Title: Policies and Practices Affecting Students
Headings: Chapter 6. Policies and Practices Affecting Students
Enhancing Student Achievement
by Charlotte Danielson
Chapter 6. Policies and Practices Affecting Students
Relationship to the Framework
A Safe and Positive Environment
A Culture of Hard Work
A Success Orientation
A Culture of Respect and Responsiveness to Clients
Student Leadership and Decision Making
Minimal Competition
A Culture for Learning
Categories of Policies and Practices
Attendance Policies
Discipline Policies
Homework Policies
Grading Policies
Reflective of Student Learning in the Curriculum
Consistency Within a School
Multiple Measures of Student Learning
Grade Inflation
Summary
Rubric for Policies and Practices Affecting Students
Requesting Permission

Content: they are kept waiting by teachers or the principal, they are summoned to the office for mysterious reasons, and they feel that no one ever believes their side of the story. Taken together, the policies and practices in these schools do not produce an environment in which students feel respected as human beings and valued as full participants. Student Leadership and Decision Making
Opportunities for student leadership can help define the culture of a school. These must not be restricted to an elite—there must be broad opportunities for students to develop leadership skills, such as by helping establish the homework guidelines, serving as lab assistants in science, or lending a hand with younger students. Decision making relates more to how policies and procedures are derived than to what they are. Students of all ages value the opportunity to shape the rules by which they live. When they help create the rules, students are more likely to understand the rationale behind them and will comply with them more willingly. In addition, the inclusion of student voices in the decision-making process provides educators with access to a valuable perspective. Rules and procedures are therefore likely to be stronger if students help create them than they would be if mandated by teachers and administrators alone. Minimal Competition
Despite knowing the corrosive effects of competition, many educators continue, largely because of tradition, to create policies and practices that institutionalize competitiveness into the fabric of the school.