RESUMEN
El clima escolar resulta de creciente interés para investigadores e instituciones educativas. Las estrategias de mejoramiento escolar basadas en evidencias han incluido el clima escolar para apoyar a los integrantes de comunidades educativas en la creación de escuelas seguras y comprometidas con el aprendizaje. Es necesario contar con instrumentos validados para la población latinoamericana, que permitan la investigación comparada. Presentamos los resultados de la validación de la Escala de Clima Escolar. El instrumento mide la percepción de estudiantes sobre la aplicación de normas, el apoyo de adultos y la participación. Se tradujo al español y se realizó un análisis psicométrico. La muestra fue de 4688 estudiantes chilenos, de 4°, 6° y 8° básico. Los resultados evidencian un alto nivel de consisten interna (a = 0.89) y de varianza explicada (54%). El modelo de tres factores mostró un buen ajuste, así como uno de cuatro factores, que separa las normas generales de las normas contra la violencia sexual.
School climate has received increased attention use by researchers and educational institutions. Evidence-based school improvement processes have included school climate as a means of helping create schools that are safe and committed with learning. It is necessary to count with valid measures of school climate for Latin American countries, which may allow for comparative research. We present the results of the validation of the School Climate Scale. The instrument measures students' perceptions of norms, support from adults in the school, and participation. The scale was translated into Spanish and its psychometric properties were studied on a sample of 4,688 Chilean students from grades fourth, sixth, and eight. Findings show a high level on internal consistency (α = 0.89) and explained variance (54%). Structural equation models fit the data well, both for the three-factor solution as well a four-factor structure that separates general school norms from norms against sexual violence. The scale can facilitate data- driven decisions and may be incorporated into evidenced-based school improvement processes.