Date of Award

12-1994

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Charles C. Warfield

Second Advisor

Dr. Uldis Smidchens

Third Advisor

Dr. Joe Morris

Abstract

In this study, relationships among academic self-esteem, teacher/student relationships, school climate, students' level of involvement in school activities, and size of school were analyzed.

Sixteen lower Michigan high schools were randomly selected, 12 with a population of 200-500 and 4 with a population of 1,500-2,000. One class each of 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, representing a wide range of ability levels, were chosen from each school, for a total of 64 classrooms containing 1,319 students. Brookover’s (1962) Self-Concept of Ability Scale, the author's Academic Self-Esteem Inventory, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals School Climate Survey (Kelley et al., 1986) were administered to 1,319 high school students. Data were also collected on sex, grade level, race, number of school activities in which the student was involved, and size of school.

Findings support the hypotheses that there is a direct relationship between high school students' perceptions of teacher/student relationships and academic self esteem; that there is a direct relationship between students' perceptions of school climate and students' academic self-esteems; that there is a relationship in the number of activities in which students are involved and academic self-esteem; that there is a relationship between number of activities in which students are involved and students' perceptions of teacher/student relationships; that there is a relationship between number of activities in which students are involved and students' perceptions of school climate; that there is a relationship between the size of the school and students' perceptions of teacher/student relationships; and finally, that there is a relationship between the size of the school and the level of student involvement.

Findings were inconclusive on the hypothesis that there is a relationship between the size of the school and students' academic self esteems.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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