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Psychometric Properties of an Instrument to Measure Social and Pedagogical School Climate Among Teachers (PESOC)
Abstract
This study investigated the psychometric properties of a teacher-reported version of a Swedish school climate instrument called the Pedagogical and Social Climate (PESOC), which consists of 95 items covering cultural, structural and social factors. A sample of 348 teachers from 19 Swedish secondary schools was used. Multilevel confirmatory factor analysis conducted within a structural equation modelling framework indicated that the PESOC had a two-factor structure at the teacher level and a one-factor at the school level. The PESOC’s convergent validity was supported by the school-level correlations between PESOC and another established instrument (i.e., the Team Climate Inventory). Further validation studies of PESOC are needed with larger, more representative samples, and with information on important outcomes such as student achievement and wellbeing.
... The PESOC teacher version (T-PESOC) includes 67 items grouped according to 13 dimensions (subscales) labelled as TE = Teachers expectations for students' behaviour and academic performance, PTA = Perceived teacher agreement about school goals, norms, and rules, SF = Student focus, BA = Basic assumptions about students' ability to learn, HOME = Communication between school and home, TC = teacher interaction and cooperation, TPD = teachers' confidence and professional development, TA = Teaching activities, EV = Evaluation of students' academic progress, P = Principal's pedagogical leadership, SM = Teachers' perception the school management's involvement and support of teachers.. The reliability and validity of the instrument have been investigated by Hultin and colleagues (Hultin et al., 2018), to which we refer for further details. The model-based composite reliabilities for PESOC subscale scores, as indexed by Raykov's rho (Raykov, 2012) ranged from .69 to .94. ...
... The multi-level confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) indicated that a two-factor model at the teacher level and a one-factor model at the school level provided the best fit. The second factor in the model (labelled as "Pedagogical activities and social relationships"), included the three subscales explored in this study (Hultin et al., 2018). ...
... This tendency was also observed in this study, in which teachers gave higher average climate scores than students. Indeed, in the cited study by Hultin et al. (2018) there was a poor correlation between the two climate ratings. It is possible that the teachers' instrument includes perspectives (for instance, cohesion between teaching personnel) that are somewhat more distal with respect to students' perceptions and corresponding behaviours. ...
While individual and family factors behind students’ school absenteeism are well-researched, fewer studies have addressed school climate factors. This study investigated the association between school climate in Swedish schools and students’ absenteeism. A multi-informant survey of school climate was conducted in 101 schools and analysed in relation to the history of absenteeism of 2770 students attending those schools in the 7th grade at inception, with follow-up until completion of the compulsory school (9th grade). Data on absenteeism was extracted from schools’ registers. Student (but not teacher) positive ratings of school climate were associated with lower absenteeism between the age of 13 and the age of 16. The associations between student rated school climate and absenteeism appeared stronger among students with highly educated parents.
... Early research into school effectiveness found that academic results and school adaptation among students could be explained not only by students' genetic abilities and social factors, but also by factors relating to the organization of the school and leadership (Brookover, Beady, Flood, Schweitzer, & Wisenbaker, 1979;Edmonds, 1979;Rutter, Maugham, Mortimore, Ousten, & Smith, 1979;Sammons, Thomas, & Mortimore, 1997;Weber, 1971). Sammons et al. (1997) showed that student achievement was associated with strong pedagogical leadership, evidenced by a focus on pedagogical issues, high visibility to staff and students, interest in monitoring and evaluating students' progress, and emphasis on staff collaboration and involvement, as well as encouraging involvement of parents and providing feedback to them (Hultin et al., 2016). ...
... PESOC is available in Swedish and consists of 13 sub scales 1 of which the pedagogical leadership of the principal is one (hereafter called the PLP-scale). PESOC was developed by Grosin (2004) and is based on a summation of the empirical results of research on school effectiveness, adapted for the Swedish school context (Hultin et al., 2016). PESOC rests on the assumption that the school's social and pedagogical climate includes the expectations and norms of the principal, school management and teachers, as well as perception of the school's purpose, capabilities and limitations and the consequent actions towards students, colleagues and parents (Grosin, 2002). ...
... PESOC rests on the assumption that the school's social and pedagogical climate includes the expectations and norms of the principal, school management and teachers, as well as perception of the school's purpose, capabilities and limitations and the consequent actions towards students, colleagues and parents (Grosin, 2002). A Swedish study found that a shorter version of PESOC showed good convergent validity with the Team Climate Inventory (Hultin et al., 2016) supporting the use and further development of the instrument, with promising psychometric properties. The same study using a shorter version of PESOC indicated that the PESOC had a two-factor structure; School leadership including two subscales containing items regarding the support and management of the school board and regarding the pedagogical leadership of the principal. ...
Improving school effectiveness is a priority for many countries. The Swedish instrument Pedagogical and Social Climate in School (PESOC) has been widely used for measurement of school improvement. Since pedagogical leadership is an important component of school effectiveness, this study aimed to describe the psychometric properties of the PESOC subscale of pedagogical leadership (PESOC-PLP). Participants were 344 teachers from 30 schools in Karlstad, Sweden. Rasch analysis indicated two subdimensions of the scale, corresponding to academic and social objectives. Analysis showed that the instrument worked invariantly across different sub groups and that the response categories functioned as intended. Small, if any, within-school response dependence was noted. PESOC-PLP may be a useful tool for school leaders when evaluating their success in fulfilling academic and social objectives. Given the global demand for measurement of school leadership, also researchers and educators outside Sweden may have interest in translating and adapting the PESOC-PLP scale.
... Given that very few recent studies have endeavored to develop reliable and valid instruments to assess teachers' perceptions of school climate (Becerra, 2016;Anwar & Anis-ul-haque, 2014;Hultin et al., 2016;Liu et al., 2014). These studies, however, have had major limitations that need to be addressed through further investigation. ...
... As Thapa et al. (2013) point out, U.S. Department of Education's model disregards leadership, relationships, and teaching and learning, which are major school climate dimensions documented in literature (Cohen et al., 2009;National School Climate Center (NSCC), 2015). In addition, this study substantiates the instruments provided by previous researchers that can be utilized to assess teachers' perceptions of school climate (Becerra, 2016;Anwar & Anis-ul-haque, 2014;Hultin et al., 2016;Liu et al., 2014). In contrast with previous studies, this study has established construct validity and reliability for five school climate dimensions using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) which is the structural equation modeling approach. ...
This study sought to devise a reliable and validated measurement scale
to evaluate teachers’ perceptions of school climate. The study sample consisted of
379 teachers working in Awi district public primary schools, Ethiopia. Measurement
scale had five latent factors (school climate dimensions) and 26 indicators (items).
