Creating School Climate: An Analysis of School Climate on Student Attendance and Achievement

• In Event: Roundtable Session 91
  In Roundtable Session: Perspectives on School Community, Climate, and Culture Roundtable

Abstract

Educators will agree that student success is affected by school climate and student attendance. However, there exists a lack of analytical evidence estimating the impact of student attendance and school climate on student achievement. This study addresses both the effects of student-level attendance and school-level climate on student achievement and behavioral outcomes.

Using the Georgia Student Health Survey – school-level survey on issues including: alcohol, tobacco and drugs; school violence; school climate; bullying; and nutrition – results of this study support the notion that school climate is significantly impacted by school-level climate and not by students’ demographics or socio-economic status. This study represents the first known statewide student-level research estimating the individual effects of student attendance on academic behavioral outcomes.

Author

• Dennis A. Kramer, University of Georgia