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Abstract
The purpose of this causal comparative study was to examine the perceptions of school climate of students enrolled in a career academy. It was also important to determine if there were differences in how students perceived the school climate (quality of the instructional programs, support for student learning, environment for learning, and student/school relationships) of the career academy where they were enrolled based on the independent variables of the study which were gender, grade level, and race/ethnicity. Of the approximately 800 high school students enrolled in the career academy, 646 students received parental consent and/or volunteered to participate in the study. There were 315 male and 331 female students. The race/ethnicity of these students included African American (214), Caucasian (182), Hispanic (167), Asian American (28), Multiracial (28), and Other (27). For each of the four dependent variables, quality of the instructional programs, support for student learning, environment for learning, and student/school relationships, a majority of the participants indicated a positive perception of school climate in the career academy. There were no significant differences found between the students perceptions of school climate (four subscales) based on grade level or race/ethnicity. However, a significant difference was found between the students perceptions of school climate and the subscale student/school relationships, based on gender. Female students were more positive about student/school relationships than male students.