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STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF SCHOOL CLIMATE IN A BERMUDA MIDDLE

SCHOOL: A PROGRAM EVALUATION STUDY

A dissertation submitted

by

Stephanie Guthman

toFIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

in

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

This dissertation has been accepted for

the faculty of Fielding Graduate University by

Marie P. Farrell, d!, MP"

#ommittee #hair

#ommittee$%eonard &aca, d!., Faculty 'eader

!ebra &endell stroff, Ph!., Faculty 'eader

#heryl (ance, (.M., )tudent 'eader

d*ard +oyner, d!., ternal aminer p-

UMI Number: 3376886Copyright 2009 byGuthman, StephanieIN!"M#$I!N $! US%"S$he &ua'ity o( thi) repro*u+tion i) *epen*ent upon the &ua'ity o( the +opy)ubmitte* -ro.en or in*i)tin+t print, +o'ore* or poor &ua'ity i''u)tration)an* photograph), print b'ee*/through, )ub)tan*ar* margin), an* impropera'ignment +an a*er)e'y a((e+t repro*u+tionIn the un'i.e'y eent that the author *i* not )en* a +omp'ete manu)+riptan* there are mi))ing page), the)e 1i'' be note* #')o, i( unauthorie*+opyright materia' ha* to be remoe*, a note 1i'' in*i+ate the *e'etion

UMUMI Mi+ro(orm 3376886Copyright 2009 by ro4ue)t 55C#'' right) re)ere* $hi) mi+ro(orm e*ition i) prote+te* again)tunauthorie* +opying un*er $it'e 7, Unite* State) Co*ero4ue)t 55C789 %a)t %i)enho1er ar.1ay! -o 36#nn #rbor, M' 806/36 p2

8/10/2019 Student Perceptions of School Climate in a Bermuda Middle

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)TU!(T P'#PT/() /F )#"//% #%MAT ( A &'MU!A M!!% )#"//%$

A P'/G'AM 0A%UAT/( )TU!1

by

)tephanie Guthman

Abstract

The purpose of this program evaluation study *as to eamine the impact of a year2long

broad2based intervention program aimed at ma3ing positive changes in school climate for

students in one &ermuda middle school. The conceptual frame*or3 guiding this study *as

based, in part, on the #omer model of school improvement. General school climate is defined

as

the sum total of the physical and psychosocial dimensions of the school contet. This includes

the quality and character of the school life and the environment that influences attitudes of

and

interactions bet*een staff, students, and parents. The study used a quasi2eperimental, one

group, pretest4posttest design *ith all -56 middle school student volunteers in attendance

duringthe time period in *hich the intervention *as implemented. The primary dependent variables

for

this study *ere scores from the 1ale )chool #limate )urvey, namely, fairness, order and

discipline, parent involvement, sharing of resources, student interpersonal relations,

studentteacher

relations, and total school climate. !emographic variables included gender,

race4ethnicity, age, grade, and school year. To test the null and alternate hypotheses, t*o2*ay

Pearson7s correlations and one2*ay A(/0A tests *ere used. Tests did not support the

research

hypotheses and the study concluded that there *as no significant positive effect of the year2

long

intervention program by The Family #entre on the students7 perception of the overall school

climate. p8

9ey*ords 2 &ermuda, Middle )chool, )chool #limate, )tudent Perception :

#opyright by

)TP"A( GUT"MA(

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