The coefficient alpha values for internal consistency of items and the factor rho
coefficients showed high reliability of the measurement scale. The Confirmatory
Factor Analysis (CFA) was carried out to validate the measurement scale by deter�mining the convergent and discriminant validity among five school climate dimen�sions. Average variance extracted (AVE) values showed adequate convergent
validity of school climate dimensions. The discriminant validity across school cli�mate dimensions was established using shared variance and heterotrait–monotrait
ratio of correlations (HTMT) methods, which indicated that the five school climate
dimensions are distinctively different from one another. Results revealed that the
school climate is found to be a multidimensional concept with five-factor solution
comprising 26 reliable and valid items that can be used to assess teachers’ per�ceptions of school climate in different contexts. It is suggested that the future researcher can apply multi-group and multilevel confirmatory factor analysis to
enhance the applicability of the measurement scale across countries.
... In Model 3, the student-level eight-factor structure was retained. However, based primarily on prior theory and research and informed by instrument development with the teacher edition of PESOC (Hultin et al., 2016), a two-factor school-climate structure was specified. The first factor was Administration Climate. ...
... As mentioned above, the student edition of PESOC is meant to be used together with the teacher edition, as an integrated measure of school climate. A psychometric evaluation of the teacher edition of PESOC has recently been published (Hultin et al., 2016). Students and teachers are structurally different from each other and as such their perception of school climate is likely to be affected by their role in the school. ...
Previous studies indicate that school climate is important for student health and academic achievement. This study concerns the validity and reliability of the student edition a Swedish instrument for measuring pedagogical and social school climate (PESOC). Data were collected from 5,745 students at 97 Swedish secondary schools. Multilevel confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and multilevel composite reliability estimates, as well as correlations with school-level achievement indicators, were calculated. The results supported an 8-factor structure at the student level and 1 general factor at the school level. Factor loadings and composite reliability estimates were acceptable at both levels. The school-level factor was moderately and positively correlated with school-level academic achievement. The student PESOC is a promising instrument for studying school climate.
... Clustered data are those that can be classified into a number of distinct groups within a study, and our analysis considers the fact that it is critical to take data clustering into account (Sally, James, & Bryce, 2010). In addition, in line with prior work (Hultin et al., 2015) and to provide a stronger evidence of PESOC factorial structure, we tested a two-factor model (Factor 1 = expectations for students, unity among teachers, approach to students, basic assumptions about students' ability to learn, school–home relations, teacher cooperation, teachers' professional development, teaching activities, evaluation of students; Factor 2 = principal's pedagogical leadership and school management ). This model showed a slightly improved and acceptable fit with a bi-dimensional factor structure, χ 2 (43, N = 306) = 106.79, ...
... We also performed chi-square difference test, indicating that the second " larger " model with more freely estimated parameters fits the data better than the first " smaller " model (Kline, 1998). Therefore, we opted for a two-factor model also in line with prior psychometric investigations on the instrument (Hultin et al., 2015). ...
This study evaluated the factorial structure of the Pedagogical and Social Climate in School (PESOC) questionnaire among 307 teachers in Bulgaria. The teacher edition of PESOC consists of eleven scales (i.e., Expectations for students (ES), Unity among teachers (U), Approach to students (AS), Basic assumptions about students’ ability to learn (BA), School-home relations (SH), Teacher cooperation (TC), Teachers’ professional development (TD), Teaching activities (T), Student valuation (SE), Principal’s pedagogical leadership (PL) and School management (SM). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) conducted with structural equation modeling supported a bi-dimensional factor model (Students and Teachers; School Leadership and Management). School climate indicators were also significantly and positively correlated. PESOC is an asset to the literature on assessment of school climate with evidence for factorial validity and reliability in an under researched international context.
... Det er anvendt en skala om skolens miljø utviklet av Sørlie & Nordahl (1998) med bakgrunn i Grosins (1991,2004) validerte måleinstrument om skolens klima (Hultin et al., 2018). Skalaen består i sin helhet av 15 spørsmål. ...
Denne fjerde NAFOL-boken er nok et viktig bidrag til kunnskapsfeltet om og for lærerutdanningen. Som tidligere NAFOL-bøker inneholder den en samling av forskningsartikler om verdi og validitet i lærerutdanningsforskning som krysser nasjonale grenser, fagdisipliner og ikke minst utdanningsnivå, fra barnehage til videregående og forskeropplæringen. Med artikler fra England, Østerrike, Italia, Island og Norge gir boken et innblikk i dagens internasjonale lærerutdanningsforskning, særlig med tanke på at data er hentet inn fra Hviterussland og hele Europa. Også i denne boken har vi valgt å beholde originalspråket artiklene er skrevet på, og det er med glede vi ser at flere norske forskere melder seg inn i det internasjonale forskningsmiljøet ved å skrive på engelsk. Samtidig er det viktig å ivareta det norske språket i forskningsformidlingen, og denne boken søker etter å finne en balanse mellom internasjonal og nasjonal formidling. Det er et stort mangfold både i forskningstematikken og forskningsmetoder, noe som preger forskningsfeltet. NAFOL står sentralt i denne positive utviklingen med sine vel 200 tidligere og nåværende stipendiater. NAFOL-bøkene, og ikke minst denne boken, gir et godt bilde av dagens lærerutdanningsforskning. NAFOLs arbeid og bidrag til lærerutdanningsforskning er kjent langt utover Norge, og denne boken symboliserer den internasjonale dialogen om lærerutdanningsforskning som NAFOL aktivt deltar i. Boken er en unik kilde for forskere som ønsker å holde seg oppdatert om norsk og internasjonal lærerutdanningsforskning.
... The PESOC instrument has two versions: one capturing the teachers' perspective, and one assessing the students' perspective. Both versions have previously shown high validity and reliability Hultin et al. 2016Hultin et al. , 2018. ...
Background
High academic aspirations relate to higher achievement and better mental health, but less is known about how these aspirations are formed in relation to the educational context.
Objective
This study aims to investigate the relationship between overall school climate, with particular concern for the dimensions of school level expectations and support as rated by both teachers and students and adolescent academic aspirations.
Methods
Multilevel logistic models for repeated measures were used in order to investigate the relationship between measures of school climate and adolescents’ academic aspirations. Three annual waves of questionnaire data were used to obtain aggregated teacher- and student-rating of school climate, including specific dimensions of teacher expectations and support.
Results
Positive teacher-rated overall school climate was associated with an increased odds of adolescents aiming at a university education rather than at a lower one (adjusted OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.14–1.63 for the intermediate tertile; OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.14–1.70 for the highest tertile). A similar trend was found for the teacher-rated measures of expectations and student focus, but not for any of the student-rated school climate measures.
Conclusion
A positive school climate rated by teachers appears to predict adolescents’ university aspirations. Future research should clarify which aspects of the school climate may influence adolescent academic aspirations from the students’ perspective.
