Imagine heading into a professional development program and being greeted by an enthusiastic trainer. Upbeat music is playing and it is clear that time and effort have been made to help you feel welcome and appreciated as an educator.
That’s the experience that members of our Building a Positive School Climate cohort had as they kicked off the year-long experience with the Consortium, a program focused on better student outcomes following the pandemic.
Philanthropic leaders in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region first became involved when they saw students at the Ron Clark Academy, a private school for 4th – 8th grade students based in Atlanta, and how both teachers and students were engaged and excited about learning. They also had the foresight to realize that making a visit to a private school and adapting it on their own to very different public school settings was unlikely to set up teachers or students for success.
That’s when the Consortium became involved, given our leadership in the region among schools and our experience facilitating cohorts focused on systems change. Directors of Professional and Student Learning, Christy Kuehn and Candice Murrell, designed a 12-month experience for educators, Building a Positive School Climate (BPSC), leveraging an inspiring visit to the Ron Clark Academy, with a deeper focus on adapting and implementing change in their schools.
More than 131 educators representing 15 school districts are engaged in the full cohort, which will expand on ideas from their initial visit to the Ron Clark Academy through regional site visits, professional development workshops, and cohort meetings to enable them to implement innovative key aspects of what’s working at the Ron Clark Academy into their own classrooms and buildings. Every aspect of these experiences is designed to celebrate educators, reminding them of the value they bring to their students and the professionals they are.
Educators have been enthusiastic about the three events held so far, including the first cohort meeting focused on balancing the need to create a sense of belonging as well as providing intellectual rigor in schools. Participants then had the opportunity to visit PPS Mifflin as the first site visit to see the Mifflin House System in action, in addition to the personalized and positive learning environments being implemented throughout the K-8 school. Just last week, cohort members joined the first professional development workshop focusing on increasing student engagement through techniques such as incorporating music and movement into the classroom.
At the end of the cohort experience, the goal is to have teachers, counselors, and administrators inspired and enabled to cultivate a more positive school environment. We’ll look for evidence in metrics such as increased attendance and family involvem
ent as well as improved staff morale and retention. That vision includes a place where students thrive academically and personally, where families feel that they belong and want to engage in their students’ growth, and where communities will partner with their schools to provide real-world experiences for students and support schools in their innovative and inspiring ideas.
(The opportunity for educators to visit the Ron Clark Academy was made possible by Huntington Bank. The Building a Positive School Climate program is supported through grants from the Benedum, Buhl, Eden Hall, and Grable foundations.)