School climate reports from Norwegian teachers: A methodological and substantive study

Using a set of data derived from 42 schools at two points in time and a widely accepted definition of organizational climate, a number of methodological and substantive issues relating to school climate were explored. Via principal component analysis, four dimensions of school climate were identified. In approaching the key issue, under what conditions it is meaningful to speak of a climate dimension as a characteristic of the school (and not some lower-level unit), it is tentatively proposed that a climate dimension has a 'unit reliability' of .15 or more and an 'aggregate reliability' of at least .35 in order to be considered a school characteristic. Furthermore, the "longitudinal relative consistency" or stability of the dimensions was examined. It was found that at least three of the dimensions were relatively enduring over time, as they should be according to the definition of school climate. Multilevel analyses suggested;hat the teacher reports of school climate were fairly robust and generalizable. The thinking and findings in this article are related to recent work in the school improvement and effectiveness field.