In an average middle school, Black and Hispanic students have less favorable experiences of safety, connectedness, relationships with adults, and opportunities for participation compared to White students.

This and other key study findings are included in “The Racial School Climate Gap: Within-School Disparities in Students’ Experiences of Safety, Support, and Connectedness,” published in the September 2015 issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology.

Adam Voight, formerly of WestEd, served as lead author for the journal article, with WestEd’s Tom Hanson and Meagan O’Malley, and Latifah Adekanye co-authoring. Their findings have implications for how school climate is conceptualized, measured, and improved.

Visit “The Racial School Climate Gap: Within-School Disparities in Students’ Experiences of Safety, Support, and Connectedness” web page to read the full abstract and access the journal article.