School Climate in American Secondary Schools: A Psychometric Examination of the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2009 School Climate Scale

• In Event: 63.084 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 63.084-2 - Methodological Approaches to Examining Behavior and Student Outcomes

Abstract

School climate is an important concern in discussions about school effectiveness because of its profound impact on students’ behavior and learning outcomes. This study examines the quality of a 13-item School Climate Scale from PISA 2009. Data for this study were from the PISA 2009 American sample. Parallel Factor Analysis and Rating Scale model were used to evaluate how well the assessment measures school climate. The results suggest the school climate scale is unidimensional with an acceptable model-data fit. However, this instrument does not separate schools very well. Lacking items at a comparable low level to evaluate school climate decreases the assessment's accuracy in differentiating between regular and bad school climate.

Authors

• Letao Sun, University of Kentucky

• Kelly D. Bradley, University of Kentucky

• Jing Yuan