School Climate Perception Among Latinx and White Students: An Examination of Intersecting Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Identities in Context

Abstract

Limited research has explored how the characteristics of student and teacher racial/ethnic composition may explain students’ perceptions of school climate. This study used stratified analysis to assess the associations of two prominent diversity aspects (i.e., student racial/ethnic diversity and teacher racial/ethnic diversity) with students’ perceived school climate. Particularly, this study controlled for student- and school-levels demographic characteristics among 41,237 Latinx students and 23,819 White students from 7th grade to 12th grade enrolled in 250 California public schools. The findings indicated that higher teacher racial/ethnic diversity had a mild to moderate positive association with perceived school attitudes to parental participation (Economically Disadvantaged Latinx: β = .20, p < .05; Economically Disadvantaged White: β = .37, p < .01) and perceived school equity and safety (Economically Disadvantaged Latinx: β = .16, p < .05; Economically Disadvantaged White: β = .19, p < .05) among Latinx and White students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Only Latinx students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds perceived less favorable school safety and equity in schools with a higher student racial/ethnic diversity (Economically Disadvantaged Latinx: β = -.20, p < .05). Results have implications for addressing school climate disparities at an organizational level.