ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will discuss school and classroom climate from an educational effectiveness point of view by focusing on the meaning of climate for student outcomes. Mortimore et al. (1988) and Levine and Lezotte (1990) refer to climates which enhance student outcomes as “positive” or “productive” climates. But what place do climate factors have in effectiveness theories and how are climate concepts related to effectiveness characteristics? We will explicitly incorporate climate factors in a model of educational effectiveness; we will compare our views with other theories; discuss the implications for school improvement; present a Dutch climate checklist; and, finally, draw our conclusions.
