Middle School Students' Experience of Fair-Inclusive School Climates Influences Beliefs about Peer Treatment
Influences on academic, social-emotional, and behavioral outcomes for middle school students include those of the broader school climate not just individual aspirations and efforts (Anderson, 1982; Brookover, Schweitzer, Schneider, Beady, Flood, & Wisenbaker, 1978; Haynes, 1996; Haynes, Emmons, & Ben-Avie, 1997; Patton, Bond, Carlin, Thomas, Butler, Glover, & Catalano, 2006). The school climate experience is fueled by interactions with adults, and students’ experiences of fairness, inclusivity, and exclusivity. Understanding students’ perceptions of school climate, inclusivity, and fairness is therefore important for improving students’ learning environment and educational outcomes. The goal of this paper is to better understand the relationship between (a) student perceptions of fairness-inclusivity (equity), (b) experiences of the school climate, and (c) resulting beliefs about interpersonal behavior.
Methods:
The present study is a secondary analysis of survey data from middle school students (n=752) involved in an anti-bullying program evaluation in Colorado between 2002-2006. Survey items from school climate surveys were utilized to investigate the relationship between student perceptions of four constructs: fairness-inclusivity (α = .64; e.g. People of my race can succeed in my school), beliefs about interpersonal behavior norms (α = .84; e.g., It is wrong to call other people names), and two dimensions of the school social-emotional climate, connectedness (α = .83; e.g., I like school) and quality of relationships (α = .83; e.g., I have a teacher who really cares about me). Structural equation modeling was used to test whether connectedness and quality of relationships mediated the relationship between student perceptions of fairness-inclusivity and beliefs about interpersonal behavioral norms.
Results:
There were significant associations between fairness-inclusivity and beliefs about interpersonal behavioral norms (b=-.45, SE=.08, z=7.38), fairness-inclusivity and connectedness (b=.43, SE=.08, z=7.68), fairness-inclusivity and quality of relationships (b=.77, SE=.08, z=10.15), connectedness and beliefs about interpersonal behavioral norms (b=-.43, SE=.04, z=-8.47), and quality of relationships and beliefs about interpersonal behavioral norms (b=-.59, SE=.07, z=-10.5). There was support for a meditational model in which fairness-inclusivity influenced students’ endorsement of peer treatment via their experiences of the school climate (χ²(164)=561.77,p<.0001, CFI=.93, SRMR=.05). As students’ perceptions of fairness-inclusivity increased there was an increase in the positive perception of school climate and a decrease in endorsements of negative peer treatment.
Conclusions and Implications:
These findings support the need to attend to school climate and the relationships students have with adults in the school. The experience of these interactions as inclusive and fair (i.e., equitable) is critical to the experience of the school climate and how students come to believe they should treat one another. Peer treatment is dependent on the relational experiences with adults and not solely the result of intrapersonal skills. Policies addressing school practices, including school-wide disciplinary structures, should be guided by an equity lens and lead to opportunities for student-adult relationship development. Future research is needed to explore the school climate mechanisms that support and hinder student experiences of inclusion, fairness, and equity.