Giving Compass' Take:

• This Getting Smart post explores ways to communicate, develop, and monitor the behaviors essential to creating healthy school culture, always keeping positive reinforcement in mind.

• There's a trial-and-error process detailed here, but gratitude practice has shown results for academic achievement and social integration. How can we incorporate it into education funding?

• Here's why it's also important to let students lead school culture.

Maria* tries to hold back tears halfway through the interview. “Are you ok?” I ask. “Yes,” she says, continuing, “I just didn’t realize some of these people even knew who I was.” I am interviewing Maria about her experience using an online tool that I created called GiveThx, an app that helps students send thank you notes to each other to build relationships. After a long silence, she looks up and finishes, “I feel like they see me–and they actually appreciate the things that I do.”

Maria is a 9th grade student at Leadership Public Schools (LPS) based in Oakland, California, which recently completed a four-week gratitude pilot program using GiveThx. Her words moved me: every student deserves to be seen and appreciated for who they are.

I’ve worn many hats at LPS — first as a teacher, then school administrator, and now innovator in residence. In my time here I have come to believe that school culture, in a word, is about relationships. Walk into any classroom or school hallway and you’ll see community values and behaviors on wall posters, written across whiteboards, and as slogans on team t-shirts. To build healthy peer relationships schools communicate expectations to students with words such as kindness, patience, and inclusivity. For academics, the language shifts to perseverance, curiosity, and honesty.

Read the full article about building school culture with gratitude by Michael Fauteux at Getting Smart.