Does School Climate Mean the Same Thing in the United States as in Mexico? A Focus on Measurement Invariance

Autor/inn/en	Shukla, Kathan D.; Waasdorp, Tracy E.; Lindstrom Johnson, Sarah; Orozco Solis, Mercedes Gabriela; Nguyen, Amanda J.; Rodríguez, Cecilia Colunga; Bradshaw, Catherine P.
Titel	Does School Climate Mean the Same Thing in the United States as in Mexico? A Focus on Measurement Invariance
Quelle	In: Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 37 (2019) 1, S.55-68 (14 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0734-2829
DOI	10.1177/0734282917731459
Schlagwörter	Educational Environment; Violence; Factor Analysis; Error of Measurement; Cross Cultural Studies; Cultural Differences; School Safety; Foreign Countries; Prevention; Incidence; Models; Middle School Students; Correlation; Learner Engagement; Student School Relationship; Academic Achievement; Validity; Measurement Techniques; Mexico; United States + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Lernumgebung; Pädagogische Umwelt; Schulumwelt; Gewalt; Faktorenanalyse; Messfehler; Cultural comparison; Kulturvergleich; Kultureller Unterschied; Ausland; Prävention; Vorbeugung; Vorkommen; Analogiemodell; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Korrelation; Schüler-Lehrer-Beziehung; Schulleistung; Gültigkeit; Messtechnik; Mexiko; USA
Abstract	School climate is an important construct for guiding violence prevention efforts in U.S. schools, but there has been less consideration of this concept in its neighboring country Mexico, which has a higher prevalence of violence. The U.S. Department of Education outlined a three-domain conceptualization of school climate (i.e., safe and supportive schools model) that includes engagement, safety, and the school environment. To examine the applicability of this school climate model in Mexico, the present study tested its measurement invariance across middle school students in the United States (n = 15,099) and Mexico (n = 2,211). Findings supported full invariance for engagement and modified-safety scales indicating that factor loadings and intercepts contributed almost equally to factor means, and scale scores were comparable across groups. Partial invariance was found for the environment scales. Results of a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) consisting of all 13 school climate scales indicated significantly positive associations among all scales in the U.S. sample and among most scales in the Mexico sample. Implications of these findings are discussed. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01