Development of a school climate scale based on school members' shared experiences

Abstract

School climate is a crucial factor that influences emotional and behavioral outcomes of school members. The measurement of school climate also provides beneficial evidence for school principals to identify issues relevant to school improvement. However, most of the existing scales are variable-centered measures, not person-centered. This study aims to develop a school climate scale by means of user experience (UX) approach in Thailand. The UX focuses on the emotions of teachers, students, and principals, along with their roles, perceptions, attitudes, and behavior, regarding the school climate. Applying this approach might assist in obtaining more insight from school members and yielding a person-centered scale. The newly developed school climate scale which was based on UX covered four dimensions: safety, academic, community, and institutional environment. Based on the responses of the Thai teachers from over 70 schools in Bangkok and metropolitan region (N = 220), the school climate scale showed appropriate levels of reliability and validity. The construct validity was examined; second-order confirmatory factor analysis was at satisfactory level, Chi-square (34, N=220) =43.80, p=.12, CFI=.99, TLI=.99, RMSEA=.04, SRMR =.05. Convergent and discriminant validity was at an acceptable level as well. As for the scale's reliability, evidence for internal consistency was confirmed; the Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the four dimensions of the scale ranged from.68 to.91, and the McDonald's omega coefficient was.93. The present study provides a new scale to measure school climate that has adequate psychometric properties and may be a practical instrument for stakeholders to measure and promote a positive school climate that based on the relevant experiences of the various members of a school. © Behavioral Science Research Institute.