School Type and Structure as Predictors of Perceived School Climate and Student Academic Achievement among Middle School Students in Baltimore City Public Schools

Abstract

This study examined the impact of school type and school structure on perceived school climate and student achievement, for middle grades students in a large urban school district. The specific school types examined were charter schools, transformational schools, and traditional schools. For school structure, the grade configurations of K-8, 6-8, and 6-12 were examined. The total sample number for the first data set, the climate survey, was 12,258 students, and for the second data set, test scores, it was 17,472, and a total of 103 schools. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to measure the association among school types, school structure, and school climate factors. A significant finding was that students who attended charter schools had a more positive perception of school climate than students who attended both transformational and traditional schools, and students who attended transformational schools had the lowest perceptions of school climate of all three, school types. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to measure the association among school types, school structure, and state assessment results, both in reading and math. The findings revealed that students who attended charter schools had almost twice the odds of passing the state assessment in both reading and math, than students who attended traditional schools, and students who attended transformational schools had the lowest percentage of students passing the state test in both reading and math than students in charter and traditional schools