School Climate Assessment Instruments for Middle School and High School Students

School as Caring Community Profile (SCCP)

Center for the 4^th and 5^th Rs
State University of New York at Cortland. (2000)

www.cortland.edu/www/c4n5rs/

Instrument developed by the Center for the 4^th and 5^th Rs to help a school assess itself as a caring community. The SCCP may be administered at any point (ideally at the beginning) of a character education initiative and then at later points to assess progress. Its validity as a measure of caring community is enhanced if it is given to varied constituencies that make up the school: teachers, administrators, non-teaching professional staff, other staff, parents, students (Items 1-20), school board members.

Descriptors are: 1=rarely; 2=sometimes; 3=as often as not; 4=more often than not; 5=almost always.

School Climate Scale Dimensions
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SCALE NAME	SCALE DESCRIPTION	SAMPLE ITEM
Perceptions of student respect	Measures respect for other students, staff, and school property	Students treat classmates with respect. (+)
Perceptions of student friendship and belonging	Measures student caring, respect, and kindness for one another	Students share what they have with others. (+)
Perceptions of students’ shaping of their environment	Measures students attempts to influence the behavior and actions of others and the overall well-being of the school	Students resolve conflicts without fighting, insults, or threats. (+)
Perceptions of support and care by and for faculty/staff	Measures caring and respect students, parents and other faculty, staff, have toward faculty and staff	Students can talk to their teachers about problems that are bothering them. (+)
Perceptions of support and care by and for parents	Measures the caring and respect that the school, teachers, students, and other parents show parents	This school cares about the thoughts and feelings of parents. (+)

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Reliability

Reliablities for the scales from a sample of teachers, parents, and 6 to 8^th grade students are as follows:
Perceptions of student respect α = 0.88, Perceptions of student friendship and belonging α = 0.87, Perceptions of students’ shaping of their environment α = 0.90, Perceptions of support and care by and for faculty/staff α = 0.82, Perceptions of support and care by and for parents α = 0.73.

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Sources/Bibliography

School as Caring Community Profile (SCCP), Center for the 4^th and 5^th Rs
State University of New York at Cortland. (2000)

www.cortland.edu/www/c4n5rs/

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Cost/Copyright/Availability

The SCCP-II was developed by T. Lickona and M. Davidson at the Center for the 4 th and 5 th Rs, SUNY Cortland, P.O. Box 2000, Cortland, NY 13045; (607) 753-2455. It may be duplicated without permission of the authors (last revised July, 2001).

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Compiled by Sarra B. Baraily & Melissa Quon Huber, Michigan State University, (517) 335-7732.
These materials were developed under a grant awarded by the Michigan Department of Education as part of the Michigan Model Partnerships in Character Education.

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