Bridgeport Public Schools partnered with Hanover to build a data-driven foundation for establishing school climate goals.
Bridgeport Public Schools partnered with Hanover to build a data-driven foundation for establishing school climate goals.
Bridgeport Public Schools (BPS) in Connecticut is committed to research-based continuous improvement practices. The district partnered with Hanover Research to initiate a multifaceted plan to improve student outcomes, starting with a focus on school climate. To establish a baseline, BPS wanted to first understand the current climate and culture before setting any districtwide goals.
In spring of 2024, Cheryl Faga Milo, Director of SEL & Student Affairs, set out to facilitate a listening tour across nearly 40 school sites to hear and observe climate successes and challenges. The goal of the listening tour was to help BPS establish a baseline understanding of current climate conditions across the district.
To accomplish this goal, BPS leadership needed additional capacity to gather input, categorize the data, and analyze the results. Hanover’s partnership with BPS provided a perfect opportunity not only to relieve district staff of this additional work but also ensure an unbiased analysis and fresh recommendations.
Hanover’s team of researchers conducted a custom qualitative document analysis to synthesize and code the climate and culture observational data and interviews that BPS had collected during the listening tour. The team categorized the observations by themes such as:
From these themes, Hanover shared findings and developed a set of recommendations to aid BPS in their future school climate improvement plans. The team also conducted an in-depth interview with Faga Milo to strengthen their understanding of the experiences and perceptions of the school site visits.
The analysis revealed that some schools had implemented meaningful practices such as motivational displays, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and SEL tools, while others had not. This suggested the need for a more cohesive, district-level approach to school climate efforts to ensure consistency and effectiveness.
“Our partnership with Hanover helped us reaffirm that relationships and a sense of belonging for kids is the number one priority for learning and academic growth. Without that across the day, we will have high chronic absenteeism and higher failure rates.”
—Cheryl Faga Milo, Director of SEL & Student Affairs
Find out how to systematically evaluate school climate and SEL initiatives with our Student Well-Being Program Evaluation Checklist
Hanover’s multifaceted approach both extended the district’s capacity and yielded a comprehensive and impartial birds-eye view of the current state of BPS’ climate and culture across its schools. The project also revealed key opportunities to improve student well-being and achievement outcomes. Hanover’s recommendations based on the findings included:
The findings and recommendations provided Bridgeport Public Schools with a clear baseline from which they can establish measurable goals for continued improvement. As they move forward, district leaders continue to partner with Hanover on other impactful improvement projects, including a SEL survey, a family engagement survey, professional learning tools, and resource allocation analyses.
“Hanover presented a creative way to help build capacity by taking a massive but necessary task off our administrators’ plates. This partnership allowed them to focus on other initiatives in the district while getting a non-biased understanding of the school listening tours.”
—Dr. Royce Avery, Acting Superintendent of Schools
The percentage of BPS schools with motivational posters such as college acceptance displays
The percentage of BPS schools with social-emotional displays such as mood meters
The percentage of BPS schools with PBIS elements and messaging
Total student enrollment at Bridgeport Public Schools
Bridgeport Public Schools
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Gain a baseline understanding of school climate and culture to improve student outcomes