School climate and culture impact on middle school students and their attendance

ABSTRACT

Numerous studies have been conducted on the impact school climate and culture has on student achievement, but little has been studied on how climate and culture impacts student attendance. This study focuses specifically on the teacher-student relationship, parent engagement, and school safety and how these three areas of emphasis affect student attendance. When students feel disconnected, parents are unengaged, and safety concerns are present within the school setting, attendance barriers are created for students. This mixed-methods explanatory approach provided researchers the opportunity to survey all middle school students and interview 10 individual students per grade level for further investigation into what barriers are present at Rural #0535 Middle School. Although the results from the student body were generally favorable, there were pockets of concern in each of the three areas that indicate the reasons why students are absent from school. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as chronic absenteeism, school leaders must identify ways to address the concerns identified within the investigations. Once identified, school administrators can begin to eliminate the obstacles that are hindering students from attending school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)