This guide helps leaders strengthen school climate steadily instead of leaving it to chance. It is built around a program review rubric, a rating tool that describes climate at four stages from emerging to exemplary, and gives specific leadership moves for whichever stage your program is in. Use it to assess climate across settings, notice patterns, and guide coaching and professional learning around four areas: communication access, respect and inclusion, respect for Deaf knowledge and experience, and leadership accountability. It is designed to move climate from individual effort to shared, lasting practice.
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A checklist leaders use to spot the moments, across instruction, PD, hiring, events, and decisions, when Deaf staff and community expertise should be built in from the start.
A tip sheet leaders use to avoid common missteps, such as tokenism, over-generalizing, or asking one person to speak for all, when drawing on Deaf staff and community expertise.
Read an Odyssey article by Akilah English that explains how ethnicity, gender, and prejudice can shape how students receive their education.