Reginald Leon Green’s research article, “Nurturing Characteristics in Schools Related to Discipline, Attendance, and Eighth Grade Proficiency Test Scores,” explores the importance of educational environments possessing nurturing characteristics and provides lessons that build off of Boss and Larmer’s recommendations for managing activities in Project-Based Teaching (2018). Green references various studies that analyzes different schools in all different environments, to include urban, rural, and suburban. He wants to find evidence that supports that the new school reforms, with the onset of concepts like Expeditionary Learning and Project Based Learning, miss out on emphasizing the importance of nurturing in a student’s learning development.

Green found schools that possessed an environment that students and teachers deem more nurturing, tended to perform better on standardized testing and student behavior. Specifically, the studies assessed nurturing through looking at the relationship between students and teachers, the surrounding environment, the professionalism of the administration and faculty, and the student’s feelings about themselves. And those schools that scored well in each of these categories, from 1 to 4, seemed to serve as more productive educational environments. In the end, An analysis of the data comparing the five most nurturing schools with the five least nurturing, utilizing the measurements referred to previously, revealed a significant difference between the two groups of schools on their ranked proficiency test scores, however, not in terms of student behavior.

In conclusion, Green’s research emphasizes the importance of nurturing in today’s evolving educational environment. He provides suggestions for each characteristic as well. Explicitly, past research shows that in order to develop a positive relationship between student and teacher, the teacher must establish trust with the student. For the surrounding environment, the teacher should stay persistent in getting to know the students and providing the administration ways to mold the environment in ways that may enhance each student’s learning. Additionally, constant professionalism is required in all interaction in order to set an example for students, which assists in developing mutual respect. Lastly, ensure to create a solid balance between pushing and rewarding students throughout the learning process to mediate any feelings of failure or discouragement in students. Teachers may want to ask themselves on a daily basis, am I engaging to the best of my ability with my students? No teacher is perfect, however, constant self reminders for a teacher may end up making all the difference in the educational journey of a young student.

Work Cited:

Green, Reginald Leon. “Nurturing Characteristics In Schools Related to Discipline, Attendance, and Eighth Grade Proficiency Test Scores.” American Secondary Education 26, no. 4 (1998): 7-14.