Citation

Gage NA, Kaplan R, Ellis K, Kramer D. J. Child Adolesc. Couns. 2019; 5(3): 239-255.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/23727810.2019.1670511

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Assessing school climate provides schools and school counselors with critical information about the social and physical health of a school. Researchers have examined predictors of students' perceptions of school climate, but most studies have included only a few school-climate domains, convenience samples, and excluded student disability status. To extend knowledge about predictors of school climate, we conducted a study of student- and school-level predictors of students' perceptions of overall school climate and eight school-climate domains. Using student responses from 353,280 high school students in 440 high schools in Georgia and multilevel modeling, we found that students with disabilities report lower levels of peer social support, school safety, and peer victimization. We also found that students in racially homogenous schools have lower perceptions of school climate, particularly cultural acceptance. The results are then contextualized for school counselors to identify prevention and intervention programs to address students at-risk for lower perceptions of school climate.

Language: en

Keywords

high schools; school climate; students with disabilities