Perceptions of classroom environment and their relationship to children's mood, achievement, popularity and adjustment

Abstract

This study examines relationships between: (a) teacher perception and (b) student-teacher convergence of perception of environment, and student mood, achievement, popularity and adjustment, for students in general and for "problem" (i.e., acting-out, anxious, and unpopular) subgroups. Subjects included 511 5th and 6th graders, and their 23 teachers, from 4 suburban schools. A short form of the Classroom Environment Scale (CES) was used to assess teacher and student perception of the classroom. Students also completed mood adjective checklists and peer sociometric ratings. Reading and math report card grades and achievement test scores were recorded for the school year, and teachers submitted adjustment ratings for all students. Since students and teachers saw their classrooms differently, the two perspectives were studied separately. The four CES scales, based on teacher perceptions and student-teacher convergence that best predicted positive mood, peer popularity and teacher rated adjustment were Involvement, Order and Organization, Affiliation, and Rule Clarity. Findings were directionally similar for the average class and problem students, though stronger for the latter.

Perceived ecological congruence across family/school environments: Impact on the consistency of behavioral patterns and adaptation among children and youth

“…A number of studies suggest that levels of youth adaptation are systematically linked with the perceived social environments of both classroom and family settings (Felner, Aber, Cauce, & Primavera, 1985;Felner, Gintner, & Primavera, 1982;Trickett & Moos, 1974). In elementary grades, more positive teacher ratings of children's behavioral adjustment and academic competence have been linked to dimensions of the classroom environment, including higher teacher-rated affiliation, involvement, order and organization and rule clarity (Boike, Cowen, DeStefano, Felner, & Gesten, 1982; Humphrey, 1984;Weisz & Cowen, 1974; Wright, Cowen, & Kaplan, 1982), and to higher levels of student-rated order and organization, affiliation, innovation, teacher control, and task orientation (Toro et al, 1985;. In the family setting, parent ratings of child adaptation have been associated with parent ratings of similar dimensions of family climate (Billings & Moos, 1983Holohan & Moos, 1987).…”

Children's self-control in relation to perceived social environment.

“…Furthermore, children's and teachers' responses to the CES were not correlated, thus raising issues of cross-method nonconvergence. This lack of convergence between children's and teachers' perspectives is not isolated, however, in the assessment of elementary-class environments (Wright, Cowen, and Kaplan, 1982) or of children's abilities (e.g., self-control, Humphrey, 1982;masculinity-femininity, Hall & Halberstadt, 1980).…”

Social environmental predictors of children's adjustment in elementary school classrooms

“…Recent studies, at the upper elementary level, assessing social environment from both teachers' and children's perspectives, have found: (a) fewer teacher-judged problem behaviors and greater judged competence in classrooms seen by teachers as high in Order and Organization, Rule Clarity, Affiliation, and Involvement (Wright, Cowen, & Kaplan, 1982); (b) more positive sociometric ratings among children in classes seen by children as high in Order and Organization and Affiliation ; and (c) greater self-control behavior in classes seen as high in Order and Organization, Rule Clarity, and Involvement (Humphrey, 1984).…”