School Climate and Students Academic Achievement In Secondary Schools of Buno Bedele Zone

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine if a relationship exists between school climate and students’ achievement in Bunno Bedelle secondary schools setting, and to investigate whether the various elements of school climate have independent effects on students’ academic achievement. A correlational research design was employed. School climate was measured using Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire (OCDQ) developed by Sing and Katoch (2017), and student achievement was assessed using students’ average scores at the Ethiopia General School Leaving Certificate Examination (EGSLCE) of 10th grade in the year 2016/17 - 2018/19. A total of 34 schools, 260 teachers, 10 principals, 10 vise Principals and 3 supervisors were involved using random and stratified sampling. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation, Pearson r correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis were applied for the data analysis. The results indicate that school climate has a significant and positive relationship with student achievement in Buno Bedelle secondary schools. The collegial teacher behavior, intimate teacher behavior, supportive principal behavior and directive principal behavior were significantly and positively correlated to students’ academic achievement while the restrictive principal behavior and disengaged teacher behavior sub scale were not. The six factors used as predictor variables in the regression model were shown to have a significant relationship with student achievement when viewed as a whole, but they generated more varied results when examined individually. The collegial teachers’ behavior is the most positive predictor of student achievement in Bunno Bedelle secondary schools. Similarly intimate teacher behavior, supportive principal behavior and directive principal behavior are also found to be significant predictor of academic achievement. This study found no independent effect of restrictive principal behavior and disengaged teacher behavior on students’ achievement. The researcher concluded achievement difference comes due to school climate differences. It is recommended that school leaders should design school improvement plans (SIP) that involve the school climate construct. School principals need to think how to develop collegial and intimate relationship between school life which latter bring better students’ academic achievement. For the future research the school climate sub variable like teachers’ performance (GPA), teachers’ pedagogical skills and students’ academic achievement should be considered.