Students' Perceptions of Membership in Their High Schools

Many recent school-reform efforts have advocated for designing schools in ways that promote students' perceptions of membership. This study investigated students' perceptions of school membership, linking student and school characteristics to these perceptions. Specifically, it drew on psychological, sociological, and educational theory to create a measure of perceived school membership consisting of three interrelated dimensions: (1) students' feelings of belonging, (2) students' commitment to school, and (3) students' commitment to academic work. Data from a nationally representative sample of high school students were used to estimate observed relationships between certain student and school characteristics and students' perceptions of high school. One important finding is that students who may need perceived school membership the most and may benefit most from it perceived lower levels of membership than did their peers. In addition, students who were in the academic track, took more mathematics and English courses, and held higher educational expectations perceived higher school membership than did their peers. Perceived membership was also higher in schools where students had more influence over academic work and attended homerooms.