Background/Context Educators have written about and studied school climate for 100 years. School climate refers to the quality and character of school life. School climate is based on patterns of people's experiences of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures. However, school climate is more than individual experience: It is a group phenomenon that is larger than any one person's experience. A sustainable, positive school climate fosters youth development and learning necessary for a productive, contributive, and satisfying life in a democratic society. This climate includes norms, values, and expectations that support people feeling socially, emotionally, and physically safe. People are engaged and respected. Students, families, and educators work together to develop, live, and contribute to a shared school vision. Educators model and nurture an attitude that emphasizes the benefits of, and satisfaction from, learning. Each person contributes to the operations of the school and the care of the physical environment. School climate refers to spheres of school life (e.g. safety, relationships, teaching and learning, the environment) as well as to larger organizational patterns (e.g., from fragmented to cohesive or “shared” vision, healthy or unhealthy, conscious or unrecognized). These definitions were collaboratively developed and agreed upon at a consensus-building meeting of national practice and policy leaders organized in April 2007 by the National Center for Learning and Citizenship, Education Commission of the States, and the Center for Social and Emotional Education. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This article examines the relationship between school-climate-related research findings on the one hand and educational policy, school improvement practice, and teacher education on the other. Research Design This article uses several research methods to understand the current state of school climate research, policy, practice, and teacher education: historical analysis, a review of the literature, a national State Department of Education policy scan, and a national survey (N = 40) of building, district, and state educational leaders about school climate measurement and improvement practices. Findings/Results A review of the literature reveals that a growing body of empirical research indicates that positive school climate is associated with and/or predictive of academic achievement, school success, effective violence prevention, students’ healthy development, and teacher retention. There is a glaring gap between these research findings on the one hand, and state departments of education, school climate policy, practice guidelines, and teacher education practice on the other. Conclusions/Recommendations We detail how the gap between school climate research, policy, practice, and teacher education is socially unjust and a violation of children's human rights. We now have research-based guidelines that predictably support positive youth development and student learning. If we do so, we are supporting children, educators, parents, communities, and the foundation for democratic process, but as a country, we are not doing so. Our children deserve better. A series of detailed recommendations are suggested for policy makers, practice leaders, and teacher educators to narrow this gap and support student's healthy development and capacity to learn.

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In this analytic essay, we initiate a dialogue about the place of disability in a multicultural education framework, and the role of inclusive education in a democracy. Problematizing the common omission of the topic of disability oppression from anti-oppression pedagogies and from social justice education generally, we invite teacher educators concerned with educational equity to position themselves on the persistent issue of the segregation of large numbers of students labeled with disabilities in schools, and to consider how we might engage in sustained dialogue toward pursuing an agenda that is opposed to the systematic deployment of educational segregation in all its forms. In addition to opening this broad conversation, we have specifically invited dialogic interchange with three of our teacher educator colleagues whose responses are embedded within this manuscript.

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concluded that although individual teachers make an enormous difference in student achievement, we do not know which attributes matter. Furthermore, Paige cited research that although teacher experience and content knowledge are linked to student achievement, training in pedagogy or field experiences or master's degrees have not been linked to student success, nor have certification requirements. Curiously, meeting state certification standards is one of the standards for identifying highly qualified teachers (U.S. Department of Education, 2003, p. 2).Of course, there is a great deal of other research that counters this limited perspective that quality depends on content knowledge and two other variables not seemingly in NCLBcognitive ability and length of service (see, e.g.,