Elementary School Social Climate and School Achievement

The present study investigates the relationships among a variety of school-level climate variables and mean school achievement in a random, sample of Michigan elementary schools. School-level SES, racial composition and climate were each highly related to mean school achievement; only a small proportion of the between-school variance in achievement is explained by SES and racial composition after the effect of school climate is removed. The climate variable we have called Student Sense of Academic Futility had the largest correlation with achievement. An observational study of four schools with similar SES and racial composition but different achievement tended to support the more analytical findings and suggest the processes by which climate affects achievement.