A model of the school environment that encompasses a range of factors essential to improvement is described here by three of NASSP's five-member Task Force on Effective School Climate. They conclude by presenting their agenda for the immediate future.

School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) emphasize unity of staff expectations regarding student behavior, the proactive teaching of positive behaviors, and a tiered, data-driven system of interventions (Sugai & Horner, 2009). Research shows SWPBIS yields improvements in student behavior outcomes like disciplinary office referrals and out of school suspensions (Bradshaw, Mitchell,

The assistant principal plays a key role in school success but research suggests there are differences between principals and assistant principals in their perceptions of their roles. The 2011 Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning Kentucky survey responses of educator perceptions were statistically analyzed for the statewide sample of principals and assistant principals. Results indicate that principals and assistant principals reported significantly different perceptions regarding teacher leadership and school leadership. Differences in principal and assistant principal responses were not related to student achievement, however. Implications for collaborative engagement between principals and assistant principals as they focus on increasing school leadership and teacher effectiveness are discussed.

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Person–organization fit theorizes perceptions of congruity between applicants and organizational characteristics in hiring decisions. This study extends person–organization fit to teacher selection in rural districts, hypothesizing that officials with strong rural values favor applicants who reflect the community's sense of place. Rural values of 214 decision makers from the population of Kentucky districts were correlated with five sets of personnel selection practices— three hiring process variables and two tacit fit filters. Results strongly confirm the theoretical model. All correlations were statistically significant, with most effect sizes between .22 and .67. Implications for teacher selection and school accountability are discussed.