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The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists betweenmiddle school climate and middle school student achievement in mathematics. Thisquantitative study employed purposive sampling from Missouri middle schools that hadcompleted Cycle 4 of the Missouri School Improvement Process and had participated inthe Middle School/Junior High School Missouri Advanced Questionnaire (AQ) duringthe 2010-2011 academic year. The sample included 72 Missouri middle schools withthe aforementioned characteristics. The independent variable in this study was thestudent, teacher, and parent perceptions of school climate (safety, interpersonalrelationships, teaching and learning, and institutional environment) from the schoolsincluded in the sample. The independent variable of climate perceptions was measuredusing the Advanced Questionnaire. The dependent variable was the percentage ofstudents scoring at or above Proficient on the mathematics portion of the MissouriAssessment Program. A Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to determine thestrength and relationship of each pair of the independent and dependent variablesspecified in each research question. Results indicated a statistically significantrelationship exists between student, teacher, and parent perceptions in each dimension ofschool climate and the percentage of students scoring at or above Proficient inmathematics. Specifically, the students’ perception of school climate in the dimensionof safety and the parents’ perception of school climate in the institutional environmentshowed the strongest relationships to mathematics achievement. Staff perceptions ofschool climate in all dimensions showed moderate relationships to mathematicsachievement. Recommendations for further research include expanding the study to include the relationship between school climate and mathematics achievement inelementary schools and high schools, including other achievement variables, conductinglongitudinal studies to analyze student growth, and looking at other variables within thesample such as class size and teacher turnover. School administrators can analyzeschool climate using the Missouri AQ and utilize the results to focus specific schoolimprovement efforts. Additionally, schools can use the data from their analysis to probespecific AQ items that respondents rated low seeking to understand stakeholderperceptions about middle school climate. School climate and human behavior involveintermingling variables. Finding specific strategies that effectively change negativeperceptions should be part of every school improvement plan. |
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