One of the most important correlates of an instructionally effective school is its climate. Effective schools have an atmosphere that denotes a safe and orderly environment, without being oppressive and where conditions exist that are conducive to learning. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development has identified a set of questions to be used in the assessment of school climate, climate being broadly defined here to cover academic emphasis, orderly environment, and expectations for success. The questions are grouped to indicate the contributions of each set of participants in a healthy school: students, teachers, and principals. In the pluralistic public schools of today, the challenge is to create a school climate that recognizes and validates the presence of each ethnic or cultural group within the school. It is vital that teachers and principals avoid two assumptions about culturally different learners: (1) that they are able to abandon their values, traditions, language, and behaviors when they enter the school: and (2) that they feel truly part of the school when it fails to acknowledge their heritage, portrays them as a conquered people, offers few role models, and provides few professionals committed to the advancement of the culturally different. (The remainder of the paper outlines the role of the principal and the teacher within multicultural educational environments, and offers special advice on instructing students of low socioeconomic status). (KH)