Closing the Gap: The Relationship between School Climate and Student Achievement in the Middle School Sector

School leaders must make decisions and implement strategies to improve a school climate and student achievement, and it benefits them to understand which areas of school climate have the greatest impact on student achievement. The State of Georgia measures school climate and student achievement with its school accountability measure, the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). This study employed a quantitative research design using archival data that was publicly available from CCRPI data for a two year span to examine the relationship between school climate and student achievement statewide in the middle grade sector. Findings revealed that all four components of school climate (i.e., Survey Score, Discipline Score, Safe & Substance-Free Learning Environment Score, and Attendance Score) were significantly related to student achievement. Additionally, the Survey Score and Discipline Score were the most significant predictors of student achievement. These findings provide school leaders with essential information to strategically make decisions involving processes and procedures that impact these areas. Future research is needed to determine whether the relationship between school climate and student achievement is similar for elementary, middle, or high schools. In addition, separating the data into rural, suburban, and urban schools and running similar analyses may also help administrators improve school climate and student achievement.