The Role of School Leaders in Creating Positive and Equitable Students' Sense of School Belonging

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Leading for Student Health and Well-Being

Abstract

This study investigated the nuances and complexities in the sense of school belonging among students with diverse social constructs (race and ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, immigration, and home language) and their intersectionality. The study also examined whether and how teachers’ collective responsibility and principals’ inclusive practices and engaged communication are important in creating a positive and equitable sense of school belonging among diverse students. It used a critical quantitative intersectionality framework along with the High School Longitudinal Studies of 2009. The results showed that collective responsibility among teachers are positively associated with students’ sense of school belonging, and that principals’ inclusive practices and engaged communication are significantly associated with students’ positive and equitable sense of school belonging.

Author

• Sung Tae Jang, The University of Hong Kong