The concept of "organizational climate" is described briefly in this article; the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire (the most well-known conceptualization and measure of elementary school climate) is evaluated; and the successful refinement and empirical testing of a revised, more parsimonious questionnaire, are discussed.…

Purpose: The aim of this study was two-fold: to demonstrate a general construct of schools called academic optimism and to show it was related to student achievement in urban elementary schools, even controlling for socioeconomic factors, and school size. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 99 urban elementary schools in Texas…

The theory-driven Organizational Health Inventory was compared to the empirically derived Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire in predicting student achievement and teachers' commitment to the school. After controlling for the socioeconomic status of the sampled 58 schools, only academic emphasis contributed significantly to student…

Describes a conceptual framework to measure various school climate aspects, including institutional integrity, initiating structure, consideration, resource support, principal influence, teacher morale, and academic emphasis. The Organization Health Inventory is a 44-item questionnaire asking educators to describe their behavior along a 4-point…

Conceptualizes and develops the OCDQ-RM, a measure of middle schools' organizational climate. Generates a typology of school climates based on openness and tests the relationship between openness and authenticity in teacher and principal behavior. Finds that openness in the school climate is related to authenticity in both teacher and principal…

Three sets of hypotheses served to delineate the focus of this study: (1) the more open the organization climate of the high school, the less custodial the pupil control orientation of the school, (2) the more custodial the pupil control orientation of the school, the greater the total alienation of the students, and (3) the more open the…

The relationship between teacher efficacy and a healthy school climate was examined in a survey of 179 teachers at 37 elementary schools in New Jersey. It was found that a healthy school climate was conducive to the development of teachers' beliefs that they could influence student learning. (MDM)

Although researchers and reformers consider school climate an important aspect of effective schools, the concept is difficult to measure. This paper uses a health metaphor to conceptualize and measure school climate. It examines relationships between school health and student achievement in a sample of New Jersey middle schools. Organizational…

Data collected from 944 teachers in 46 elementary schools revealed that principal authenticity was significantly correlated with teachers' trust in principals, colleagues, and organizations. In addition, all these dimensions of trust were moderately and significantly correlated with each other. (MLF)

Study suggests that one possible way to begin to increase the attractiveness of secondary schools is to open" the climate. (Authors)

Examines importance of a school climate characterized by high levels of academic emphasis. Drawing on effective-schools research and social-cognitive theory, uses hierarchical linear modeling to show that academic emphasis accounts for differences among urban elementary schools in student math and reading achievement. (Contains 48 references.)…

Pilot study testing of the Organizational Health Inventory (OHI), developed to measure the health of schools along seven dimensions of interactions among teachers, students, and administrators, showed positive results supporting the stability of the factor structure, and reliability and validity of the subtests. (Author/CB)