Event Date: Tuesday, December 17, 2013; 12:30 p.m.–2 p.m. Central Time

Location: Webinar.

Description: Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest is hosting Making Connections: Strategies for Using School Climate Data, an interactive webinar designed to increase awareness of how school climate data can be used to enhance student performance. The webinar will discuss recent research suggesting that school climate is an important lever of both student and school success. We invite you to join us from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, December 17, 2013, via the web.

States and local school districts are increasingly interested in using school climate data to improve educational outcomes. This event will provide practical information on ways that school climate is being measured in the Midwest and across the country and will investigate ways of using school climate data to explore the relationships among intervention strategies, student achievement, and behaviors. The webinar will highlight recent research from WestEd that examines the association between school climate and student achievement, as well as the role of school climate in distinguishing schools that outperform.

This event will feature Adam Voight, Ph.D., Climate Technical Assistance and Research Specialist at WestEd. Dr. Voight will provide a research-based discussion of his recent work linking school climate to school and student success and will discuss the methods and measures involved in his study.

In addition, Strategies for Using School Climate Data will feature panelists from Kansas and Maryland who are currently collecting and utilizing school climate data through their participation in the Safe and Supportive School Grant Program. Panel members will highlight their successes, challenges, and lessons learned in the course of their work. The session will include a Question and Answer segment to facilitate dialog among presenters and participants.

Audience: This event is designed to engage state education agency policymakers, local education agency staff, teachers, district-level staff and principals, regional support staff, and other interested stakeholders. The event will also be archived online and so can be accessed by a broader audience.

Speakers:

• Adam Voight, Ph.D., Climate Technical Assistance and Research Specialist, WestEd
• Sally Ruddy, Ph.D., Principal Researcher, The National Center for Safe and Supportive Schools, AIR
• Lisa Chaney, M.S., Director of Research & Evaluation at SEK Education Service Center – Greenbush
• Andrea Alexander, M.S., LCPC, Specialist, School Climate Initiatives, PBIS State Coordinator, Division of Student Family and School Support, Maryland State Department of Education
• Christina Jordan, M.Ed, School Climate Specialist, MD Safe and Supportive Schools (MDS3), Sheppard Pratt Health System

Report Citation: Voight, A., Austin, G., & Hanson, T. (2013). A climate for academic success: How school climate distinguishes schools that are beating the achievement odds. San Francisco, CA: The California Comprehensive Center. Retrieved from http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/hd-13-10.pdf