Can a Positive School Climate Promote Student Attendance? Evidence From New York City. (April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hamlin, Daniel
• Is Part Of: American educational research journal. Volume 58:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 315
• Page End: 342
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Subjects: school climate -- student attendance -- chronic absence -- accountability; Education -- United States -- Periodicals; Education -- Research -- United States -- Periodicals; 370.97305
• DOI: 10.3102/0002831220924037
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-8312

Abstract

Nearly 15% of American students are chronically absent from school. To address absenteeism, many states have recently made chronic absence a core component of their school accountability plans. Scholars have theorized that a positive school climate can promote student attendance, but empirical support for this idea is lacking. In this study, the relationship between four student-reported measures of school climate and student attendance are investigated by analyzing two annual school climate surveys (N = 823, 753) from New York City. Results indicate small associations among the four measures of perceived school climate and student attendance. Furthermore, school-level changes in perceived school climate between middle and high school were only marginally associated with student attendance.