Explaining the Racial School Climate Gap: Evidence From Georgia

• In Event: Considering School Practices and Student Experience Within the School Climate Conversation

Abstract

Research documents the positive associations between school climate and students’ outcomes, and as such, many policymakers have positioned it as among their chief priorities for school improvement. Despite increased interest in school climate, extant research has offered mixed findings on whether students of color espouse less favorable perceptions of school climate relative to their White counterparts. Thus, the present study uses administrative data of middle and high schools in Georgia to examine between and within school disparities in school climate perceptions, as well as factors by which they are influenced. I find Black students report far worse perceptions on nearly all measures of school climate compared to White students, and that these disparities are greater between rather than within schools.

Author

• Jerome Graham, Michigan State University