0.3 Lindahl, r. (february 2009). school climate differences between

Introduction

In an effort to determine to what extent Alabama educators perceive that “their school has positive teaching conditions where teachers are supported and empowered” (Take20 Alabama faqs, 2008, n. p.), all public-school-based licensed educators in the state were requested to respond to the Take20 Alabama Teaching and Learning Conditions Survey. This survey instrument was developed, administered, and analyzed by the New Teacher Center at the University of California – Santa Cruz and LEARN North Carolina. Versions of this survey had previously been completed by over a quarter million educators in eight states (Take20 Alabama faqs, 2008). Nearly 30,000 (47.14%) Alabama educators responded during January and February, 2008 (Hirsch, Freitas,&Villar, 2008).

Consistent with the purpose of the Take20 survey, the majority of the items were related to school climate; the remainder focused on staff development needs and practices and on the recently instituted mentoring program for new teachers. This article focuses exclusively on the school climate items and compares educators’ responses from high-performing elementary, middle, and junior high schools serving high-poverty populations with similar grade level schools serving similar socio-economic populations but which failed to meet their Annual Yearly Progress goals for 2007-2008.

Schools in the study population

The high-performing schools studied were those schools which had been awarded the Alabama Torchbearer School designation since the 2004-2005 school year. To qualify as a Torchbearer School, the school must meet the following criteria:

• At least 70% of the student population receives free or reduced price meals.
• At least 70% of the students score at Level III or Level IV (Proficient) on all sections of the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test.
• The average percentile stands above 50 in reading and in mathematics on the Stanford 10 assessment. (Schargel, Thacker,&Bell, 2007, p. 144)

Additionally, only Torchbearer Schools in which a minimum of 40% of the eligible educators completed the Take20 survey were included. Nineteen elementary, middle, and junior high schools met these criteria.