The relationship between school climate, academic self-concept, and academic achievement.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This dissertation examined the relationships among school climate, academic self-concept, and academic achievement. This author investigated whether academic self-concept and school climate predicted academic achievement. This author also studied specific structural equation models to determine whether specific areas of perception of ability mediate the influence of academic self-concept and specific areas of school climate on academic achievement. In addition, ethnic, gender, and grade differences were examined for school climate, academic self-concept, perceptions of ability, and academic achievement. Elementary students (<italic>N</italic> = 581) from a metropolitan school district completed three instruments: a measure of school climate, a measure of academic self-concept, and a measure of perception of ability. Information on academic achievement was obtained through students' self-report of their last recorded grades in math, reading, and writing. Information was obtained through an experimental ex post facto design where the degree of association among the variables (i.e., school climate, academic self-concept, and academic achievement) that existed within school settings was examined. Results based on the multiple regression analysis indicated that the predictors explained 18% of the variance in academic achievement, although only the variance explained by academic self-concept was statistically significant. Although the structural equation models originally developed were not a good fit for the data, models developed through a specific search resulted in a better fit for the data for overall academic achievement and achievement in reading and writing. Additional studies conducted found ethnic differences between Anglo American and Hispanic students in the paths of the structural equation models. When differences were sought based on students' personal characteristics, ethnic, gender, and grade differences were found among school climate, academic self-concept, perceptions of academic ability, and academic achievement. The findings of the study provided support for the concept that school climate and academic self-concept influence students' perceptions of themselves as learners as well as their academic achievement.