School Climate: Historical Review, Instrument Development, and School Assessment

Abstract

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.