The relationship between school climate conditions and student aspirations

Researchers frequently report that student aspirations are related to several educational outcomes, including academic performance, affective health, attrition, and leadership skills. Yet few have reported explorations of school climate characteristics that may or may not be related to aspirations. To provide more information on scholastic conditions that might be manipulated in order to increase student aspirations, the author administered the Secondary School Aspirations Survey to 1,170 students from two New England high schools. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance and post hoc discriminant analyses indicated that the students reporting high aspirations (i.e., inspiration and ambition) perceived a more supportive school climate than the students with low aspirations did, especially with respect to conditions related to mentoring, self-confidence, and excitement.