School Climate and Shared Leadership. School Climate Practice Brief

School climate reform, an evidence-­-based strategy, supports K--12 students, school personnel, parents/guardians and community members learning and working together to promote pro-social education. Done well, these efforts will result in even safer, more supportive, engaging, helpfully challenging and harmonious schools. The U.S. Department of Education, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Institute for Educational Sciences, President Obama's Bully Prevention Partnership, the US Departments of Justice and Education's School Discipline Consensus project, a growing number of State Departments of Education and foreign educational ministries support and/or endorse school climate renewal as a strategy to increase student learning and achievement, enhance school connectedness, reduce high school dropout rates, prevent bullying and other forms of violence, and enhance teacher retention rates. School leaders can build broad engagement through the following promising shared leadership strategies: (1) Set clear parameters to create balanced power and establish leadership as a partnership; (2) Engage all stakeholders in working together toward a shared purpose; (3) Ensure all participants share responsibility and accountability; (4) Recognize and embrace diverse perspectives in the group; and (5) Teach and value inner strength in all participants in shared leadership.