How School Climate Relates to Other Psychosocial Perceptions and Academic Achievement across the School Year

Abstract

The research literature indicates that school climate is important for student outcomes; however, research assessing school climate and achievement-related outcomes across time is limited. In this study, the relationship between school climate, students’ psychosocial perceptions, and student achievement was examined across an academic school year in a cohort of 531 9th-grade students. A series of hierarchical linear regressions indicated that school climate predicted 10.5% of the variance in both hope and academic motivation, 8% of the variance in self-efficacy, 5% of the variance in academic self-concept, 3% of the variance in goal valuation, and 2% of the variance in spring semester GPA. Further, despite school climate being operationalized as school culture, attitude toward teachers, and attitude toward school, only attitude toward teachers significantly predicted any of the outcome variables. These results suggest that some aspects of school climate contribute more than others in crafting students’ psychosocial perceptions and achievement. Impact Statement Despite the widespread belief that school climate is important for student outcomes, the existing school climate research lacks investigations across time. This study assessed the relationship between school climate, academic-oriented psychosocial perceptions, and student achievement across an academic school year. This study’s results indicate that attitude toward teachers was the only significant predictor of psychosocial perceptions and that hope and academic motivation were most influenced by school climate perceptions.