The Effects of Participation in the Self-Image Psychology Program on Students' Perceptions of School Climate.

Public schools face increasing criticism of the adequacy of student education. Criticism focuses on teaching, discipline, curriculum, and a host of other "causes." Results of several research efforts indicate that school climate and student self-image play important roles in student achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine whether exposure to self-image psychology would alter perceptions of students about self and the climate of their schools. A quasi-experimental study involving forty-three high school students was carried out over a six-week period. The six-hour self-image psychology intervention covered how the mind works, formation of self-image, comfort zones, goal importance, and altering the subconscious perception of self. Pre-post tests were administered--the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, the Quality of School Life Scale and The Sense of Academic Futility Scale were utilized. Significant improvement (.05 level) was found between pre- and post-tests in students' self-concepts, sense of academic futility, satisfaction with school, and perceptions of school climate. No significant improvement was reported in students' perceived commitment to classwork. Students responded most favorably on self-concept items related to identity, moral-ethical self, social self, personal self, and to the entirety of self-concept. Student scores improved but not significantly, on measures of self-acceptance, behavior, and physical self. Students' self-concepts improved after participation in a self-image psychology program. Students' attitudes of futility decreased significantly. This improvement in attitudes was especially evident as it related to perceptions of student ability to influence their environments. Academic futility has been demonstrated to have a strong link to academic achievement and thus, improvement on this measure has implications for improvement in achievement levels. Students expressed significantly greater satisfaction with school after the intervention. They indicated that they liked school better, were happier in school, enjoyed classwork more, were better friends with the school, and wanted to go to school more. Students' perceptions of school climate also improved significantly even though no attempt was made to change the climate of the school. It appears that it is possible to alter perceptions of climate without actually altering the climate.PhDEducational administrationUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/159749/1/8402293.pd