... [52][53][54][55] With PESOC, school climate is assessed through 2 key informants, teachers and students, with separate complementary instruments. Hultin et al. 56,57 performed psychometric analyses of the 2 PESOC editions, which have led to further revisions, resulting in a student and teacher version of the instrument with good reliability and validity. Previous studies by Grosin 51 indicated that subscales of PESOC were associated with school-level indicators of sociodemographic characteristics. ...
BACKGROUND
Bullying is a public health issue with long‐term effects for victims. This study investigated if there was an association between pedagogical and social school climate and student‐reported bullying victimization, which dimensions of pedagogical and social school climate were associated with bullying, and if these associations were modified by individual‐level social factors.
METHODS
The study had a cross‐sectional multilevel design with individual‐level data on bullying from 3311 students nested in 94 schools over 3 consecutive school years. School climate was measured with student and teacher questionnaires, aggregated at the school level. The association between school climate and bullying victimization was estimated with multilevel mixed‐model logistic regression.
RESULTS
In schools with the most favorable school climate, fewer students reported being bullied. This was especially evident when school climate was measured with the student instrument. Students in schools with favorable climate had an adjusted odds ratio of bullying of 0.74 (95% CI: 0.55‐1.00) compared to students in schools with the worst climate. Results from the teacher instrument were in the same direction, but less consistent.
CONCLUSIONS
Improvement in school climate has the potential to affect students both academically, and socially, as well as decrease the prevalence of bullying.
... The schools' pedagogic and social climate was assessed using the teacher and the student version of the Pedagogical and Social Climate (PESOC) Questionnaire [26][27][28]. Mental health was ascertained using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) and the self-reported and parent versions of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). More information about these four questionnaires is provided in Additional file 1. ...
Background:
School is one of the most formative institutions for adolescents' development, but whether school environment affects mental health is uncertain. We investigated the association between the school's pedagogical and social climate and individual-level mental health in adolescence.
Methods:
We studied 3416 adolescents from 94 schools involved in KUPOL, a longitudinal study conducted in eight regions in Sweden. School climate was reported by the school's teaching personnel and by the final year students using the teacher and the student versions of the Pedagogical and Social Climate Questionnaire, respectively. Index persons' mental health was assessed with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. We performed multilevel logistic regression models adjusted for individual, familial and school-level confounders measured in grade 7 and exposure and outcome measured in grades 8 and 9.
Results:
The adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals comparing the middle and the high to the lowest tertile of the total teacher school climate score were 1.47 (1.10-1.97) and 1.52 (1.11-2.09) for depressive symptoms and 1.50 (1.08-2.08) and 1.64 (1.16-2.33) for the total strengths and difficulties score. In contrast, there was no association between total student school climate score and mental health.
Conclusions:
We found that teacher-, but not student-rated school climate was associated with an increased risk of poor mental health at the student level; the association was most pronounced for internalizing problems. Given schools' importance for adolescents' development, further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying the observed association.
... Sample items were "Our principal has high demands and expectations for pupil academic results", "There is a high degree of unity among teachers regarding the schools goals", "Parents are always informed if a child behaves badly in school", "I have the support of my colleagues in selecting teaching content and methods", "In this school you feel that you can develop as an educator." The validity and reliability of the PESOC have been explored in large teacher samples covering several regions in Sweden (Carlson 2004;Hultin et al. 2016) supporting a very good validity and reliability as an unidimensional measure of school climate. Good factorial validity and reliability of PESOC as an unidimensional measure of school climate was also documented in a Bulgarian teacher sample with alpha of .97 ...
Background
School climate can promote students’ academic achievement and high educational aspirations. School climate refers to the quality and character of school life, norms, values, social interactions and organizational processes within a school.
Objective
We examined for the present sample whether (a) school climate relates to academic achievement and educational aspirations and (b) such relations vary for Roma minority compared to their majority peers.
Method
Participants in this cross-sectional study were 356 adolescents aged 11–19 years old (159 Roma, 197 Bulgarian majority), 332 mothers (149 Roma, 183 majority), 231 fathers (104 Roma, 127 majority) and 221 majority teachers who completed self-report surveys to address the study goals. Adolescents provided data on educational aspirations and academic achievement, parents on their children’s educational aspirations and teachers reported on school climate. We employed linear mixed models to explore associations of school climate, academic achievement and educational aspirations among Roma and Bulgarian majority youth.
Results
There were negative associations between teacher-reported school climate and students’ academic achievement, as well as adolescent and parental educational aspirations for Roma adolescents only. Roma adolescents and parents reported lower academic achievement and educational aspirations than their majority counterparts.
Conclusions
This study supports the relevance of school climate in relation to academic achievement and aspirations of disadvantaged minority students. Interventions should pay close attention to perceptions and attitudes in a school to successfully promote positive outcomes among students.
... There are eight such domains in the student instrument and eleven in the teacher instrument. A comprehensive psychometric analysis of the PESOC instruments is under publication [7,8]. ...
Background:
Longitudinal studies indicate strong associations between school proficiency and indicators of mental health throughout adulthood, but the mechanisms of such associations are not fully elucidated. The Kupol study is a prospective cohort study in Sweden set up in order to: (i) describe the association of school pedagogic and social environment and its specific dimensions with the risk of mental ill-health and psychiatric disorders in adolescence; (ii) evaluate the direct effects of school pedagogic and social environment on mental health and the effects mediated by the individual's academic achievements; and (iii) assess if school pedagogic and social environment are associated with mental ill-health through epigenetic mechanisms, in particular those involving genes regulating the response to stress.
Methods:
The Kupol cohort at baseline consists of 3959 children attending the 7th grade of compulsory school (13-14 years old) in 8 regions of central Sweden in the school years 2013-2014 or 2014-2015. Three follow-up surveys in subsequent years are planned. Teachers' and students' perceptions of the culture, climate and ethos of their schools, and students' mental ill-health are assessed at the whole school level by annual questionnaire surveys. In order to conduct epigenetic analyses saliva specimens are collected from a nested sample of students at inception and two years later. Further, class-, family- and child-level information is collected at baseline and during each year of follow-up. Self-reported information is being complemented with register data via record-linkages to national and regional health and administrative registers.
Discussion:
The topic being investigated is new, and the sample constitutes the largest adolescent cohort in Sweden involved in an ad hoc study. Epigenetic analyses centered on environmental cues to stress response are a thoroughly new approach. Finally a notable feature is the multi-informant and multi-method data collection, with surveys at the school, class, family, and student level. Collaboration and data access: interested investigators should contact the coordinating centre. Additional information is available on the study's website, http://kupolstudien.se/ .
