities and engaged citizens.

This Road Map is organized around a five stage, continuous process of school climate improvement: (i) preparation and planning; (ii) evaluation; (iii) understanding the evaluation findings, engagement and action planning; (iv) implementing the action plan; and (v) re-evaluation and beginning the cycle anew. Each of these five stages is characterized by a series of tasks and challenges.

This Road Map synthesizes research and best practices from a number of overlapping fields: school reform, character education, social emotional learning, service learning, community schools, risk prevention, and health/mental health promotion. It is organized around a five-stage process of school climate improvement. Each of the five stages is defined by a series of tasks and challenges. The tools and guidelines in this Road Map are designed to help your school's leadership team and members to understand and master each of these tasks and challenges.

This Road Map is an invaluable tool for building and district leaders. It provides practical suggestions and most importantly, tools (e.g. learning activities and rubrics) that support school teams and citizen leaders who are doing the important work of addressing the tasks to shape and support the school climate improvement process. School climate contributes to the relationships adults and youth have in schools - the better the relationship - the more engaged youth and adults become contributing to higher student achievement and connection to the community. The school climate improvement process recognizes and powerfully supports the social and civic as well as intellectual student learning and whole school improvement efforts. The strong school climate found in the Greendale Schools help make the Greendale School District the highest ranked school district in the Milwaukee metropolitan area since 2007.
William H. Hughes, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools
Greendale School District Greendale, WI, 53129

The Road Map provides the foundation for our school climate improvement efforts with schools, districts, networks of schools and State Departments of Education. For further information about the Road Map, please contact Jonathan Cohen
(jonathancohen@csee.net).