California School Climate Survey Research Articles

Adolescents’ perceptions of school climate: Exploring its protective role in times of economic recession

The aim of the study is to explore the way Greek junior high school students perceive school climate as a protective factor against the adversities due to the ongoing economic recession. The randomly selected sample consisted of 746 students from junior high schools (Gymnasia) in the broader area of Athens. The California School Climate Survey (2009), the Questionnaire of Subjective Well-Being/Youth Form (Grob et al., 1991) and the Economic Crisis Difficulties Questionnaire ( LSP, 2011 ) were used for data collection. The findings indicated the existence of statistically significant relations between the effects of economic recession, subjective well-being and school climate. School climate moderated the interaction between economic recession and students’ subjective well-being. Results provide a better understanding of adolescents’ needs during unsettling times contributing to the development of effective evidence-based intervention programs in school communities.

Are school policies focused on sexual orientation and gender identity associated with less bullying? Teachers' perspectives

Bullying is common in U.S. schools and is linked to emotional, behavioral, and academic risk for school-aged students. School policies and practices focused on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) have been designed to reduce bullying and show promising results. Most studies have drawn from students' reports: We examined teachers' reports of bullying problems in their schools along with their assessments of school safety, combined with principals' reports of SOGI-focused policies and practices. Merging two independent sources of data from over 3000 teachers (California School Climate Survey) and nearly 100 school principals (School Health Profiles) at the school level, we used multi-level models to understand bullying problems in schools. Our results show that SOGI-focused policies reported by principals do not have a strong independent association with teachers' reports of bullying problems in their schools. However, in schools with more SOGI-focused policies, the association between teachers' assessments of school safety and bullying problems is stronger. Recent developments in education law and policy in the United States and their relevance for student well-being are discussed.

Military Parents' Perceptions of Public School Supports for Their Children

This study examined how military-connected (MC) and nonmilitary parents perceive civilian schools’ climate, schools’ encouragement of parental involvement, problems in school, their needs in school, and their school satisfaction. The sample comprised 3,914 parents from eight school districts in the San Diego area. The parents completed the core and MC parent modules of the California School Climate Survey for Parents. Approximately 10 percent identified themselves as MC. Military parents provided significantly more negative assessments of schools’ climate and encouragement for parental involvement compared with nonmilitary parents in the same schools. Nevertheless, they saw fewer violence problems in schools compared with nonmilitary parents. Military parents’ most pressing need was for information on educational resources for military families. Although military parents were satisfied with many aspects of the school, a relatively large proportion expressed dissatisfaction with a sense of connection to other families in the school, the degree of understanding that staff showed them, and the responsiveness of the school administration to their concerns. Educators and social workers may need more training regarding military culture and the needs of military students and families. Programs should be developed to effectively involve military parents in schools and address their needs.

Measuring school climate: an overview of measurement scales

Background: School climate is a heterogeneous concept with a multitude of standardised and validated instruments available to measure it.Purpose: This overview of measurement scales aims to provide researchers with short summaries of some of the self-report instruments in existence, especially in relation to the link between school climate and aggression, within the context of Bronfenbrenner’s model. A secondary aim of this article is to show how the same instrument can sometimes be adapted to fit different theoretical approaches or to focus on different dimensions of school climate.Design and methods: After database consultation and literature hand searching, the resulting literature was screened for a statistical analysis of school climate and aggression. Those studies that had unclear operationalisations of the main variables or used qualitative methods were excluded. The resulting selection of studies were further scanned for common instruments used to evaluate school climate.Conclusions: This article will show how the California School Climate Survey (CSCS), the Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (PSSM), the School Climate Survey (SCS) and the Effective School Battery (ESB) as well as different versions of self-created scales on school connectedness, school climate and school culture have been adapted by different researchers in different contexts. Finally, the necessity of adapting a pre-existing instrument or creating a new one will be discussed.

Preliminary development of the Brief–California School Climate Survey: dimensionality and measurement invariance across teachers and administrators

A brief 15-item version of the California School Climate Scale (Brief-CSCS) is presented to fill a need for a measure that could be used for periodic monitoring of school personnel's general perception of the climate of their school campus. From a sample of 81,261 California school personnel, random subsamples of 2,400 teachers and 2,400 administrators were used in the analyses. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a model in which general school climate was a second-order latent factor composed of 2 first-order latent traits, organizational supports and relational supports. Measurement invariance of factor loadings for teachers and administrators was found. Additional analyses revealed that administrators held more positive perceptions of school climate than teachers, with this difference increasing from primary through high school. The implications for these findings for educational research and policy reform are outlined.

The Awareness of Risky Peer Group Behaviors on School Grounds as Predictors of Students' Victimization on School Grounds

This study examined how risky peer group behaviors (e.g. being aware of or witnessing drug use, students carrying weapons, or vandalism on school grounds) had on students' experience of school victimization. This article is the second study in a two part series. The first article (Part I) was published in this journal and focused on elementary schools. This article (Part II) extends the findings from the prior study and explores how the awareness of risky peer behaviors predict victimization in junior high schools. The sample was drawn from central and northern Israel and consisted of 1,184 Arab and 947 Jewish students (grades 7th-9th). Students completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire, which was based on the California School Climate Survey (Furlong et al., 1997). The descriptive statistics suggest that junior high schools have different rates of peer risk behaviors and victimization. However, findings from a hierarchical regression analysis suggest that risky peer group behaviors in school contexts are one of the strongest predictors of victimization. The relationship between risky peer groups and victimization was similar for both elementary schools and high schools. The only major difference between the findings in Part I and Part II was that being a male emerged as a stronger predictor of victimization in junior high schools. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Awareness of Risky Peer Group Behaviors on School Grounds as Predictors of Students' Victimization on School Grounds

This study examined the effects of the awareness of risky peer group behaviors (e.g., drug use, students carrying weapons, or vandalism on school grounds) on students' experiences of school victimization. This is one of the few studies conducted in the Middle East that examine issues of school violence. This article (Part I) focuses on elementary school students. Part II is forthcoming in a future article and will focus on junior high school students. The sample was drawn from central and northern Israel and consisted of 1346 Arab and 1478 Jewish students (4th-6th grades). Students completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire, which was based on the California School Climate Survey (Furlong et al, 1997). The findings from a hierarchical regression analysis show that elementary school students' awareness of risky peer group behaviors in school contexts is one of the strongest predictors of their own personal victimization, controlling for gender, ethnicity, and grade level. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.