Belay S.
3 Publications in AERD
Author Publications
Export PDFAnalyzing the Contribution of School Climate to Academic Achievement Using Structural Equation Modeling
By Amsalu A.
The main goal of the current paper was to determine the effects of perceived school climate dimensions (leadership, relationships, professional learning-teaching climate, safety, and physical environment) on students’ learning performance in upper primary schools. Correlational design consisted of structural equation modeling with mediation analysis was applied. Three hundred twenty-eight randomly chosen teachers and pupils from upper primary schools of Injibara and Chagni, Awi zone of Ethiopia participated. The 16-item school climate scale that was employed had an internal consistency score of 0.91 according to Cronbach’s alpha. To create a well-fitting measurement model, as well as to ascertain the convergent and discriminant validities and the composite reliability of school climate domains, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out. Together, the five school climate factors explained 19% variation on student academic performance. Academic achievement of students was directly and significantly influenced by school leadership and the professional learning-teaching environment. Pupils’ academic success was significantly and favorably directly impacted by the overall perceived favorable school climate. Positive professional learning-teaching environment fully mediated effect of physical setting and safety on learning achievement, even though it partially mediated the effect of leadership practice of school. Contribution of positive school climate elements to student’s learning achievement should also be further investigated using longitudinal multilevel structural equation models. © The Author(s) 2024.
Primary School Climate measurement: Examining factorial validity and reliability from teachers’ perspective
By Belay S.
This study sought to devise a reliable and validated measurement scale to evaluate teachers’ perceptions of school climate. The study sample consisted of 379 teachers working in Awi district public primary schools, Ethiopia. Measurement scale had five latent factors (school climate dimensions) and 26 indicators (items). The coefficient alpha values for internal consistency of items and the factor rho coefficients showed high reliability of the measurement scale. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was carried out to validate the measurement scale by determining the convergent and discriminant validity among five school climate dimensions. Average variance extracted (AVE) values showed adequate convergent validity of school climate dimensions. The discriminant validity across school climate dimensions was established using shared variance and heterotrait–monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT) methods, which indicated that the five school climate dimensions are distinctively different from one another. Results revealed that the school climate is found to be a multidimensional concept with five-factor solution comprising 26 reliable and valid items that can be used to assess teachers’ perceptions of school climate in different contexts. It is suggested that the future researcher can apply multi-group and multilevel confirmatory factor analysis to enhance the applicability of the measurement scale across countries. © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
Advancing teachers’ human capital through effective leadership and institutional safety: Mediating effect of professional learning and teaching climate
By Belay S.
This study examined the direct and indirect influences of school leadership, institutional safety and professional learning and teaching climate on in-service teachers’ human capital development. To this purpose, correlational design with structural equation modeling was employed. The data were collected from 379 randomly selected in-service teachers in primary schools using six-point Likert-type scale. Internal consistency and composite reliability coefficients for all constructs were above.80. The constructs had adequate convergent and discriminant validities. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed using AMOS software to validate the measurement model. The model fit indices showed a good fit of measurement model and structural model to the data. Results showed that professional learning-teaching climate has a relatively stronger influence on teachers’ human capital development compared to school leadership and institutional safety. Professional learning-teaching climate mediates the influences of school leadership and institutional safety on teachers’ human capital development. After controlling institutional safety and professional learning-teaching climate, school leadership specifically exhibited a significant direct effect on human capital development. Likewise, institutional safety exhibited a significant direct effect on human capital development given controlled professional learning-teaching climate and school leadership. Thus, we conclude that the schools with shared leadership and safe institutional climate can foster in-service teachers’ human capital development by establishing supportive professional learning and teaching climate that highly invests in continuing professional learning and development. To this end, establishing supportive professional learning-teaching climate for teachers is suggested to boost their human capital which in turn will enhance student learning and achievement. © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
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