THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCHOOL CLIMATE CONDITIONS AND STUDENT ASPIRATIONS

Researchers frequently report that student aspirations are related to several educational outcomes, including academic performance, affectiv e health, attrition, and leadership skills. Yet few have reported expl orations of school climate characteristics that may or may not be rela ted to aspirations. To provide more information on scholastic conditio ns that might be manipulated in order to increase student aspirations, the author administered the Secondary School Aspirations Survey to 1, 170 students from two New England high schools. The results of a multi variate analysis of variance and post hoc discriminant analyses indica ted that the students reporting high aspirations (i.e., inspiration an d ambition) perceived a more supportive school climate than the studen ts with low aspirations did, especially with respect to conditions rel ated to mentoring, self-confidence, and excitement.