School Climate

Table of Contents

Correlates of Effectiveness

This factor is manifest in student respect for the physical plant, strong parent involvement and positive staff and student morale. Values less than 2.0 show increasingly positive support, while values over 2.0 indicate declining support for an element or correlate. An analysis of the perception data for the SCHOOL CLIMATE correlate indicates that the responses of all three groups meet the level of 2.0. The values given to the correlate are:

• Parents: 1.614
• Teachers: 1.810
• Administrators: 1.717

Overall Patterns:

Parents did not assign a mean score of greater than 2.0 to any correlate, indicating a high level of satisfaction with School Climate in the Oxford School District.

While none of the parents’ responses indicated dissatisfaction with correlates, those areas scored (relatively) less favorably than others coincided with the concerns of teachers and administrators. All three groups agreed that the following areas may be less than fully implemented in Oxford:
J: Teacher and student absences are low.
G: All student groups participate in school activities.

All of the groups agreed that correlate I is in place:
I: The school has a positive image in TV and newspapers and in the community.

Areas of Greatest Effectiveness:

All three groups give one of their lowest mean scores to element I, indicating strongly positive perceptions of effectiveness in this area:
I: The school has a positive image in TV and newspapers and in the community.

Teachers and administrators gave one of their lowest mean scores to element C, indicating strongly positive perceptions of effectiveness:
C: There is not much vandalism at the school.

Areas of Greatest Concern:

All three groups gave one of their highest mean scores to elements J and G, indicating potential concerns about the effectiveness of this area:
J: Teacher and student absences are low.
G: All student groups participate in school activities.

Conclusions:

All groups expressed satisfaction with the image the Oxford School District has in local media (I).

There is great congruence of opinion regarding items that may need attention in Oxford: the rate of teacher and student absence in the district (J) and the participation of a variety of students in school activities (G). All three groups gave one of their highest mean scores to those correlates.

The perceptions expressed here suggest a review of the total number of teacher absences for all reasons, including professional leave and development activities, may be in order. Similarly, efforts should be extended and continued to improve student attendance. Teachers and administrators are encouraged to examine ways in which all students may be encouraged to participate in school activities.