Closing the Achievement Gap: The Association of Racial Climate with Achievement and Behavioral Outcomes

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between school racial climate and students' self-reports of academic and discipline outcomes, including whether racial climate mediated and/or moderated the relationship between race and outcomes. Using the Racial Climate Survey-High School Version (M. Aber et al., unpublished), data were gathered from African American (n = 382) and European American students (n = 1456) regarding their perceptions of racial climate. About 18% of the respondents were low-income and approximately 50% were male. Positive perceptions of the racial climate were associated with higher student achievement and fewer discipline problems. Further, race moderated the relationship between racial climate and both achievement and discipline outcomes. Finally, racial differences in students' grades and discipline outcomes were associated with differences in perceptions of racial climate. Results suggest careful attention should be given to the racial climate of secondary schools, particularly for adolescents who perceive schools as unfair.

School Racial Climate and the Academic Achievement of African American High School Students: The Mediating Role of School Engagement

“…In particular, recent theoretical models have emphasized that the academic achievement of African American students is an interaction of their race-specific experiences within the school setting (e.g., Aronson, Quinn & Spencer, 1998;Ogbu, 1978Ogbu, , 1994Mickelson, 1990;Steele & Aronson, 1995). Also, this empirical work suggests that racial differences in student outcomes may also derive from students' racially based perceptions of, experiences in, and responses to their school environments, in other words, through perceptions of school racial climate (Mattison & Aber, 2007). School climate literatures suggest that being in a hostile school racial climate can reduce Black students' sense of connection to school, even if they value the outcomes of education (Booker, 2006).…”

“…With regard to school engagement mediating the association between school racial climate and academic achievement, there is some support for the direct association between indicators of school racial climate and school engagement among adolescent youth (e.g., Dotterer, McHale, & Crouter, 2009;Mattison & Aber, 2007;Phelan, Yu & Davidson, 1994) and between school engagement and academic achievement among adolescent youth (e.g., Appleton, Christenson, Kim & Reschly, 2006;Dotterer & Lowe, 2011;Finn, 1989Finn, , 1993Irvin, 2012;Patrick, Ryan & Kaplan, 2007;Skinner & Belmont, 1993;Wang & Holcombe, 2010;Wang & Eccles, 2012). Specifically, research has provided evidence that students who feel they are treated fairly and equally by staff, regardless of their racial or ethnic identity, are more likely to trust in and value the opinions and behaviors of staff (Nichols & Good 1998;Walberg & Genova, 1983).…”

“…Specifically, research has provided evidence that students who feel they are treated fairly and equally by staff, regardless of their racial or ethnic identity, are more likely to trust in and value the opinions and behaviors of staff (Nichols & Good 1998;Walberg & Genova, 1983). Additional evidence suggests that these positive perceptions of fairness may lead students to engage in school (Mattison & Aber, 2007). Furthermore, research has indicated that students' level of engagement is consistently and positively related to school achievement, as measured by participants' grade point averages (e.g., Shernoff & Schmidt, 2008), standardized test scores (e.g., Connell, Spencer & Aber, 1994) and educational aspirations (Wang & Eccles, 2012).…”

“…Still, although school climate has been recognized as a significant contributor to adolescent outcomes, including academic achievement (Esposito, 1999;Kuperminc, Leadbeater, Emmons, & Blatt, 1997;Roeser & Eccles, 1998;Zullig, Huebner & Patton, 2011), racial climate has been under-examined as a component of school climate (Green, Adams, & Turner, 1988;Mattison & Aber, 2007).…”

“…Surprisingly, racial climate has been the focus of a number of studies at the college level (see e.g., Cabrera, Nora, Terenzini, Pascarella & Hagedorn, 1999), but only a few studies at the secondary school level (e.g., Byrd & Chavous, 2011;Mattison & Aber, 2007).…”