Research+Paper

       A Study on the Relation of School Climate to Student Achievement         <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Research over the past ten years has raised awareness of racial differences in schools; however it has over emphasized the characteristics of the students and families as explanations for racial differences (McEvoy and Welker 2000). The four main factors of a successful elementary school environment is; strong principal leadership, high academic standards, frequent teacher meetings to plan instruction, and low teacher turnover. “This research provides initial evidence that at least four elements of the school environment influence children’s academic and behavioral outcomes by the third grade” (Brown, Child Trend quoted by Peckham, S) According to Child Trends, 30 percent of all children attend elementary schools that do not have strong principal leadership, just over half of all children are in schools where their teachers meet together o plan coordinated lessons and children living below 100 percent of the federal poverty line are twice as likely as children with family incomes over the 200 percent of the poverty line to attend schools with low academic standards. This research is troubling since success by the third grade is crucial for future learning and development. (Peckham, 76-77) While Genetics, attitude toward school, socio economic status and parental attitudes are important factors, there have been few studies on school racial climate and the relation between race and outcomes. ( <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Evidence of high achieving school in racially segregated and economically depressed urban areas calls into question explanations of the achievement gap that focus narrowly on students’ race or socioeconomic status. (Brookover and Erickson 1975) The successful completion of a secondary school education requires more than the fulfillment of the formal prerequisites for graduation, it also requires that adolescents navigate their way through a complex set of institutional norms and social arrangements. Daily interaction with administrators, teachers, and peers play a significant role in determining the degree of success students encounter. (Hemmings, 2000; Phelan, Davidson, & Cado, 1991) The Goal is to master two curricula: the planned or formal curriculum mandated by carious educational policy making authorities, and the “hidden” or “corridor” curriculum acquired thought their daily interaction with administrators, teachers and peers. As a result, the extent of the success they attain with those institutions is inextricably linked with the degree to which they value the process of formal education, as well as the degree to which they perceive that their presence is valued by the school they attend. (Brady, 308) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Perceptions of being related with respect, equal application of behavioral controls, believing that the school encourages all students to learn, and feeling comfortable within the social structure of the school all contributed to respondents’ engagement with the school community. Overall, secondary school institutional culture can take on one of two personae. They can be inclusive in nature in that they actively seek to enhance members’ “reciprocal sense of belonging and ownership within the context of learning and school live” (Smith et. al., 1998, p. 141) or they can engage in administrative and pedagogical practices that effectively exclude individual students, or groups of subtends from taking full advantage of the benefits of formal education and school membership. (Brady 308) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Compelling empirical research also shows that a positive and sustained school climate promotes students; academic achievement and healthy development. Yet our knowledge of the effects of school climate on learning ha s not been translated into current accountability systems. Although No Child Left Behind (NLCB) is full of rhetoric about the importance of character education and supportive learning environments, it only requires accountability systems to measure reading, math, physical violence, and science scores. For that reason, states and school districts have become interested in using school climate data as a complementary form of assessment. Schools can use climate data to promote meaningful staff, family, and student engagement – and to enhance the social, emotional, ethical, civic, and intellectual skill and dispositions that contribute to success in school and in life. The phrase “all children can learn” does not tell the whole story. All children do learn – all day everyday- through their experiences with the adults and the world around them. Therefore comprehensive school climate data can powerfully support providing meaningful information about how healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged students feel. When schools use these data to create positive learning environments, they help students develop the social-emotional competencies and ethical dispositions that predict success in school and life. (Cohen, 2009)