Overordnet del av læreplanverket (LK20) gir uttrykk for at lærere skal være aktivt deltakende i profesjonelle læringsfellesskap med den hensikt å utvikle et innovativt og faglig lærersamarbeid som bidrar til økt lærerkompetanse og forbedret undervisningspraksis. Denne studien legger til grunn en retningsbestemt hypotese om at læreres tilhørighet i profesjonelle læringsfellesskap og deres profesjonstilfredshet påvirker deres undervisningspraksis. Studien er en tverrsnittstudie bestående av varians- og regresjonsanalyser av lærervurderte variabler fra 20 barneskoler i tidligere Hedmark fylke. Resultatene viser at lærere vurderer sin undervisningspraksis som relativt god, uavhengig av styrken de tillegger det profesjonelle læringsfellesskapet. Læreres vurdering av sin profesjonstilfredshet betyr mer enn profesjonelle læringsfellesskap når det gjelder deres vurdering av sin undervisningspraksis. Studien avdekker likevel noen mønstre og sammenhenger som kan tyde på at profesjonelle læringsfellesskap har betydning, og at studiens hypotese til dels kan bekreftes. Det er sterkere gjensidig forklaringskraft mellom variablene i skoler hvor lærere oppfatter at det er sterke profesjonelle læringsfellesskap. I disse skolene kan læreres vurdering av profesjonelle læringsfellesskap og egen profesjonstilfredshet sammen i større grad forklare deres vurdering av egen undervisningspraksis, sammenlignet med skoler hvor profesjonelle læringsfellesskap vurderes som svake. Det er vesentlig å forstå utvikling av profesjonelle læringsfellesskap som noe mer enn å redusere den privatpraktiserende lærers innflytelse. Det handler også i stor grad om å utfordre og endre både kollektive og individuelle verdier, oppfatninger og handlingsmønstre. Skolekulturen har sannsynligvis betydning for hvordan man opptrer som enkeltlærer i møte med elevene.
Las dinámicas de los contextos educativos son el resultado de la interacción de un cúmulo de factores que interactúa entre estudiantes, maestros, personal administrativo y padres de familia. La percepción de cada uno de los actores educativos sobre aspectos como la representación de la escuela, sus condiciones organizativas, las relaciones e interacciones, los procesos de convivencia y el ambiente, entre otros, da origen a las particularidades del clima escolar (ce) de la escuela, el cual define el escenario que caracteriza un contexto educativo.
Recientemente se ha evidenciado un creciente interés en el proceso de medición del ce, dando lugar al desarrollo de nuevos instrumentos, lo que implica que es necesario considerar sus propiedades psicométricas adecuadas al contexto específico de la evaluación (Ramelow, Currie y Felder, 2015). En este sentido, buena parte de la importancia de la evaluación del ce se ve representada en la posibilidad de recoger percepciones y aspectos objetivos de distintos actores del contexto educativo que caracterizan sus interacciones (Aron, Milicic y Armijo, 2012).
El presente capítulo da cuenta de algunas características que definen y evalúan el ce, y describe las dimensiones que han sido incluidas para el análisis y la medición del constructo, destacando el poco desarrollo de la dimensión ambiental en la investigación. Además, resalta la importancia del ambiente como determinante del ce y realiza una aproximación a algunos aspectos de la evaluación de las condiciones espaciales y los rasgos ambientales en las escuelas. Finalmente, se proponen direcciones a tener en cuenta en la investigación de los aspectos ambientales del ce.
El objetivo de este estudio era realizar una revisión sistemática sobre evaluación pos ocupación (POE) en educación
Goodness-of-fit (GOF) indexes provide "rules of thumb"—recommended cutoff values for assessing fit in structural equation modeling. Hu and Bentler (1999) proposed a more rigorous approach to evaluating decision rules based on GOF indexes and, on this basis, proposed new and more stringent cutoff values for many indexes. This article discusses potential problems underlying the hypothesis-testing rationale of their research, which is more appropriate to testing statistical significance than evaluating GOF. Many of their misspecified models resulted in a fit that should have been deemed acceptable according to even their new, more demanding criteria. Hence, rejection of these acceptable-misspecified models should have constituted a Type 1 error (incorrect rejection of an "acceptable" model), leading to the seemingly paradoxical results whereby the probability of correctly rejecting misspecified models decreased substantially with increasing N. In contrast to the application of cutoff values to evaluate each solution in isolation, all the GOF indexes were more effective at identifying differences in misspecification based on nested models. Whereas Hu and Bentler (1999) offered cautions about the use of GOF indexes, current practice seems to have incorporated their new guidelines without sufficient attention to the limitations noted by Hu and Bentler (1999).
In recent years, structural changes to the school system, including the introduction of independent schools, have increased school choice alternatives in Sweden. Consequently, a large share of today’s students attend a school other than the one closest to home. Since the compulsory school system is designed to be free of charge and to offer the same standard of education everywhere, increasing school choice– hypothetically—should not increase the between-school variation in grades. In reality, however, between-school variation in grades has increased in recent years. The aim of this paper is to test whether increasing between-school variance can be explained by changes in residential patterns, or if it must be attributed to structural change. Using a counterfactual approach, the students’ variations in grades are compared between observed schools of graduation and hypothetical schools of graduation. The multilevel results indicate that school choice seems to increase between-school variation of grades.
For more than a century, there has been a growing interest in school climate. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute for Educational Sciences, a growing number of State Departments of Education, foreign educational ministries, and UNICEF have focused on school climate reform as an evidence-based school improvement strategy that supports students, parents/guardians, and school personnel learning and working together to create ever safer, more supportive and engaging K–12 schools. This work presents an integrative review on school climate research. The 206 citations used in this review include experimental studies, correlational studies, literature reviews, and other descriptive studies. The review focuses on five essential dimensions of school climate: Safety, Relationships, Teaching and Learning, Institutional Environment, and the School Improvement Process. We conclude with a critique of the field and a series of recommendations for school climate researchers and policymakers.
Researchers have been challenged to go beyond socioeconomic status in the search for school-level characteristics that make a difference in student achievement. The purpose of the present study was to identify a new construct, academic optimism, and then use it to explain student achievement while controlling for socioeconomic status, previous achievement, and urbanicity. The study focused on a diverse sample of 96 high schools. A random sample of teachers from each school provided data on the school’s academic optimism, and student achievement scores and demographic characteristics were obtained from the state department of education. A confirmatory factor analysis and hypothesis tests were conducted simultaneously via structural equation modeling. As predicted, academic optimism made a significant contribution to student achievement after controlling for demographic variables and previous achievement. The findings support the critical nature of academic optimism.
Background/Context
Educators have written about and studied school climate for 100 years. School climate refers to the quality and character of school life. School climate is based on patterns of people's experiences of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures. However, school climate is more than individual experience: It is a group phenomenon that is larger than any one person's experience. A sustainable, positive school climate fosters youth development and learning necessary for a productive, contributive, and satisfying life in a democratic society. This climate includes norms, values, and expectations that support people feeling socially, emotionally, and physically safe. People are engaged and respected. Students, families, and educators work together to develop, live, and contribute to a shared school vision. Educators model and nurture an attitude that emphasizes the benefits of, and satisfaction from, learning. Each person contributes to the operations of the school and the care of the physical environment. School climate refers to spheres of school life (e.g. safety, relationships, teaching and learning, the environment) as well as to larger organizational patterns (e.g., from fragmented to cohesive or “shared” vision, healthy or unhealthy, conscious or unrecognized). These definitions were collaboratively developed and agreed upon at a consensus-building meeting of national practice and policy leaders organized in April 2007 by the National Center for Learning and Citizenship, Education Commission of the States, and the Center for Social and Emotional Education.
