School Climate: Investigating Latent Profiles and Relationships With School Report Card Data

• In Event: Accountability Policy and Local Action

Abstract

The current study used latent profile analysis to classify elementary schools based on teachers’ perceptions of school climate. The classification model included school poverty as a covariate, and the school absolute rating as a distal outcome. To reduce classification error, a newly developed 3-step procedure (Asparouhov & Muthen, 2012) was employed to estimate the relationship between classes and outcomes of school performance. Results showed a strong relationship between school poverty and the school climate latent profile membership. In turn, having a more positive latent profile leads to higher school absolute ratings. Therefore, improving school climate in high poverty schools is critical. This information, along with training on changing the school climate could bring improvements in school performance.

Authors

• Diana Luminita Mindrila, The University of West Georgia

• Christine DiStefano, University of South Carolina

• Diane M. Monrad, University of South Carolina

• Mihaela Ene, University of South Carolina