Temperature Check: Assessing Teacher Ownership Over School Climate and Student Achievement

• In Event: 18.065 - The Role of Bullying and Teacher-Student Relationships in Secondary Students' Health and Achievement

Abstract

This study aimed to use a nationally representative school data set of 9th grade students to investigate the relationship between teacher ownership over school climate and student achievement. School climate is defined as the perceived set of norms, attitudes and values within the organization that are fostered by school staff and students. Using an OLS estimation model, I found that positive perceptions of teacher actions building school climate are associated with higher 9th grade GPAs. A one standard deviation increase on the teacher-actions scale used in this study is predicted to increase student GPA by 0.05. An exploratory factor analysis and two checks for robustness lend support to this finding.

Author

• Ela Joshi, Vanderbilt University