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study
This article examines the relationship between school-climate-related research findings on the one hand and educational policy, school improvement practice, and teacher education on the other.
Research Design
This article uses several research methods to understand the current state of school climate research, policy, practice, and teacher education: historical analysis, a review of the literature, a national State Department of Education policy scan, and a national survey (N = 40) of building, district, and state educational leaders about school climate measurement and improvement practices.
Findings/Results
A review of the literature reveals that a growing body of empirical research indicates that positive school climate is associated with and/or predictive of academic achievement, school success, effective violence prevention, students’ healthy development, and teacher retention. There is a glaring gap between these research findings on the one hand, and state departments of education, school climate policy, practice guidelines, and teacher education practice on the other.
Conclusions/Recommendations
We detail how the gap between school climate research, policy, practice, and teacher education is socially unjust and a violation of children's human rights. We now have research-based guidelines that predictably support positive youth development and student learning. If we do so, we are supporting children, educators, parents, communities, and the foundation for democratic process, but as a country, we are not doing so. Our children deserve better. A series of detailed recommendations are suggested for policy makers, practice leaders, and teacher educators to narrow this gap and support student's healthy development and capacity to learn.
Purpose
– A growing body of research connecting the quality of school facilities to student performance accompanies recent efforts to improve the state of the educational infrastructure in the USA. Less is known about the mechanisms of these relationships. This paper seeks to examine the proposition that part of the explanation may be the mediating influence of school climate.
Design/methodology/approach
– Teachers from 80 Virginia middle schools were surveyed employing measures including the School Climate Index, a seven‐item quality of school facilities scale, as well as three resource support items. Data on student SES and achievement were also gathered. Bivariate correlational analysis was used to explore the relationships between the quality of facilities, resource support, school climate, student SES, and student achievement. In addition, multiple regression was used to test school climate as a mediating variable between the quality of facilities and student achievement.
Findings
– Results confirmed a link between the quality of school facilities and student achievement in English and mathematics. As well, quality facilities were significantly positively related to three school climate variables. Finally, results confirmed the hypothesis that school climate plays a mediating role in the relationship between facility quality and student achievement.
Originality/value
– As we face fundamental issues of equity across schools and districts, leaders struggle to convince taxpayers of the need to invest in replacing and/or renovating inadequate facilities. Deeper understandings of the complicated interplay between the physical and social environments of school, and how these dynamics influence student outcomes, may help educators build a compelling case.
This study's purpose is to examine the existing school climate literature in an attempt to constitute its definition from a historical context and to create a valid and reliable student-reported school climate instrument. Five historically common school climate domains and five measurement tools were identified, combined, and previewed by the target audience to determine face validity. The final student sample (N = 2,049) was randomly split into exploratory and confirmatory samples and subjected to factor analytic and structural equation modeling techniques. Factor analysis results confirmed an eight-factor solution (loadings with absolute values > .40). Item factor loadings ranged from .42 to .87. Coefficient alphas ranged from .65 to .91. Preliminary analyses support the reliability and validity of the instrument. This is the first study to balance historical precedent (what to measure) and modern scale development procedures (e.g., structural equation modeling) into a single attempt to measure school climate. Implications and potential uses are discussed.
The structure of perceived school climate and the relationship of climate dimensions to adaptation were examined in a large-scale multi-year investigation of students who attend middle-grade-level schools. Analyses of the structure, reliability, interrater convergence, and stability of school climate ratings were conducted in a large-scale sample of over 105,000 students in 188 schools. The climate scales exhibited a stable dimensional structure, high levels of internal consistency, and moderate levels of stability over 1- and 2-year time intervals. The relationship between climate ratings and students' adjustment was examined in 3 increasingly large samples of schools and students that were collected during successive years of this project. Ratings of multiple climate dimensions were associated consistently with indexes of academic, behavioral, and socioemotional adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A positive school climate is an important component of successful and effective schools and thus is often an aim of schoolwide initiatives. Climate has traditionally been conceptualized as a school-level factor and is often assumed to be related to other school-level factors (e.g., school size). The current study examines variation in perceptions of climate based on individual-, classroom-, and school-level factors to determine the influence of predictors at multiple levels. Data come from 2,468 5th graders from 37 public elementary schools. Two aspects of students' perception of school climate, order and discipline, and achievement motivation are examined. Multilevel analyses in hierarchical linear modeling indicate that individual-level factors (race and sex) accounted for the largest proportion of variance in perceptions of school climate. School-level factors (e.g., school size and faculty turnover) and several classroomlevel factors (e.g., characteristics of the teacher, class size, and the concentration of students with behavior problems) were also significant predictors of perceptions of climate. These findings suggest that characteristics of the classroom environment are important to consider when aiming to improve school climate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Schools differ widely in the social composition of their intakes meaning that children from more affluent families tend to be educated separately from those less affluent. For these reasons admissions have been increasingly subject to regulation by successive Codes. This research investigates whether changes to the School Admissions Code in 2003 and 2007 concerning school admission arrangements appear to have had direct effects on the published admissions policies and the social composition of particular schools. The effect of these changes in the Code have been indirectly captured by three surveys of school admissions brochures carried out by teams at the LSE (for 2001 and 2008 entry) and Sheffield Hallam University (for 2006 entry). Whilst changes in admissions have been described by researchers, to date these three databases of admissions policies and procedures have not been analysed alongside each other.
Psychosocial climate at school reported by school personnel may be related to pupils' reports of being heard at school, depression, physical and psychological symptoms, truancy and received health education.
Cross-sectional study combining data from two independent surveys conducted between 2004 and 2005 in 136 public schools in Finland. The pupil sample comprised 11 583 boys and 12 706 girls from the eighth and ninth grades of lower secondary school and first and second grades of upper secondary school. A personnel survey (n = 1946) was used to measure psychosocial climate indexed by trust and opportunity for participation, support for innovation, orientation towards high-quality work and accepted and clear goals.
After adjustment for individual and school-level covariates, multilevel analyses revealed odds for pupils' opinion of not being heard were higher in schools where personnel reported poor trust and opportunity for participation (OR = 1.33) and low support for innovation (OR = 1.37). Poor trust and opportunity for participation and unclear work goals among staff were associated with high truancy among pupils (ORs = 1.54 and 1.39). Poor trust and opportunity for participation among staff were also related to pupils' depression [cumulative odds ratio (COR = 1.14)], and physical and psychological symptoms (COR = 1.17). Unclear goals among staff were associated with pupils' opinions that health education was insufficient (OR = 1.40).
school climate is associated with adolescents' health, wellbeing and received health education.
