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Visible Learning™
Visible Learning MetaX™
Version 1.4 – Updated February 2026

School climate effects

Overview

  • Influence: School climate effects
  • Domain: School
  • Sub-Domain: Leadership
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Potential to accelerate
  • Influence Definition: School climate may include a school's physical characteristics and the relationships between parents, teachers, administrators, additional school staff and students.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 13
  • Number of studies: 493
  • Number of students: 2,385,895
  • Number of effects: 950
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.54
  • Robustness index: 4

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Revista de Educacion Scheerens, Witziers & Steen A meta-analysis of School Effectiveness studies 2013 Cooperation among school staff 28 NA 83 0.04
Revista de Educacion Scheerens, Witziers & Steen A meta-analysis of school effectiveness studies 2013 Orderly climate in school 46 NA 170 0.26
Revista de Educacion Scheerens, Witziers & Steen A meta-analysis of school effectiveness studies 2013 Monitoring of achievement 25 NA 25 0.12
Revista de Educacion Scheerens, Witziers & Steen A meta-analysis of school effectiveness studies 2013 Curriculum quality in school 25 NA 43 0.29
Dissertation Bulris A meta-analysis of research on the mediated effects of principal leadership on student achievement: Examining the effect size of school culture on student achievement as an indicator of teacher effectiveness. 2009 Leadership school culture on outcomes 30 3,378 152 0.74
Revista de Educacion Scheerens, Witziers & Steen A meta-analysis of school effectiveness studies 2013 Achievement mentality in school 30 NA 81 0.30
Dissertation Armstrong A meta-analysis of the effect of the physical education learning environment on student outcomes 2016 Physical Ed learning environment 19 2,294 19 0.37
American Anthropologist Bektas, Cogaltay, Karadag, & Ay School Culture and Academic Achievement of Students: A Meta-analysis Study 2015 School culture 25 20,287 25 0.47
Book Koçyigit The Effect of School Culture on Student Achievement 2017 School culture 51 66,391 51 1.12
Journal of Inonu University Faculty of Education Karadag, Isci, Oztekin, & Anar The relationship between school and academic achievement: A meta-analysis study 2016 School climate 62 81,233 62 0.36
Book Dulay & Karadag The Effect of School Climate on Student Achievement 2017 School climate 90 148,504 90 0.82
Educational Innovation Research Han & Lee A meta-analysis of variables related to the classroom climate of elementary school students. 2018 School climate 25 NA 52 1.19
Studies in Science Education Holzberger, Reinhold, Ludtke, & Seidel A meta-analysis on the relationship between school characteristics and student outcomes in science and maths–evidence from large-scale studies 2020 School climate (class climate, academic press) 37 2,063,808 97 0.22
TOTAL/AVERAGE 493 2,385,895 950 0.48
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