Validity and Use of the Classroom Environment Scale

In a recent monograph, Fraser (1981a) argues that classroom environment variables should be incorporated more often when designing evaluations of educational programs. When used in evaluations as dependent variables, characteristics of classroom psychosocial environment provide important process criteria of curricular effectiveness (Walberg, 1975). In fact, in past evaluation studies (Fraser, 1979a; Welch & Walberg, 1972), classroom environment dimensions have differentiated revealingly between students following different curricula when a range of outcome measures showed little sensitivity. Also, because consistently strong associations have been found between student learning outcomes and the nature of the classroom environment (Haertel, Walberg, & Haertel, 1981), it is desirable that educational program evaluations that use student outcomes as criterion variables also include classroom environment dimensions as independent variables because they are important codeterminants of student outcomes. This article aims to stimulate and facilitate more frequent use of classroom environment variables in educational program evaluation by reporting a study of the validity and use of a widely applicable instrument called the Classroom Environment Scale (CES). Also, important implications for the design and interpretation of evaluation studies are drawn from the present research applications using the CES. Before this research is considered, the following section briefly overviews past classroom environment research, including the development and use of the CES.