The construct of school climate has received attention as a way to enhance student achievement and reduce problem behaviors. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the existing literature on school climate and to bring to light the strengths, weakness, and gaps in the ways researchers have approached the construct. The central information in this article is organized into five sections. In the first, we describe the theoretical frameworks to support the multidimensionality of school climate and how school climate impacts student outcomes. In the second, we provide a breakdown of the four domains that make up school climate, including academic, community, safety, and institutional environment. In the third, we examine research on the outcomes of school climate. In the fourth, we outline the measurement and analytic methods of the construct of school climate. Finally, we summarize the strengths and limitations of the current work on school climate and make suggestions for future research directions.
This paper reports the development and psychometric validation of a multi-dimensional measure of facet-specific climate for innovation within groups at work: the Team Climate Inventory (TCI). Brief reviews of the organizational climate and work group innovation literatures are presented initially, and the need for measures of facet-specific climate at the level of the proximal work group asserted. The four-factor theory of facet-specific climate for innovation, which was derived from these reviews, is described, and the procedures used to operationalize this model into the original version measure described. Data attesting to underlying factor structure, internal homogeneity, predictive validity and factor replicability across groups of the summarized measure are presented. An initial sample of 155 individuals from 27 hospital management teams provided data for the exploratory factor analysis of this measure. Responses from 121 further groups in four occupations (35 primary health care teams, 42 social services teams, 20 psychiatric teams and 24 oil company teams; total N = 971) were used to apply confirmatory factor analysis techniques. This five-factor, 38-item summarized version demonstrates robust psychometric properties, with acceptable levels of reliability and validity. Potential applications of this measure are described and the implication of these findings for the measurement of proximal work group climate are discussed.
This study investigated the sensitivity of common fit indices (i.e., RMSEA, CFI, TLI, SRMR-W, and SRMR-B) for detecting misspecified multilevel SEMs. The design factors for the Monte Carlo study were numbers of groups in between-group models (100, 150, and 300), group size (10, 20, 30, and 60), intra-class correlation (low, medium, and high), and the types of model misspecification (Simple and Complex). The simulation results showed that CFI, TLI, and RMSEA could only identify the misspecification in the within-group model. Additionally, CFI, TLI, and RMSEA were more sensitive to misspecification in pattern coefficients while SRMR-W was more sensitive to misspecification in factor covariance. Moreover, TLI outperformed both CFI and RMSEA in terms of the hit rates of detecting the within-group misspecification in factor covariance. On the other hand, SRMR-B was the only fit index sensitive to misspecification in the between-group model and more sensitive to misspecification in factor covariance than misspecification in pattern coefficients. Finally, we found that the influence of ICC on the performance of targeted fit indices was trivial.
Hypotheses about the association of school organizational characteristics with school crime and disorder were tested in a nationally representative sample of 254 secondary schools. Relatively small intra-class correlations suggest that most of the variance in the individual measures of school disorder result from within-school rather than between-school variation. Therefore only a small portion of this variation is potentially explainable by between-school influences. Nevertheless, school climate explained a substantial percentage of the variance in all measures of school disorder, controlling for the effects of community characteristics and school student composition. Schools in which students perceived greater fairness and clarity of rules had less delinquent behavior and less student victimization. Rule fairness and clarity did not influence teacher victimization. Schools with more positive psychosocial climates had less teacher victimization, but climate did not influence student victimization or delinquent behavior.
This longitudinal study adopts a multidimensional perspective to examine the relationships between middle school students' perceptions of the school environment (structure support, provision of choice, teaching for relevance, teacher and peer emotional support), achievement motivation (academic self-concept and subjective task value), and school engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement). Participants were from an ethnically diverse, urban sample of 1157 adolescents. The findings indicated that student perceptions of distinct aspects of the school environment contributed differentially to the three types of school engagement. In addition, these associations were fully or partially mediated by achievement motivation. Specifically, student perceptions of the school environment influenced their achievement motivation and in turn influenced all three types of school engagement, although in different ways. Moderation effects of gender, ethnicity, and academic ability were also discussed.
This study examined the importance of aspects of the school climate for adolescents' psychosomatic health using multilevel modelling. Analyses were based on 18,571 ninth-grade students distributed over 1,026 classes and 284 schools in the greater Stockholm area in 2004 and 2006. Both individual- and contextual-level associations between aspects of the school climate and student health were explored. While most of the aspects of the school climate under study were related to health at the individual level, only 2 of them seemed to convey an additional contextual effect reaching beyond the students who were directly affected. Thus, better health was found in classes where many students reported getting immediate teacher help with their schoolwork, and worse health was found in classes where harassment was more commonly reported. These findings remained when a number of school-contextual characteristics were adjusted for.
Teacher sense of academic optimism is individual teachers' beliefs that they can teach effectively, their students can learn, and parents will support them so the teacher can press hard for learning. This new construct is grounded in the social cognitive and self-efficacy theories, social capital theory, work on school culture and climate and research on learned optimism. At the school level, collective academic optimism has been related to academic performance (Hoy, Tarter, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006b). The analyses tested and supported the validity and reliability of the construct at the individual level with elementary school teachers in a confirmatory factor analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).
This review examined 57 post-1990 empirical studies of school size effects on a variety of student and organizational outcomes. The weight of evidence provided by this research clearly favors smaller schools. Students who traditionally struggle at school and students from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds are the major benefactors of smaller schools. Elementary schools with large proportions of such students should be limited in size to not more than about 300 students; those serving economically and socially heterogeneous or relatively advantaged students should be limited in size to about 500 students. Secondary schools serving exclusively or largely diverse and/or disadvantaged students should be limited in size to about 600 students or fewer, while those secondary schools serving economically and socially heterogeneous or relatively advantaged students should be limited in size to about 1,000 students.
A short 14-item version of the Team Climate Inventory (TCI; Anderson & West, 1994) was developed and tested by using two Finnish samples of social and health care personnel (N = 1494 and N = 771). The results of LISREL and other analyses provided evidence of the four-factor structure of the short form, as well as of the internal homogeneity, reliability and normality of its scales across the two samples. Compared to the original TCI, an acceptable item coverage and predictive validity of the shortened version was demonstrated.
This study examines the appropriate unit of theory of school climate while simultaneously conducting a psychometric analysis of a modification of the School Climate Survey for an elementary school population. A conceptualization of school climate as an individual-level property unique to each school participant is compared to the idea that climate is a characteristic of the school with school participants having the role of informants. These two theories are compared by testing their differing implications. The School Climate Survey is found to have a stable and identical factor structure both within and between schools, ratings by different respondent groups are found to be moderately correlated, and average school climate within each school is found to predict a statistically significant amount of the between-school variation in children’s academic achievement and cognitive functioning. Differences between individual raters within each school are not found to have a meaningful relationship to child outcomes. It is concluded that the School Climate Survey is a valid and useful measure of school climate and the school-level theory is found to have the strongest support.
