Does School Climate Mean the Same Thing in the United States as in Mexico? A Focus on Measurement Invariance

School climate is an important construct for guiding violence prevention efforts in U.S. schools, but there has been less consideration of this concept in its neighboring country Mexico, which has a higher prevalence of violence. The U.S. Department of Education outlined a three-domain conceptualiza...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of psychoeducational assessment 2019-02, Vol.37 (1), p.55-68
Main Authors: Shukla, Kathan D., Waasdorp, Tracy E., Lindstrom Johnson, Sarah, Orozco Solis, Mercedes Gabriela, Nguyen, Amanda J., Rodríguez, Cecilia Colunga, Bradshaw, Catherine P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Correlation
Cross Cultural Studies
Cultural Differences
Educational Environment
Error of Measurement
Factor Analysis
Foreign Countries
Incidence
Learner Engagement
Measurement Techniques
Middle School Students
Prevention
School Safety
Student School Relationship
Validity
Violence
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Summary:School climate is an important construct for guiding violence prevention efforts in U.S. schools, but there has been less consideration of this concept in its neighboring country Mexico, which has a higher prevalence of violence. The U.S. Department of Education outlined a three-domain conceptualization of school climate (i.e., safe and supportive schools model) that includes engagement, safety, and the school environment. To examine the applicability of this school climate model in Mexico, the present study tested its measurement invariance across middle school students in the United States (n = 15,099) and Mexico (n = 2,211). Findings supported full invariance for engagement and modified-safety scales indicating that factor loadings and intercepts contributed almost equally to factor means, and scale scores were comparable across groups. Partial invariance was found for the environment scales. Results of a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) consisting of all 13 school climate scales indicated significantly positive associations among all scales in the U.S. sample and among most scales in the Mexico sample. Implications of these findings are discussed.
ISSN:0734-2829
1557-5144
DOI:10.1177/0734282917731459