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Work Cited <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Brady, P., (2006) Inculsionary and Exculsionary Secondary Schools” The Effect of School Culture on Student Outcomes. Springer Publishing. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Brookover, W., & Erickson, E. L. (1975) //Sociology of education//. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Cohen, J. & Pickeral T., (2009) Assessing School Climate. //Education Leadership// <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Hemmings, A. (2000). The “hidden” corridor curriculum. High School Journal, 83(2), 1-10 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">McEvoy, A., & Welker, R. (2000) Antisocial behavior, academic failure, and school climate: A critical review. //Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders,// 8, 130-140 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Peckham, S. (2008) Specific School Traits Lined to Elementary Achievement Scores. //Education News: In Brief.// <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">A Study on the Relation of School Climate to Student Achievement <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Research over the past ten years has raised awareness of racial differences in schools; however it has over emphasized the characteristics of the students and families as explanations for racial differences (McEvoy and Welker 2000). The four main factors of a successful elementary school environment is; strong principal leadership, high academic standards, frequent teacher meetings to plan instruction, and low teacher turnover. “This research provides initial evidence that at least four elements of the school environment influence children’s academic and behavioral outcomes by the third grade” (Brown, Child Trend quoted by Peckham, S) According to Child Trends, 30 percent of all children attend elementary schools that do not have strong principal leadership, just over half of all children are in schools where their teachers meet together o plan coordinated lessons and children living below 100 percent of the federal poverty line are twice as likely as children with family incomes over the 200 percent of the poverty line to attend schools with low academic standards. This research is troubling since success by the third grade is crucial for future learning and development. (Peckham, 76-77) While Genetics, attitude toward school, socio economic status and parental attitudes are important factors, there have been few studies on school racial climate and the relation between race and outcomes. ( <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Evidence of high achieving school in racially segregated and economically depressed urban areas calls into question explanations of the achievement gap that focus narrowly on students’ race or socioeconomic status. (Brookover and Erickson 1975) The successful completion of a secondary school education requires more than the fulfillment of the formal prerequisites for graduation, it also requires that adolescents navigate their way through a complex set of institutional norms and social arrangements. Daily interaction with administrators, teachers, and peers play a significant role in determining the degree of success students encounter. (Hemmings, 2000; Phelan, Davidson, & Cado, 1991) The Goal is to master two curricula: the planned or formal curriculum mandated by carious educational policy making authorities, and the “hidden” or “corridor” curriculum acquired thought their daily interaction with administrators, teachers and peers. As a result, the extent of the success they attain with those institutions is inextricably linked with the degree to which they value the process of formal education, as well as the degree to which they perceive that their presence is valued by the school they attend. (Brady, 308) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Perceptions of being related with respect, equal application of behavioral controls, believing that the school encourages all students to learn, and feeling comfortable within the social structure of the school all contributed to respondents’ engagement with the school community. Overall, secondary school institutional culture can take on one of two personae. They can be inclusive in nature in that they actively seek to enhance members’ “reciprocal sense of belonging and ownership within the context of learning and school live” (Smith et. al., 1998, p. 141) or they can engage in administrative and pedagogical practices that effectively exclude individual students, or groups of subtends from taking full advantage of the benefits of formal education and school membership. (Brady 308) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Compelling empirical research also shows that a positive and sustained school climate promotes students; academic achievement and healthy development. Yet our knowledge of the effects of school climate on learning ha s not been translated into current accountability systems. Although No Child Left Behind (NLCB) is full of rhetoric about the importance of character education and supportive learning environments, it only requires accountability systems to measure reading, math, physical violence, and science scores. For that reason, states and school districts have become interested in using school climate data as a complementary form of assessment. Schools can use climate data to promote meaningful staff, family, and student engagement – and to enhance the social, emotional, ethical, civic, and intellectual skill and dispositions that contribute to success in school and in life. The phrase “all children can learn” does not tell the whole story. All children do learn – all day everyday- through their experiences with the adults and the world around them. Therefore comprehensive school climate data can powerfully support providing meaningful information about how healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged students feel. When schools use these data to create positive learning environments, they help students develop the social-emotional competencies and ethical dispositions that predict success in school and life. (Cohen, 2009)

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Work Cited <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Brady, P., (2006) Inculsionary and Exculsionary Secondary Schools” The Effect of School Culture on Student Outcomes. Springer Publishing. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Brookover, W., & Erickson, E. L. (1975) //Sociology of education//. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Cohen, J. & Pickeral T., (2009) Assessing School Climate. //Education Leadership// <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Hemmings, A. (2000). The “hidden” corridor curriculum. High School Journal, 83(2), 1-10 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">McEvoy, A., & Welker, R. (2000) Antisocial behavior, academic failure, and school climate: A critical review. //Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders,// 8, 130-140 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Peckham, S. (2008) Specific School Traits Lined to Elementary Achievement Scores. //Education News: In Brief.//