Assessing School Climate: Validation of a Brief Measure of the Perceptions of Parents

The goal of this study was to develop a parent school climate survey of high practical utility, grounded in theory, and supported by evidence of the reliability of its scores and validity of the inferences for their use. The Delaware School Climate Survey-Home is comprised of seven factors: Teacher-Student Relations, Student-Student Relations, Teacher-Home Communication, Respect for Diversity, Fairness of Rules, Clarity of Expectations, and School Safety. With a sample of 16,173 parents/guardians, confirmatory factor analyses supported a bifactor model, consisting of one general factor and the seven specific factors above. Configural, weak factorial, and strong factorial invariance were found across three grade-level groups, five racial-ethnic groups, and gender. Evidence of criterion-related validity was found in scores across all factors correlating significantly at the elementary and middle school levels with academic achievement, bullying victimization, and school suspensions/expulsions.