Social-Normative Expectations Mediates School Climate’s Association With Academic Achievement in Latino Middle School Students

Abstract

Many Latino students miss opportunities to develop their full potential in U.S. schools. Increasing attention is being paid to the malleable, nonacademic, factors that can affect student learning. The current study sought to evaluate the impact of school climate on Language Arts grade for Latino students in a large, low-income, urban middle school. In addition, the novel construct of Social-Normative Expectations, student perceptions of school-wide norms about achievement expectations for their peers, was explored in relation to school climate and academic achievement. The study sample reflected 513 Latino students, Grades 7 and 8. A mediation model found that approximately 30% of the variance in final Language Arts grades was accounted for by the predictors, including control variables ( R2 = .299). A distinctive mediation effect was also found, whereby the impact of school climate was associated with an approximately .6 points lower final grade mediated through the indirect pathway of Social-Normative Expectations ( b = −0.064, SE = 0.019, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [−0.104, −0.028]). Implications of these findings are discussed.

The impact of school climate in social‐normative expectations in low and high SES schools

“…The current study adds to the growing body of literature on expectations. We add to the previous study (Bell et al, 2017) peer behavior greatly influenced an individual's consumption (Rimal & Real, 2005). Exploring expectations about peers may add an important dimension for understanding academic achievement in marginalized populations, particularly for adolescents who may consider their future to be an exception from the overall trajectory of their peers (e.g., self-serving bias theory, Miller & Ross, 1975;attribution theory, Zuckerman, 1979).…”

“…Whereas self-expectations describe expectations for one's achievements, SNE are expectations about the future achievements of one's peers (Bell et al, 2017). For example, SNE describes students' perception of whether their classmates are likely to graduate from high school or attend college.…”

“…with options including up to a PhD or MD. Bell et al (2017) first adapted Ou and Reynold's items. They expanded to 6 items across dimensions, including graduating high school, attending college, having a well-paying job, contributing to the community, having a happy family life, and being in good health.…”

Mi Conexión Cultural al Ambiente Educativo: Cultural Congruity as a Mediator within a Psychosociocultural Examination of Californian Latinx High School Students’ Coping

“…The current study adds to the existing educational research by highlighting the importance of feeling connection between cultural and educational values, as these support their coping and mental health. The study underscores the importance of taking a holistic and cultural-focused approach to Latinx students' mental health via coping (Flores, 2013), as an alternative to outcome reports and cognitive indices (Bell et al, 2019;Taggart, 2018). Latinx adolescents' experiences with marginalization within and outside of the confines of school are "wounds to [their] soul, body, and heart" (Flores, 2013, p. 93).…”

“…Overall, Latinx youth’s educational pursuits are described as in “crisis” (Gándara & Contreras, 2009). Considering the high K-12 enrollment in California and that Latinx youth are projected to increase by 32% by the year 2023 (Hussar & Bailey, 2016), addressing non-cognitive factors to increase educational success is important (Bell et al, 2019). For the present study, a culture-centered approach was implemented to understand the role of culture congruity in further explaining the relationship between psychological, social, and cultural variables to coping, respectively.…”