Accelerate Philly
DEI & School Climate
Prioritizing DEI to Create an Improved School Climate
Empowering students by providing support and opportunity to transform learning and life outcomes for all
Diversity, equity and inclusion are integral components that intricately weave into the fabric of school climate casting a positive influence on students' learning experiences and outcomes. This presents an inspiring opportunity to embrace culturally responsive, diverse, and inclusive education that nurtures the potential of every student.
The 2021 report published by the School District of Philadelphia illuminates a path forward - demonstrating a need to focus on culturally responsive, diverse and inclusive education for all. The report highlighted that students and support staff felt less positive about DEI topics and students of color, English Learners, and students receiving special education services had lower perceptions of DEI than their peers.
Creating inclusive climates ensures student wellbeing, safety and academic achievement. At present, only 6.9% of schools have high climate scores, however, the path ahead is promising; investing in improved climate will also translate to higher academic achievement.
Creating welcoming and inclusive school environments where students feel respected, and a sense of belonging and safety is crucial to student success and achievement.
SEL & Equity
How SEL Promotes Equity
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a powerful tool to ensure schools are safe,welcoming and healthy for all. Schoolwide implementation of SEL fosters positive mindsets while advancing equity by equipping students with social emotional competencies. When students have strong social emotional competencies, they can develop healthy identities, manage their emotions, achieve goals, show empathy, develop strong relationships, and become responsible and caring people. By fostering SEL, schools lay the foundation for equitable opportunities, as students from diverse backgrounds gain the tools to succeed academically and personally.
Clymb in Philadelphia
How can Clymb help Philly Schools Accelerate Towards their Goals?
Clymb delivers evidence-based, CASEL-aligned content to each student while simultaneously allowing educators and school leadership to monitor progress and growth over time. Clymb has been shown to improve school climate, make students feel more safe as well as improve academic achievement.
Furthermore, Clymb enables schools to center student experience in their DE&I efforts by measuring data on student mood and social emotional competencies. DE&I efforts are not complete without improvement in student experience and Clymb’s data tracking feature can aid in gauging the effective implementation of DEI efforts.
Clymb promotes social emotional wellness thereby prioritizing student needs and outcomes.
Clymb’s Alignment with the Philadelphia Strategic Plan
Clymb supports the following objectives of the ‘Accelerate Philly’ Strategic Plan:
- Priority Area 1
- Guardrail 1
- Guardrail 4
Priority Area 1: Improve Safety and Wellbeing
1.7 Identify, audit and improve school climate programs
1.8: Identify, audit, and improve mental and behavioral health services in partnership with the City of Philadelphia.
Guardrail 1: Every school will be a safe, welcoming and healthy place where our students, staff and community want to be and learn each day. This means that our schools will be: (1) environmentally safe and clean; and (2) spaces with inclusive climates that provide students with access to robust social, emotional, and mental health supports.
Guardrail 4: Our students' potential will not be limited by practices that perpetuate systemic racism and hinder student achievement.
Clymb’s resources support schools to create positive and inclusive school climates as well as promote mental, emotional, physical and academic well being of all students irrespective of race, income, or background.
Additionally, Clymb fits within 2 of 3 evidence-based, school wide social-emotional and restorative climate approaches supported by the District: Schoolwide Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and Culturally Responsive Relevant Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (CR-PBIS) as a Tier 1 intervention.
Tools for Success
- Evidence-based, CASEL-aligned content
- Improves school climate & academic performance
- Data dashboards to monitor progress and inform decisions
- Cultivates employability skills
Discover how Clymb can help your school exceed standards and achieve all your objectives – fill out the form below to start your journey today!
