The DOI matches its Crossref record; 194 of the 196 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A Review of School Climate Research
Abstract
For more than a century, there has been a growing interest in school climate. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute for Educational Sciences, a growing number of State Departments of Education, foreign educational ministries, and UNICEF have focused on school climate reform as an evidence-based school improvement strategy that supports students, parents/guardians, and school personnel learning and working together to create ever safer, more supportive and engaging K–12 schools. This work presents an integrative review on school climate research. The 206 citations used in this review include experimental studies, correlational studies, literature reviews, and other descriptive studies. The review focuses on five essential dimensions of school climate: Safety, Relationships, Teaching and Learning, Institutional Environment, and the School Improvement Process. We conclude with a critique of the field and a series of recommendations for school climate researchers and policymakers.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“These pupils often experience strained relationships with teachers, low school connectedness and a history of negative educational experiences (Kearney & Graczyk, 2020; Thapa et al., 2013).”
From Beyond the Classroom: Strengthening Pupil Engagement, Attendance and Belonging through Alternative Education and Community Partnerships (2025) · cites this paper as Thapa et al., 2013
In the citing paper
“When school is experienced as unsafe, unsupportive, or irrelevant, avoidance and disruptive behaviour are more likely to emerge (Sammons et al., 2016; Thapa et al., 2013).”
From Beyond the Classroom: Strengthening Pupil Engagement, Attendance and Belonging through Alternative Education and Community Partnerships (2025) · cites this paper as Thapa et al., 2013
In the citing paper
“Association between school climate and increased self-esteem, lower levels of drug use, fewer self-reports of psychiatric problems, better psychological well-being, decreased student absenteeism, lower rates of student suspension, and effective risk prevention.”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“which has also been associated with decreased absenteeism and increased academic achievement.78,79”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“being a victim of bullying is associated with feeling unsafe at school, lower connectedness with school, and lower grades.79”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“a positive and safe school climate is associated with reduced aggression and violence, peer victimization, and punitive disciplinary actions”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“Students who are more attached to school have been shown to have better attendance, grades, and classroom behavior.79”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“A positive and safe school climate has been shown to be associated with increased attachment to school.77–79”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“Student-teacher relationships influence academic success and behavioral outcomes for students.77–79”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“Cooperative learning, group cohesion, respect, and mutual trust have been shown to directly improve the learning environment and more distally the school climate.77–79”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“School connectedness has been shown to be a strong protective factor in decreasing risky health behaviors such as substance use, early sexual initiation, violence, and risk of unintentional injury (eg, drinking and driving).79–81”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“Research has demonstrated an association between school connectedness and academic achievement, including school attendance, staying in school longer, and higher grades and classroom test scores.79,80”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“school climate is directly related to academic achievement for elementary school, middle school, and high school.79”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“addressing physical threats (eg, crime, violence, and injuries) that make students feel safe, which in turn has been shown to be associated with decreased absenteeism and increased academic achievement.53,79,91”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“In addition, student learning opportunities beyond the classroom such as service-learning opportunities and civic engagement have been associated with improved school-related behaviors, decreased school suspension rates, and increased academic achievement.79,99”
From Critical connections: health and academics (2015) · cites this paper as [79]
Citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
School Climate: a Review of the Construct, Measurement, and Impact on Student Outcomes
Wang, M., & Degol, J. L. (2015) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-015-9319-1 · Cited by 1,970
Domitrovich, C. E., Durlak, J. A., Staley, K. C., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.12739 · Cited by 880
Berkowitz, R., Moore, H., Astor, R. A., & Benbenishty, R. (2016) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/0034654316669821 · Cited by 789
Teacher well-being: A systematic review of the research literature from the year 2000–2019
Hascher, T., & Waber, J. (2021) · Educational Research Review · doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2021.100411 · Cited by 680
Social and Emotional Learning as a Public Health Approach to Education
Greenberg, M. T., Domitrovich, C. E., Weissberg, R. P., & Durlak, J. A. (2017) · The Future of Children · doi:10.1353/foc.2017.0001 · Cited by 631
Metadata
- Authors
- Thapa, A., Cohen, J., Guffey, S., & Higgins-D’Alessandro, A.
- Affiliations
- National School Climate Center
- Fordham University (US)
- Fordham University
- ORCID
- Cohen, Jonathan
- Venue
- Review of Educational Research
- Published
- 2013-09
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 357-385
- ISSN
- 0034-6543 (ISSN-L)
- 1935-1046
- OpenAlex
- W2103901158
- Semantic Scholar
- efd067a6710a4d6c6f0355fbf8d1aef8783333be
- Cited by
- 2,335
- References
- 196
- Citations by year
- 2026: 203 · 2025: 237 · 2024: 211 · 2023: 236 · 2022: 231 · 2021: 221 · 2020: 225 · 2019: 174 · 2018: 207 · 2017: 143 · 2016: 114 · 2015: 90 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 6
- FWCI
- 395.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Review of Educational Research (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Education
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- University of Chicago
- Wisconsin Center for Education Research, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Environments and Student Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › School Health and Nursing Education
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- school climate, school safety, teacher-student relationship, teaching-learning process, institutional environment, school improvement, K-12 schools
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
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