This study examined the effects of student trust in teacher and student perceptions of safety on identification with school. Data were collected from one large urban district in an eastern state. Participants included 5441 students in 3rd through 12th grades from 49 schools. Students responded to surveys that assessed student trust in teachers,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to use SEM to explore the effects of enabling school structure (ESS) and academic optimism (AO) on school achievement (SA). Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 58 urban schools, including 42 elementary schools and 16 middle schools in a southeastern district in the USA were included in this study.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between academic optimism (AO) and elementary reading achievement (RA). Design/methodology/approach: Using correlation and hierarchical linear regression, the authors examined school-level effects of AO on fifth grade reading achievement in 29 elementary schools in Alabama.…

Purpose: This research aims to add to the literature on Academic Optimism, a composite measure composed of teacher perceptions of trust in students, academic press, and collective efficacy by exploring a similar set of constructs from the student perceptive. The relationships between student trust in teachers, student perceptions of academic…

The following study explored the relationship between trust and collaboration in one Northeastern suburban district. In sum, 122 teachers responded to a trust and a collaboration survey. We hypothesized that the level of trust would be correlated with the level of collaboration. Bivariate and canonical correlations were used to analyze the…

This instrumental case study explored how five newly appointed superintendents identified key stakeholders and built trust and social capital with stakeholders in their districts. Stakeholder, trust, and social capital theory were the lenses that guided this study. We utilized a pragmatic research design and thematic data analysis to interpret our…

This study replicated an earlier study conducted by Tarter and Hoy (2004) in which an open systems model was used to test a series of hypotheses that explained elements of school performance. Four internal system elements (structure, individual, culture, and politics) of the school were used to explain two sets of school outcomes (student…

Purpose: The authors' focus was on understanding antecedents of parent trust toward schools. Two questions guided the inquiry: Is there a systematic difference in parent-school trust across schools? If so, what organizational conditions predict between-school variability in parent-school trust? Research Methods/Approach: Using multilevel modeling,…