Target Audience: School and District Leaders
Effective and collaborative educational leadership are foundation for effective sustainable school climate/SEL improvement efforts. NSCC has over 20 years of experience in building leadership capacity regardless of an individual’s role within the school community. Additionally, NSCC has the expertise and an extensive track record for guiding school and district leaders through the development of professional learning communities that foster the creation of safe, supportive, and engaging climates for learning.
We support leadership development and capacity building in 3 ways. To learn more, please click on the links below.
Build Leadership Using Data
Target Audience: School and District Leaders
As part of NSCC’s growing development of useful school climate tools, the School Leadership Readiness Tool is the first in the field to spark discussions among the building-level leadership around key dimensions that contribute to a successful and sustainable school climate improvement process. School leadership buy-in, engagement, and cooperation are found to be the most predictive of implementing and sustaining intervention efforts.
As part of this package, leadership teams will work with a NSCC school climate expert:
- Use the Readiness Tool’s findings to support leadership teams develop a clear and common understanding of the dynamics of their group.
- Apply the findings to start capitalizing on the leadership team’s strengths to address specific needs, such as trust and collaboration or integrating school improvement efforts.
For teams to be successful, this means having strong relationships among leadership members as well as a strategic eye toward the future.
Youth Engagement and Intergenerational Leadership
Target Audience: School and District Leaders
When youth are engaged and supporting intergenerational school improvement efforts, it provides an essential foundation for learning and school climate improvement efforts. NSCC is invested in recognizing and supporting youth voice and intergenerational school improvement efforts. Empowering youth supports their learning and healthy development, and, typically, youth have understandings and ideas that schools leaders and parents need to learn from.
This package considers developmental principles and transitions that relate to youth engagement and intergenerational leadership. As part of this service, school and district leaders will work with an experienced consultant who will provide support on how to:
- Understand the fundamentals of developmental transitions and how they impact youth engagement in school
- Understand what the initiatives/programs are already in place that encourage youth engagement and intergenerational leadership efforts
- Identify developmentally appropriate ways to support youth leadership/intergenerational initiatives in school in one of the following two ways:
i) Focusing on bully-victim-bystander behavior and the range of ways that youth can support this learning and improvement efforts
ii) Supporting school-community partnerships
School Climate Leadership Certificate
Target Audience: School and District Leaders
In 2012 NSCC formalized our leadership development process: The School Climate Leadership Certificate Program. With the collaborative support from the Character Education Partnership, Making Caring Common, Harvard Graduate School of Education, New York State Center for School Safety, the National Dropout Prevention Center and the Center for Citizenship and Character, University of Missouri we developed this 12 to 18 month process of teaching and learning.
The National School Climate Center’s (NSCC) School Climate Leadership Certificate Program is an advanced educational credential that complements, but does not replace, a State’s teacher/administrator license. It has been designed for education leaders who work in a variety of roles to complete in 12-15 months.
The certification program is organized around three primary tasks for participants: 1) understanding research and theory on school climate, 2) applying those core concepts by leading a discrete climate improvement project, and 3) demonstrating understanding by completing a reflective case study on those improvement efforts. Through completing the Certification Program, participants will acquire the critical knowledge and develop the essential skills required to lead school climate improvement efforts in creating safe and supportive environments within their own schools, districts, and/or states. This promotes student engagement, equitable learning and life success for students in the participate school.
Objectives:
(1) To support school leaders in understanding and using the theory, research and best practices of school climate improvement.
(2) To contribute to and receive support from a growing network improvement community of emerging and established school leaders to learn best practices from each other and help to advance the field.
(3) To have resources that educators in schools, districts, and State Departments of Education can use to strengthen their school climate efforts, by helping to train, support and recognize certified school climate leaders in their states.