Does It Matter If Students Experience School as a Place of Community?

• Published in: American journal of orthopsychiatry 2015-11, Vol.85 (6S), p.S79-S85
• Main Authors: Grover, Holly M, Limber, Susan P, Boberiene, Liepa V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent Development; Child development; Childhood Development; Children; Community; Community Attitudes; Community Involvement; Education; Human; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Residence Characteristics; Safety; School environment; Schools; Student Engagement; Students; Students - psychology; Well being; Worship; Youth
• ISSN: 0002-9432; 1939-0025
• DOI: 10.1037/ort0000131

Discusses whether or not it matters if students experience school as a place of community. Although the word community often elicits thoughts of a geographic area, it also denotes relationships among people. Undeniably, family is the first community to which most children belong. However, a growing body of research points to the importance of multiple positive relationships in the lives of children. As children grow and begin to interact more with others, the positive effects that strong families have on children’s development are magnified when children also have strong relationships where they live, learn, worship, and play. In the United States, once children reach school age, they spend more time at school than anywhere else outside the home. As a result, there has been a good deal of interest in understanding the nature of relationships among students, families, and school staff and the importance of these relationships for children and youth. Researchers have used somewhat different terms and constructs to describe these relationships, including school bonding, school connectedness, school engagement, and school climate. We believe that school community captures the essence of these relationships and constructs because members of a community feel that they belong, that they matter to each other, and that their needs will be met through their interactions. Although many schools have environments where the majority of their students feel a sense of school community, a significant proportion of students do not feel that they belong, that they are safe, that they matter to others, and that their needs will be met at school. As schools evaluate current practices, they can improve school-wide and classroom practices to help every child experience a true sense of community that enhances their academic, behavioral, social, and emotional well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)