In the News

Youth Recommend Improvements in Schools

Over the years 2003-2008, the Amy Kohlberg Quinlan Internship Program sponsored by the USF Collaborative for Children, Families and Communities offered teens research-oriented summer internships to study ways to improve the quality of youth development in their communities. As the school year winds to a close, we want to re-cap some of their suggestions for enhancing effective education [more]

Jazz Professor, Composer Awarded One of the Most Prestigious Academic Recognitions in the World

Chuck Owen is the only Guggenheim Fellow in 2009 from a Florida university [more]

“Nine Points to Improve School Climate” [read more about it]

This set of recommendations is designed to make students feel more comfortable in school and to increase sociability, extracurricular participation and academic achievement.

I. Demonstrate Commitment: This shows that an educator’s purpose is not to bore a captive audience, but to inspire the mind.

II. Promote Open Mindedness: To work towards the eradication of ignorance; to show that a diverse world exists, and that it can educate in a more complex and interesting way than the classroom.

III. Provide Opportunities for Active Learning: Active learning provides an opportunity to physically create from what has been retained – it proves that education has practical uses.

IV. Displaying High Expectations: Also a parental tool, it incites productivity, and prepares students for the mentality of the real world.

V. Effective Communication: Being sure that information is always accurate, even through over-communication, is beneficial to accomplishing tasks.

VI. Proper Climate Controls: Studies show that climate deficiencies, like dim lighting, temperature extremes, and seating arrangements far from the teacher, are preferences of underachieving students.

VII. Decreasing School Size: The most effective improvement, but also the most expensive. Decreased class size is a common substitute, but not as effective. Small school size creates familiar faces and attitudes, improves sociability, extracurricular participation, and academic achievements.

VIII. Teacher Supervision: Supervision, of especially low-traffic areas, discourages misbehavior and criminal activity.

IX. Cleanliness, Décor, and Landscaping: The school’s environment is a predictor of the student’s feelings about the school. Schools with graffiti covered playgrounds promote bad behavior, but a clean, well-organized, facility contributes to more well behaved students.