Dimensions of School Climate: A Unified Measurement Framework

• In Event: Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: Division D Section 1 Poster Session

Abstract

School climate is a complex construct recognized as an important influence on student adjustment. We report on the development of an instrument designed to assess its multi-dimensional nature in a sample of 39,383 seventh and eighth grade students. The dimensionality of a cross-battery derived Secondary School Climate Survey was evaluated through methods of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The total sample was randomly split into two groups. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted with sample one, and the most defensible solution was cross-validated with confirmatory factor analysis in sample two. The resulting theoretically and empirically derived solution provides a unified framework of measurement that will be useful in assisting efforts to evaluate students’ perceptions of their school climate.

Authors

• Timothy R. Konold, University of Virginia

• Dewey G. Cornell, University of Virginia

• Francis Howard Lim Huang, University of Missouri - Columbia

• Kathan Dushyant Shukla, University of Virginia