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ERIC Number: ED589035
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Oct
Pages: 47
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Measuring School Climate Using the 2015 School Crime Supplement. Technical Report. NCES 2018-098
Lessne, Deborah; Yanez, Christina; Sinclair, Michael
National Center for Education Statistics
This report uses data from the 2015 School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to develop school climate measures and identify differences in scores for various student demographics including students experiencing or not experiencing criminal victimization and bullying. Development of the school climate scores documented in this report proceeded in three steps. First, items in the SCS were selected that relate to aspects of school climate based on a review of the literature or that were aligned with similar questions used in previous research on school climate measurement. Next, item analysis was performed using polyserial correlations, along with exploratory factor analysis, to assess how well the SCS items mapped to underlying climate factors and substantiate the mapping of the factors to established school climate domains. After score development, and as the third and final step in this research, the authors identified differences in the scores across student subgroups (including whether the student reported victimization or bullying in school) for each of the three climate domains and for the total climate score. The observed differences are discussed in the Conclusions section of this report. Based on this information, the authors explored whether the school climate scores developed from SCS items differed in expected ways among students from various subgroups. The authors found that, consistent with the literature, students who had been bullied or criminally victimized at school rated school climate lower (less favorably) in some domains. Asian students tended to have higher overall school climate ratings, while Black students rated school climate significantly lower than Whites. Middle grade students (6th through 8th grades) had higher ratings for overall school climate than high school students (9th through 12th grades). Students from higher income families produced higher climate scores. Based on the alignment of the final domains with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) Office of Safe and Healthy Students' National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) school climate model and composite scale ratings, as well as the fact that differences among groups of students followed expected patterns, the authors concluded that the school climate measures developed from the SCS can be used as indicators among 12- to 18-year-old students in the United States. These measures may be useful in tracking national trends in the same way that student victimization has been evaluated from the NCVS/SCS.
National Center for Education Statistics. Available from: ED Pubs. P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Tel: 877-433-7827; Web site: http://nces.ed.gov/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: National Center for Education Statistics (ED); Synergy Enterprises, Inc.
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: EDIES12D0010/0004
Author Affiliations: N/A