Developing and Validating a New Classroom Climate: Observation Assessment Tool

• NCJ Number: 235001
• Journal: Journal of School Violence Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Dated: April-June 2011 Pages: 165-184
• Author(s): Stephen S. Leff; Duane E. Thomas; Edward S. Shapiro; Brooke Paskewich; Kim Wilson; Beth Necowitz-Hoffman; Abbas F. Jawad
• Date Published: April 2011
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): R34MH072982
• Contract Number(s): 5-U49-CE001093
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health; Ctr's for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Test/Measurement
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study investigated how to refine and adapt an empirically supported and theoretically grounded classroom climate assessment tool.

Abstract

The climate of school classrooms, shaped by a combination of teacher practices and peer processes, is an important determinant for children's psychosocial functioning and is a primary factor affecting bullying and victimization. Given that there are relatively few theoretically grounded and validated assessment tools designed to measure the social climate of classrooms, our research team developed an observation tool through participatory action research (PAR). This article details how the assessment tool was designed and preliminarily validated in 18 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms in a large urban public school district. The goals of this study are to illustrate the feasibility of a PAR paradigm in measurement development, ascertain the psychometric properties of the assessment tool, and determine associations with different indices of classroom levels of relational and physical aggression. (Published Abstract)