Indicator 1

The school community consciously and continuously builds a safe, positive, respectful, and supportive culture that fosters student responsibility for learning and results in shared ownership, pride, and high expectations for all.

What to Look for:

• student, parent, and teacher handbooks reflect high expectations for all students and communicate high expectations for all
• discipline and attendance policies illustrate student responsibility and high expectations for all as well as a supportive culture 
• comparative annual data on disciplinary actions and incidences of vandalism reflect downward trends 
•  the school focuses efforts on and can cite specific programs or activities that are related to improving school climate (e.g., tolerance and diversity programs) 
• the school can cite specific programs to document that students feel a sense of pride and ownership in their school, e.g. participation numbers for school or community clean-up days, wide-scale participation in academic programs, portfolio nights, science fairs, as well as athletic and performing arts programs 
• conversations with students reveal that students believe much is expected of them in terms of learning, goal-setting, behavior, respect for others, and participation in school and community