Examining the Relationship between School Climate and ACT Composite Scores. ACT Research. Data Byte

A positive school climate is important for students' social and emotional wellness and ability to learn. For example, students with positive relationships with their teachers and who feel safe at school tend to show higher academic performance (Korpershoek et al., 2020). The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship of school climate to ACT® test scores. Mosaic™ by ACT® Social Emotional Learning (SEL) assessment data was collected from 6,747 students (53% female, 47% male; 67% White, 12% Hispanic, 6% Black, 3% Asian; 74% 11th graders, 23% 12th graders at the time of the ACT test) and matched to their ACT scores. Their SEL assessment data were captured during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years, while the ACT tests occurred from 2018 to 2021. The assessment includes two measures of school climate, which are defined as follows: (1) Relationships with School Personnel: the extent to which students relate to school personnel as part of their connection to school; and (2) School Safety: students' perception of the school qualities related to security at school. The data show that there is a positive relationship between perceived school climate and ACT scores.