Examined the psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the TCI administered to 124 Swedish employees from 17 work teams in public and private organizations. Ss completed the TCI, and independent observers with a good knowledge of the team's production in terms of quality, quantity, and innovativeness completed the Team Production Questionnaire. An item analysis indicated that all items should be retained in the Swedish TCI, and further analyses yielded high overall coefficients for reliability and acceptable validity. Factor analysis extracted the 4 original factors on the TCI, which accounted for 54% of the total variance. These factors were participation, vision and group goals, support for innovation, and task orientation and climate for excellence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This multilevel study examines the extent to which individual- and school-level variables are predictive of three aspects of students' perceived school climate (order, safety, and discipline; fairness and clarity of school rules; and teacher-student relationship) by using a nationally representative sample. A wide range of social and academic risk factors at the individual level are examined. The results show that individual-level predictors, such as having behavior problems at school, being held back a grade, coming from a single-parent family, parents' education level, gender, and ethnicity (e.g., Hispanic and Asian), play a significant role in student perceptions of school climate. The results suggest that these relationships between the individual-level predictors and students' perceived school climate are fairly robust across schools. School-level variables, such as attending a private or a Catholic school, are also significant predictors of students' perceived climate. Furthermore, the study reveals significant interaction effects among the predictors and provides more accurate interpretations of the findings. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
This study investigated student teachers’ efficacy beliefs, collective teacher efficacy beliefs, and perceived cooperating teachers’ efficacy beliefs. These student teacher beliefs were examined with the focus on context, primarily the school setting (i.e., rural, suburban, and urban), to determine whether setting played a role in the development of the student teachers’ efficacy beliefs. The research participants included 102 student teachers. All three setting groups exhibited significant increases in teachers’ sense of efficacy following student teaching. Urban student teachers exhibited significantly lower perceived collective efficacy. Perceived cooperating teachers’ efficacy was predictive of and positively related to the student teachers’ post-TSES scores.
This article examines the adequacy of the “rules of thumb” conventional cutoff criteria and several new alternatives for various fit indexes used to evaluate model fit in practice. Using a 2‐index presentation strategy, which includes using the maximum likelihood (ML)‐based standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR) and supplementing it with either Tucker‐Lewis Index (TLI), Bollen's (1989) Fit Index (BL89), Relative Noncentrality Index (RNI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Gamma Hat, McDonald's Centrality Index (Mc), or root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA), various combinations of cutoff values from selected ranges of cutoff criteria for the ML‐based SRMR and a given supplemental fit index were used to calculate rejection rates for various types of true‐population and misspecified models; that is, models with misspecified factor covariance(s) and models with misspecified factor loading(s). The results suggest that, for the ML method, a cutoff value close to .95 for TLI, BL89, CFI, RNI, and Gamma Hat; a cutoff value close to .90 for Mc; a cutoff value close to .08 for SRMR; and a cutoff value close to .06 for RMSEA are needed before we can conclude that there is a relatively good fit between the hypothesized model and the observed data. Furthermore, the 2‐index presentation strategy is required to reject reasonable proportions of various types of true‐population and misspecified models. Finally, using the proposed cutoff criteria, the ML‐based TLI, Mc, and RMSEA tend to overreject true‐population models at small sample size and thus are less preferable when sample size is small.
Considerable strides have been made in the past decade in recognizing the centrality of the cultural context of schooling to adolescent development. In this review, adopting a developmental systems conceptualization of schooling, we focus on selected new research findings from the past decade regarding how (a) teachers, curricular tasks, and classroom environments; (b) aspects of the school as an organization; and (c) district policies and practices can play an instrumental role in adolescents' intellectual and social–emotional development.
The London studies of school effectiveness in the 1970s provided evidence that the qualities of schools made a significant difference to pupil progress, after taking account of the characteristics and backgrounds of the pupils at the time of school entry. The purpose of this article is to review the further evidence that has accumulated since then in order to assess how far the findings have been confirmed or refuted, what new questions have arisen and what key challenges remain. The continuing areas of research and debate include school effects on behavioral outcomes, the effects of class size, the importance of parental involvement, the impact of intake mix, peer influences, and level of resources. There has been greater agreement on the many features fostering school effectiveness. However, questions remain on how to bring about desired changes. The paper concludes by drawing attention to 10 largely unanswered questions that matter for policy and practice.
The present study examined the roles of student perceptions of four aspects of school climate (friction, cohesion, competition among students, and satisfaction with classes) as moderators of the relations between effortful control and subsequent conduct problems and depressive symptoms. Participants were 488 10-to-14-year old students involved in two waves, with one year between each wave, of a study. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that high levels of perceived friction predicted more subsequent conduct problems and depressive symptoms, even after baseline levels of these problems were partialled out. Low levels of effortful control also elevated risk for subsequent conduct problems. However, perceptions of the school as high in cohesion offset the risk associated with low levels of effortful control. Perceived satisfaction with classes also offset this risk, but only for females. Contrary to expectations, student perceptions of school climate did not interact with effortful control to predict subsequent depressive symptoms.
The aim of the study was to explore the extent to which Swedish children's perceptions of social capital in the family, school and neighbourhood predicted health complaints and well-being.
The study used data from the Swedish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. The sample consisted of 3926 children aged 11-15 years. Correlations and hierarchical multiple linear regression were performed.
Higher degrees of family, school and neighbourhood social capital corresponded to lower levels of health complaints and higher levels of well-being. Social capital in these three spheres had a cumulative effect on children's health and well-being.
Social capital in the family, school and neighbourhood matters for children's health and well-being and the contributions from each context seem to be additive. Besides the family context, investments for improving child health should primarily be in the school, focusing on social relations and on creating safe and cohesive school environments. Neighbourhood social capital is also of importance and so must be taken into consideration when planning child health promotion interventions.
The Delaware School Climate Survey-Student (DSCS-S) was developed to provide schools with a brief and psychometrically sound student survey for assessing school climate, particularly the dimensions of social support and structure. Confirmatory factor analyses, conducted on a sample of 11,780 students in 85 schools, showed that a bifactor model consisting of five specific factors and one general factor (School Climate) best represented the data. Those five factors are represented in five subscales of the DSCS-S: Teacher-Student Relations, Student-Student Relations, Fairness of Rules, Liking of School, and School Safety. The factor structure was shown to be stable across grade levels (i.e., elementary, middle, and high school), racial-ethnic groups (i.e., Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic), and gender. As evidence of the survey's concurrent validity, scores for each of the five subscales and the total scale correlated moderately, across groups and at the school level, with academic achievement and suspensions and expulsions.
