Assessing School Climate in Bilingual Settings: Current Challenges and Future Directions

• In Event: Roundtable Session 40
  In Roundtable Session: Community Voices and Bilingual Education

Abstract

Culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLD) are growing rapidly and continue to exhibit substantially lower academic performance than their counterparts in many subject areas. Improving these students’ educational opportunities is a pressing demand in the public interest. Fortunately, scholarship is increasingly describing means to this end in many areas, such as curriculum and instruction, organizational learning, and educational policies. Yet understanding remains limited regarding many aspects. This paper addresses one particular gap: assessing school climate for CLD students and families. We review empirical literature to describe the challenges of assessing school climate in bilingual school settings. We then propose meeting these challenges through a design-based research project to adapt school climate assessment instruments to bilingual settings.

Authors

• Maria Eugenia Baez Cruz, Boston College

• Martin Scanlan, Boston College

• Cristina Joan Hunter, Boston College