Professional Documents
Culture Documents
When do trends in student behavior vention efforts. Ecological models have can enhance or restructure to better
demand schoolwide policies and plans? been proposed for the provision of edu- meet students' needs (Lehr &
How can we examine the school envi- cational services that embrace this sys- Christenson, 2002).
TEACHING Exceptional Children, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 10-17. Copyright 2004 CEC.
ronment to see what positive changes temic focus (e.g., Sheridan & Gutkin, Although researchers in school psy-
we can make to a school's climate or 2000). Within an ecological framework, chology and special education have cre-
culture? What tools are best suited to students' behavioral difficulties demand ated measures of classroom environ-
assessing how students and teachers an awareness of contextual variables ment and interaction, researchers have
view their school's climate or context (e.g., learning environment, community generally given less attention to meas-
for learning? This article takes a histori- resources, and home context), as well ures of school context. This is unfortu-
cal approach to evaluating school cli- as students' intra-individual characteris- nate because classrooms, nested within
mate and offers practical guidance to tics. schools, have climates that are directly
modern measures of school culture. In their attempts to remediate and or indirectly influenced by wider school
treat students' social-emotional and contexts (Anderson, 1982). By under-
Systemic School Improvement to behavioral difficulties, practitioners are standing and evaluating characteristics
Meet Changing Student Needs confronted with many extraneous fac- of the larger school context, educators
To meet the needs of increasingly tors that are difficult to address or recti- can become aware of the following:
diverse student populations and the fy (e.g., families' socioeconomic stand- • Schoolwide protective or risk factors
challenges of accountability-driven edu- ing, community safety and crime, and that may influence intervention out-
cation systems, many mental health and individual students' predisposition to comes.
education professionals have attempted disability and mental illness). School • Resources within the larger school
to broaden the scope of their practice to and classroom contexts, however, are community to address students'
include systemic prevention and inter- factors that educators and communities needs.
In his seminal work, Brofenbrenner (1979) provided the fol- tially adaptations of individual personality theory (Hoy &
lowing definition of the ecological orientation: Sabo, 1998). Current measures of school climate grew out
The ecology of human development involves the sci- of a body of research on organizational climates in indus-
entific study of the progressive, mutual accommoda- try and university contexts. Early work by March and
tion between an active, growing human being and the Simon (1958) and Argyris (1964) focused on the charac-
changing properties of the immediate settings in teristics of business organizations that influenced employ-
which the developing person lives, as this process is ee morale, productivity, and commitment (Anderson,
affected by the relations between these settings, and 1982). Stern's (1964) research in university settings con-
by the larger contexts in which the settings are cerning "press" (i.e., students' perceptions of environmen-
embedded. (p. 21) tal pressures on students exerted by a given school) sug-
Using Apter and Conoley's (1984) framework, Sheridan gested: (a) students' collective perceptions of school cli-
and Gutkin (2000) modified the pivotal assumptions of eco- mate do reflect objective reality; (b) students' individual
logical theory to address students within the contexts of class- perceptions of school climate are not merely reflections of
rooms, schools, and communities. their personal characteristics; and (c) students' descrip-
tions of the school climate can be separated from their atti-
Assumption 1: Each student is an inseparable part of a small tudes (Anderson, 1982).
social system.
Assumption 2: Disturbance is not viewed as a disease located Thus, school climate can be defined as the pervasive qual-
within the body of the student but, rather, as ity of a school environment experienced by students and
discordance (a lack of balance) in the system. staff, which affects their behaviors (Hoy & Sabo, 1998).
Assumption 3: Discordance may be defined as a disparity According to Haynes, Emmons, and Ben-Avie (1997), school
between an individual's abilities and the climate refers to "the quality and consistency of interperson-
demands or expectations of the environ- al interactions within the school community that influences
ment—-"failure to match" between child and children's cognitive, social, and psychological development"
system. (p. 322).
Assumption 4: The goal of any intervention is to make the To gather information on the "personality" of schools,
system work. (p. 489) measures of school climate tend to focus on individuals'
behaviors and their perceptions of the patterns of communi-
If we embrace these assumptions, then the need for tech- cation and interactions within the school context.
niques to measure and evaluate school context becomes
apparent. Clearly, educators cannot "make the system work" • Definitions of School Culture. Reflecting the diversity of def-
without examining the influence of the school context on a initions for the term in the anthropological literature, defi-
particular student, the student's teachers, and his or her nitions of school culture vary. (According to Berger, 1995,
classmates. p. 136, "It has been estimated that anthropologists have
advanced more than 100 definitions of culture.") Research
Contrasting Constructs: Climate Versus Culture on organizational culture dates back to studies of business
Comprehensive reviews of school climate measures and industry in the 1930s and 1940s. Barnard (1938) and
(Anderson, 1982; Lehr & Christenson, 2002) have addressed Mayo (1945) originally conceptualized workplace culture
constructs and models used in school context research. The as the "norms, sentiments, values, and emergent interac-
differences between the terms setting, atmosphere, environ- tions" of an organization. School culture can be defined as
ment, culture, and climate are both subtle and important. "the way we do things around here" and consists of the
Creating a positive school context, however, is often a pri- organization's shared beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies, and
mary objective of school reform and restructuring efforts patterns of communication (Deal & Kennedy, 1982).
