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Classroom climate in middle school eighth grades

Deborah Ann Antosca, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

Although it has been clearly established in the literature that there is a relationship between classroom climate and student achievement, teachers often fail to be aware of or consciously attend to their own behaviors which affect climate in their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine classroom climate and specifically to document teacher behaviors which seem to be associated with positive and negative climate in two classrooms each for five eighth grade subjects (language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and conversational foreign language). Four data collection methods were used: qualitative field notes adopted from Saphier scripting, teacher and student interviews, quantitative teacher and student classroom climate surveys, and document analysis of student grade reports. Though no overall significantly negative climates were identified, there were noted inconsistencies in the presence of positive classroom climate elements from one data source to the next. Results supported teachers failing to be aware of or consciously attending to behaviors which affected climate in their classrooms and allowed for the creation of ideal climate profiles.

Subject Area

Curricula|Teaching|Teacher education

Recommended Citation

Antosca, Deborah Ann, "Classroom climate in middle school eighth grades" (1997). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9721428.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9721428

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