Student Perception of School Climate Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Loading...
Date
2024-08-07
Authors
Gallo, John
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
School climate is comprised of experiences of school life that reflect norms, values, relationships, teaching practices and systemic structures. A student’s perception of school climate can be impacted by individual-level (race and gender), school-level (school socioeconomic status, school size, and schoolwide practices), and district-level (institutional policies) factors. There is extensive evidence on the impacts of schoolwide supports such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) on school climate. Specifically, there is a robust body of literature suggesting that fidelity of PBIS implementation is associated with positive school climate outcomes. In March 2020, schoolwide practices were disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, where educational practices changed drastically for millions of students. The present study investigates how school-level student perception of school climate changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in 195 elementary schools who maintained school climate data through PBISApps (dataset #D0130). All schools were implementing PBIS and assessed school climate data once before and once after the onset of the pandemic. Multilevel modeling with piecewise time covariates was conducted to examine changes in school climate from the 2018-2019 (Time 1) to the 2021-2022 (Time 4) school year. Results suggested a statistically significant increase during the 2020 – 2021 school year, followed by a statistically significant decrease during the 2021 – 2022 school year. Results also showed a negative association between the percent of students receiving free and reduced lunch and a school’s overall student perception of school climate. Limitations of this study include the sample composition, possible inaccuracies of demographic data, and school modality of instruction. Findings from this study outline the importance of school climate assessment data and indicators that promote fidelity in implementation. Recommendations to support school assessment procedures are discussed.
Description
Keywords
COVID - 19, multilevel modeling, pbis, school climate