School Climate: The Interplay between Interpersonal Relationships and Student Achievement

This study of school climate underscores the importance of the quality of interpersonal relationships in a school to student achievement. This study improves on previous studies in three ways: First, it makes use of a parsimonious school climate framework that is easier to interpret than previous measures; second, it replaces a subscale that assesses a school's success at buffering influences from its community with a measure of bridging (DiPaola and third, it measures student progress using state standards of the kind required by No Child Left Behind. We provide educational leaders with a framework to gain insight into their schools’ climates and in turn make improvements within their schools as they strive to meet the benchmarks set by their states and the federal government.