California Safe and Supportive Schools

The Impact of Student–Staff Relationships on School Climate

Student-Staff Relationships

The Impact of Student–Staff Relationships on School Climate

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Many factors contribute to a thriving school climate. One of the most important aspects is the presence of safe and supportive relationships between students and staff, including teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, and coaches. The quality of relationships at a school is among the strongest known predictors of both student academic achievement and teacher career satisfaction. In this short video, you will be introduced to three members of the California Center for School Climate’s Youth Advisory Team who help us understand what creates a positive school climate as they offer examples of their own relationships with staff at their schools. 

Featured Speakers:

  • Aisha Bilgrammi, 10th grade student
  • Alexa Southall, 10th grade student
  • Julian Berkowitz–Sklar, 12th grade student
  • Sarah Nava, Moderator

Watch the video recording:

View the video transcript

Youth Perspectives on School Safety (CCSC Youth Advisory Team)

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School safety has become an increasing concern for education leaders, especially as recent years have marked record highs for shootings, wildfires, and other emergencies on school campuses.

A few Youth Advisory Team members described how school staff tend to emphasize order, control, and hierarchies in their exchanges with students, which harms their ability to express themselves and build relationships at school. Part two of this two-part brief  examines the role that school safety plays in students’ classroom experiences in addition to the overall well-being of school communities.

Featured Speakers:

  • Alexa Southall, 10th grade student
  • Jubia Chavez, 12th grade student
  • Amiya Farias, 11th grade student
  • Julian Berkowitz–Sklar, 12th grade student
  • Aisha Bilgrammi, 10th grade student

View the transcript from this audiocast

Download the brief

Meaningful Youth Engagement to Guide School Climate (CCSC Youth Advisory Team)

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Partnering with students, caregivers, and community partners is crucial in creating environments that are safe, supportive, and inclusive. School leaders can achieve a higher level of participation by offering students collaborative roles in affecting change based on their critical examinations of learning conditions. Collaborating with students is especially important for secondary students, as creating opportunities for youth to practice decision-making skills aligns with the neurological and developmental needs of adolescents.

The CCSC has prioritized youth engagement through the creation of the Youth Advisory Team (YAT), a group of six high school students who provide input on climate needs based on their lived experiences in public schools throughout the state.

Featured Speakers:

  • Alexa Southall, 10th grade student
  • Jubia Chavez, 12th grade student
  • Amiya Farias, 11th grade student
  • Julian Berkowitz–Sklar, 12th grade student
  • Aisha Bilgrammi, 10th grade student

View the transcript from this audiocast

Download the brief

Cultivating Caring Relationships at School: 15 Activities That Promote Staff and Student Connection

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This resource, coauthored and reviewed by California Center for School Climate’s Youth Advisory Team, contains 15 classroom-based activities that promote the development of positive relationships between staff and students at both the elementary and secondary levels. Activities are designed to be low cost and easy to implement. Each activity contains detailed instructions as well as adaptations for both in-person and online learning environments.

Watch this video to learn about an activity in the toolkit!

View the transcript.

School Connectedness and Academic Achievement in California High Schools

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The CalSCHLS School Connectedness Scale is an important differentiator between low-performing and high-performing high schools and has value as an indicator of school quality. School connectedness appeared to have increased in California recently, but it still declined markedly after students left elementary school with a substantial majority of high school students not feeling highly connected to their schools. The lowest rates of both connectedness and test scores occur in low-income schools.