(e.g., Positive Behavior Support or the Yale Child Study
Center School Development Program). School culture represents the underlying assumptions and
A survey of the school context research suggests that cli- beliefs developed through earlier problem solutions, which
mate and culture are the generally preferred constructs for help to define reality within an organization (Angelides &
researchers' investigations of school context. Ainscow, 2000). In their definition, Hoy, Tarter, and Kottkamp
(1991) attempted to synthesize the various definitions of
• Definitions of School Climate. Researchers have often school culture and suggest it is "a system of shared orienta-
described climate as a school's personality; some early tions (norms, core values, and tacit assumptions) held by
conceptualizations of organizational climate were essen- members, which holds the unit together and gives it a distinct
identity" (p. 5). School culture is generally more abstract than
The three OHI instruments consist of items contribute to five or six scales that ments, the scales on the OCDQ for sec-
37 to 45 items (depending on the ver- describe teacher and administrator ondary schools do not conform to the
sion) that measure teachers' and admin- behavior. Potential users should note same second-order factor structure as
istrators' perceptions about the organi- the relatively inadequate internal con- those on the versions for elementary
zational health of their school. The sistency for some of the scales on the and middle schools. Therefore, the
items are organized into five to seven middle and secondary school versions Openness Index for secondary schools
distinct scales, each of which demon- of the OCDQ (e.g., Disengaged- can be determined using the standard
strates an acceptable level of reliability Elementary [internal consistency coeffi- scores from four of the five subscales.
(internal consistency coefficients ranged cient = .75]; Committed-Middle School The remaining scale standard score can
from .87 to .95). Administration of the [.60]; Disengaged-Middle [.46]; and be used as an index of Intimacy.
OHI takes about 10 minutes and can be Intimate-Secondary [.71].) Similar to their work with the OHI,
completed by each respondent inde- For the elementary and middle Hoy and colleagues have subsequently
pendently. Moreover, an index of school school versions of the OCDQ, factor used the three versions of the OCDQ in
health can be computed by summing analysis confirmed the existence of a numerous studies that provide con-
the standardized scores for each of the second-order factor structure. For exam- struct- and criterion-related evidence of
individual scales (Hoy & Sabo, 1998). ple, on the OCDQ for middle schools, the OCDQ's validity. Additional studies
Unfortunately, the OHI does not one factor was comprised of measures have examined the contribution of orga-
include instruments for measuring stu- of principal behavior (i.e., Supportive, nizational climate (i.e., openness) to
dents' perceptions of school health. Hoy Directive, and Restrictive), while the overall school achievement. For exam-
and his colleagues, however, have con- other factor consisted of measures of ple, Teacher Openness (r = .52) and
ducted extensive research to provide teacher behavior (i.e., Collegial, Principal Openness (r = .43) Indexes
construct and criterion-related evidence Committed, and Disengaged). The fac- were significantly correlated to a meas-
for the validity of the OHI. Moreover, tor structure was similar for the elemen- ure of academic press (i.e., the amount
some studies have examined the contri- tary version of the OCDQ with the a school stressed academic performance
bution of organizational health to over- Intimate scale replacing the Committed and students respected other students
all school functioning. scale in the factor that describes teacher who were academically successful; Hoy
Similar to the OHI, three separate behavior. These second-order factors et al., 1991).
versions of OCDQ exist to measure contribute to the equation of Principal
teachers' and administrators' percep- Openness and Teacher Openness Evaluating School Culture
tions of school climate at the elemen- Indices. The resulting standard scores Investigators of school culture have typ-
tary, middle, and secondary school lev- for Teacher Openness and Principal ically used ethnographic and participant
els. The questionnaires consist of 34 to Openness, which range from 200 to 800, observation methods to gather informa-
50 items (depending on the version) are used to determine whether the tion about school communities and
that ask respondents to rate the extent school climate is best described as their members. Although qualitative
to which statements (e.g., "Teachers Open, Engaged, Disengaged, or Closed. research methods may not attain the
help and support each other") are true Because of the complex organization reliability and validity of the question-
of behavior in their school. Individual of most secondary school environ- naires used in School Climate Research,
Advantages
• Part of a larger information management system that includes 34 variables regarding school environment
• Computerized software available for scoring and data management.
• Includes student, parent, and teacher surveys.
• Adequate reliability information provided by developers.
Disadvantages
• Only available for secondary schools (Grades 6-12).
• No information on construct and consequential validity provided by developers.
Organization Health Inventory (OHI) and Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire (OCDQ)
Advantages
• Time-efficient administration (i.e., approximately 10 minutes to complete).
• Adequate reliability and validity provided by developers.
• Research conducted by developers suggests the measure is related to school effectiveness.
• Separate measures for elementary, middle, and high schools.
Disadvantages
• Only includes measures of teacher and administrator—Student and parent questionnaires are unavailable.
Advantages
• Provides an opportunity for reflection on the assumptions and beliefs that guide student, teacher, or administrator
behavior.
• Utilizes the skills and knowledge of practitioners with training in conducting classroom observations (e.g., school
psychologists, administrators, and special educators).
Disadvantages
• The definition of a "critical incident" is not well defined.
• The observation and evaluation process has the potential to damage collegial relationships—An outside evaluator
may need to complete the process.
Advantages
• Extensive professional literature on the use of Quality Improvement Tools is available.
• Provides a series of techniques for assessing and addressing "value gaps" (e.g., differences between a school's
culture and the goals of the behavior intervention program).
• Process provides opportunities for evaluators to probe stakeholders' responses and for stakeholders to participate
in evaluating the meaning of information produced.
Disadvantages
• Organizing and conducting focus groups can be time consuming.