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

Belonging

Overview

  • Influence: Belonging
  • Domain: Classroom
  • Sub-Domain: Classroom climate
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Potential to accelerate
  • Influence Definition: The extent to which students feel respected, included, accepted, and encouraged by others in the social environment of school. Also called "school connectedness," this affective relationship to the culture of school has been shown to shape a student's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive engagement with schooling.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 4
  • Number of studies: 129
  • Number of students: 76,446
  • Number of effects: 212
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.45
  • Robustness index: 3

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Educational Psychology Review Allen, Kern, Vella-Brodrick, Hattie, & Waters What schools need to know about fostering school belonging: A meta-analysis. 2016 Belonging on achievement 51 67,378 114 0.56
Educational Research Review Nurmi Students' Characteristics and Teacher-Child Relationships in Instruction: A Meta-Analysis 2012 Closeness and lack of teacher-student conflict on achievement 19 9,068 19 0.20
Dissertation Moallem A Meta-Analysis of School Belonging and Academic Success and Persistence 2013 Belonging on achievement 27 NA 41 0.45
Journal of Bingtuan Educational Institute Qiu, Zhu, Man, & Rao The relationship between school belongingness and academic achievement: A meta-analysis based on Chinese students. 2024 Belonging on achievement 32 NA 38 0.43
TOTAL/AVERAGE 129 76,446 212 0.41
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