Abstract
It is widely accepted among researchers and practitioners that a positive school climate can mitigate the influence of students' social background (at the individual and school level) on academic success. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms of this phenomenon are unclear. This study seeks to fill this gap by developing a reliable and comprehensive assessment of the role of school climate in the relationship between social environment and academic success. This study specifically tested whether the school climate has a complementary influence on academic performance, compared to the social environment (compensation model), whether the school's social environment influences its school climate, which in turn influences academic success (mediation model), or whether the relationship between social environment and academic performance differs between schools (moderation model). This secondary analysis of a nationally representative sample of fifth- and eighth-grade students in public schools in Israel where instruction is in Hebrew, shows that school climate plays an important role in academic performance, regardless of the student's social background and school. School climate has a compensatory effect on academic performance, both at the school and student levels. School climate also moderates the relationship between students' performance and social background. On the other hand, the hypothesis of the mediating effect of the school climate on the relationship between social environment and academic success is not confirmed. These results highlight the need to improve the climate of schools, especially those with the most disadvantaged populations, in order to advance social mobility and equal opportunities
Translated title of the contribution | The relationship between social environment, school climate and academic success in Israel: Hypotheses of compensation, mediation and moderation |
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Original language | French |
Pages (from-to) | 123-144 |
Journal | Éducation & Formations |
Volume | 88-89 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Cited By (since 2015): 2M1 - Query date: 2022-10-19 13:12:21
M1 - 2 cites: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=15553004624843542527&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=2007&hl=en