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ERIC Number: EJ1462355
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2159-2020
EISSN: EISSN-2161-1505
Available Date: 2023-12-21
Measuring School Climate as a Component of School Capacity
Jenna Howard Terrell1; Christopher C. Henrich2; Ryan Miskell1; Amanda Nabors1; Kathryn Grogan1; Joseph McCrary1
Contemporary School Psychology, v29 n1 p70-82 2025
State and local education agencies continue to make an effort to systematically assess school climate through student surveys. These assessments typically collect data from individual students about their perceptions of different components of the school and their relationship to individuals in the school and aggregate those responses to the school level. To date, few researchers have examined the extent to which aggregating students' perceptions of climate is a valid and reliable way to understand climate as a characteristic of the school. If this hypothesis is true, there are opportunities for school and district leaders to use this information to improve and sustain school climate practices. This study used middle and high school-grade student-level responses from the Georgia Student Health Survey and tested the extent to which the different dimensions of school climate varied across school and were associated with school behavioral data. Our findings suggest that student perceptions of climate are multi-dimensional at the student level at the student level, but not necessarily at the school level. Indeed, school climate appears to be uni-dimensional at the school level and is robustly associated with administrator-reported behavioral data. This study supports efforts to include student perceptions of school climate and school climate ratings as valid assessments of school climate. School and district leaders can use school climate ratings as a valid way to measure, improve, and sustain practices that build capacity and support school improvement.
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 2015CKBXK001
Author Affiliations: 1WestEd, San Francisco, USA; 2University of Alabama-Birmingham, Birmingham, USA