This study explores the psychosocial working conditions of 7930 Swedish 9th grade students, distributed over 475 classes and 130 schools, in relation to their subjective health using multilevel modeling. At the individual level, students with "strained" working conditions in school (i.e. those experiencing a high level of demands in combination with a low level of control) demonstrated significantly worse health compared to students in "low-strain" situations. "Strained" conditions in combination with a weak school-related sense of coherence were especially unfavourable for health. These findings remained significant when support from teachers, school marks, norm-breaking behaviours, family-relations and certain class- and school-contextual conditions were adjusted for. Thus, while demands are an essential part of school work, this study suggests that high levels of control and a strong school-related sense of coherence can protect against the more detrimental effects on health that high demands at school may cause.
A short 14-item version of the Team Climate Inventory (TCI; Anderson & West, 1994) was developed and tested by using two Finnish samples of social and health care personnel (N = 1494 and N = 771). The results of LISREL and other analyses provided evidence of the four-factor structure of the short form, as well as of the internal homogeneity, reliability and normality of its scales across the two samples. Compared to the original TCI, an acceptable item coverage and predictive validity of the shortened version was demonstrated.
This study explored students' perceptions of 3 dimensions of school climate (teacher support, student-student support, and opportunities for autonomy in the classroom) and the associations between these dimensions and adolescent psychological and academic adjustment in China and the United States. Data were drawn from 2 studies involving 706 middle school students (M = 12.26) from Nanjing, China, and 709 middle school students (M = 12.36) from New York City. Findings revealed that students in China perceived higher levels of teacher support, student-student support, and opportunities for autonomy in the classroom than students in the United States. Furthermore, students' perceptions of teacher support and student-student support were positively associated with adolescents' self-esteem and grade point average but negatively associated with depressive symptoms for both Chinese and American adolescents.
The authors analyze the association between psychosocial factors in the school environment and pupils' health and self-worth in a sample of 538 pupils (264 girls and 274 boys) in the third and the sixth grades. High control in combination with low demand at school was associated with the best health status in relation to somatic problems, stress, tiredness, and feelings of self-worth. In a multiple regression analysis, problems in relations with classmates were the most recurrent psychosocial factor associated with ill-health. Some gender differences were found in school-related health. Lack of control at school affected self-worth among girls only. In the third grade and among boys in the sixth grade, high demands were an explanatory factor for the health outcome. Foreign background, divorced parents, high achievement, and low relational orientation, as well as disorderly and rowdy classes, were also of importance for somatic ill-health and stress among girls. Older girls became more relationally oriented, while boys became more achievement-oriented. The authors conclude that the pupils' somatic health and self-worth were affected by psychosocial factors at school, even when adjustment was made for social background.
This study analysed the effects of psychosocial factors at school on pupils' health and self-worth from a longitudinal perspective.
A three-year prospective study was started in 1994, including 533 pupils (261 girls, 272 boys) from 25 different classes in grades 3 and 6. With age-adjusted questionnaires the changes in self-perceived health were compared with changes in psychosocial school environmental factors.
The girls in the older cohort reported a negative health development with decreased self-worth and increased somatic and psychological symptoms. Significant gender differences in ill health, but not in self-worth, developed, especially in the older cohort. A multiple regression analysis showed that a negative development of psychosocial factors at school, measured as control, demand, and classmate problems, was associated with poorer health and self-worth among the pupils. A trichotomization of the psychosocial variables at school indicated a possible causal relationship between psychosocial factors and ill health and self-worth.
The negative development in pupils' health and self-worth could partly be explained by the more unfavourable psychosocial environment that prevails at school at the senior level. The public health implications of our study can be summarized as the need for schools to improve pupils' social situation at school in relation to their work situation as well as to pay special attention to the school situation of girls at senior level.
Clea McNeely, Dept. of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205-2179; (cmcneely@umn.edu)
Supported by grants #R01 DA08093, #R01DA09679, and #P50DA10075 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and grant # R21AA10989-01 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. This paper was prepared for the Wingspread Conference on School Climate and Connectedness held June, 2003, Racine, Wisc.
To examine associations between social relationships and school engagement in early secondary school and mental health, substance use, and educational achievement 2-4 years later.
School-based longitudinal study of secondary school students, surveyed at school in Year 8 (13-14-years-old) and Year 10 (16-years-old), and 1-year post-secondary school. A total of 2678 Year 8 students (74%) participated in the first wave of data collection. For the school-based surveys, attrition was <10%. Seventy-one percent of the participating Year 8 students completed the post-secondary school survey.
Having both good school and social connectedness in Year 8 was associated with the best outcomes in later years. In contrast, participants with low school connectedness but good social connectedness were at elevated risk of anxiety/depressive symptoms (odds ratio [OR]: 1.3; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0, 1.76), regular smoking (OR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.4, 2.9), drinking (OR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.2), and using marijuana (OR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.6, 2.5) in later years. The likelihood of completing school was reduced for those with either poor social connectedness, low school connectedness, or both.
Overall, young people's experiences of early secondary school and their relationships with others may continue to affect their moods, their substance use in later years, and their likelihood of completing secondary school. Having both good school connectedness and good social connectedness is associated with the best outcomes. The challenge is how to promote both school and social connectedness to best achieve these health and learning outcomes.
The Principal as change agent for school climate and pupil achievment (PH.D. thesis)
- P Mcnamara
McNamara, P. (1999). The Principal as change agent for school climate and pupil achievment (PH.D. thesis). Stockholm
University, Stockholm.
School matters: The junior years
- P Mortimore
- P Sammons
- L Stoll
- D Lewis
- R Ecob
Mortimore, P., Sammons, P., Stoll, L., Lewis, D., & Ecob, R. (1988). School matters: The junior years. Wells: Open Books.
Communication between principals and teachers in successful schools (PhD. theisis)
- H Ärlestig
Ärlestig, H. (2008). Communication between principals and teachers in successful schools (PhD. theisis). Umeå
University, Umeå.
School climate: research, policy, practice, and teacher education [review]
- J Cohen
- E M Mccabe
- N M Michelli
- T Pickeral
Cohen, J., McCabe, E. M., Michelli, N. M., & Pickeral, T. (2009). School climate: research, policy, practice, and teacher
education [review]. Teachers College Record, 111(1), 180–213. Retrieved from http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.
asp?ContentId=15220
Skolklimat, prestation och anpassning i 21 mellan-och 20 högstadieskolor [School climate, achievement and adjustment in 21 middle schools and 20 secondary schools
- L Grosin
Grosin, L. (2004). Skolklimat, prestation och anpassning i 21 mellan-och 20 högstadieskolor [School climate, achievement and adjustment in 21 middle schools and 20 secondary schools] Forskningsrapport 71: Pedagogiska institutionen, Stockholms Universitet.
Forskningen om framgångsrika skolor som grund för skolutveckling
- L Grosin
Grosin, L. (2003). Forskningen om framgångsrika skolor som grund för skolutveckling [Research on successful schools
as a basis for school development].