School climate and teacher commitment

This study examined the relationship between school climate and teacher commitment. The study focused on elementary schools in Northeast Alabama. Thirty-four elementary schools consisting of 522 teachers took part in the study. The teachers completed two survey instruments: the Organizational Climate Index (OCI) and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ). With the school as the unit of analysis, the OCI outlined and measured four elements related to school climate (collegial leadership, teacher professionalism, academic press, and institutional vulnerability). Those four elements were the independent variables used for the study. The dependent variable was teacher commitment measured by the 15 items of the OCQ. The socioeconomic status (SES) was a control variable. That variable was calculated from the percentage of free and reduced lunches at each school. Results indicated that teacher commitment is related to school climate. The study showed that the most significant predictor of teacher commitment was teacher professionalism. Collegial leadership and academic press were predictors of teacher professionalism, while SES was a predictor of academic press. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries