Abstract
Due to previous research regarding the benefits of a positive school climate combined with the adoption of diversified school accountability systems, many policymakers and educational leaders are interested in improving school climate. One common practice is to implement preventative discipline policies such as School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) or Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs that focus on universal behavioral expectations, frequently involving respect. Despite evidence that these policies are beneficial for a variety of outcomes, little attention focuses on respect’s role and whether student perception of respect contributes to their perception of school climate. This study applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze 9th-grade student perspectives from the 2018-2019 California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) (n=53,921) to determine the role respect plays between a students’ perception of their school’s discipline policies and school climate. It was hypothesized that respect would act as a partial mediator between discipline policy and school climate. Results indicate that preventative discipline policies significantly influence perspectives of respect (B=0.844, SE=0.004) which predicted student perception of school climate (B=0.617, SE=0.017). The accepted hypothesis was further examined based on student demographics. Both females and African American students reported significantly lower perceptions of respect compared to their male and White peers respectively. Implications for policymakers and educational leaders include the measurement and inclusion of respect in the future accountability and funding reports and continued implementation and professional development surrounding respect-based school interventions such as SWPBIS and SEL.