The relationship and differences between parent, student, and teacher responses to the Missouri School Improvement Program cycle three advanced questionnaire climate items and student ACT performance

Abstract

The problem under study was the lack of information regarding how student, teacher, and parent responses to the school climate portion of the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) Advanced Questionnaire (AQ) are related to Missouri public high school student performance on the ACT. The population group was every Missouri public high school undergoing an MSIP accreditation review in 2004-2005. The study was conducted by comparing each school's parent, teacher, and student responses to the MSIP climate portion of the AQ to the percentage of student ACT scores at or above the national average for that school. Additionally, a step-wise linear regression was conducted to determine which, if any group's responses were more closely related to ACT scores and which, if any of the AQ questions were more closely related to student performance on the ACT. The study demonstrated that parent responses were most closely related to student ACT scores at or above the national average and a predictive model could be created based on parent perceptions of school climate. The information revealed valuable data for k-12 educators and policy makers regarding the importance of parent perceptions of school climate in relationship to student performance on the ACT.