The Relationship Between High School Students' Academic Performance and Their Perceptions of School Climate

Abstract

This quantitative study provides an in-depth analysis of 10th through 12th grade students’ perceptions of school climate as correlated by academic achievement. The School Climate Measure was administered to 451 students in a rural high school in the southeast and explored their perceptions of the school climate domains a) academic support, b) student-teacher relationships, c) order and discipline, and d) school physical aspects. The chi square statistic was applied to determine if differences existed between the students’ perceptions and their grades. Students’ perceptions of school climate by academic achievement were also examined by comparing groups based on students’ gender, grade level, and socioeconomic status. Chi square revealed significant differences between students’ perceptions of school climate and their academic achievement on all four domains. Students with higher grades tended to have more positive perceptions of their school’s climate. Analyzing student perceptions of school climate by academic achievement while comparing gender revealed statistically significant differences. Mixed results were derived when examining student perceptions of school climate by academic achievement when comparing grade level. Lastly, this study explored student perceptions of school climate by academic achievement when separating students by socioeconomic status. Mixed results were found. Statistically significant differences were found between student perceptions of school climate by academic achievement with students on some questions in both the lower SES and higher SES groups. Further study of why female students’ perceptions of school climate is tied more to academic achievement than male students is warranted. In addition, some evidence exists in this study that older students may have a more positive perception of school climate than younger students, suggesting the need for further examination of age-related effects. Lastly, providing support to all students may offset the effects of SES (Berkowitz, Moore, Astor, & Benbenbishty, 2017) and other variables warranting further study of the relationship between SES and school climate.