An Instrument for Assessing Instructional Climate through Low-Inference Student Judgments

Instructional climate is an aspect of environmental press defined by the characteristic demands of the classroom environment as perceived by the students to whom they are directed. The concept of environmental press was described in 1938 by Henry Murray. From the characteristic modes of response of individuals are inferred needs whose strength and relationships characterize the personality. In a similar way the strengths and relationships of characteristic stresses, pressures, rewards, and other influences of the environment compose the environmental press. In 1956 Stern, Stein, and Bloom elaborated the environmental press concept by applying it to assessment studies and showing that an improvement in the prediction of performance was possible by defining the psychological demands of the situation in which the performance takes place. The College Characteristics Index developed in 1957 by Pace and Stern applied the concept of environmental press to college