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School climate is a construct frequently explored in educational research (Lee, Cornell, Gregory, & Fan, 2011; Wang & Degol, 2016) and is associated positive several outcomes including with improved student-teacher relationships (Croninger & Lee, 2001) and reduced school dropout risk (Jia, Konold, & Cornell, 2016). Unfortunately, emerging research indicates that racial differences in schools’ penal practices may be negatively coupled with Black students’ experience of a supportive school climate (Bottiani, Bradshaw, & Mendelson, 2017). Black students are disproportionately subjected to exclusionary disciplinary practices (e.g., suspensions and expulsions) in the learning environment (Fenning & Rose, 2007) and Black girls disproportionally encounter more adverse disciplinary outcomes in their educational setting (National Black Women’s Justice Institute, 2018) relative to their White peers (Blake, Butler, Lewis, & Darensbourg, 2011; Crenshaw, Ocen, & Nanda, 2015; Epstein, Blake, & González, 2017; Hines-Datiri & Carter Andrews, 2017). Persistent use of punitive practices may hinder Black girls’ racial identity, academic, and social-emotional development in the classroom (Chavous, Rivas-Drake, Smalls, Griffin, & Cogburn, 2008; Leath, Mathews, Harrison, & Chavous, 2019) and consequently detrimentally impact their school climate. Researchers have called for evidence-based and culturally relevant interventions that promote positive academic outcomes for Black girls (Jones et al., 2018). However, evidence-based interventions are dependent on the use of empirically supported assessments with diverse student groups (Pendergast et al., 2017). Evidence-based assessments are necessary to identify students’ needs in the educational setting and provide baseline data that allow for the evaluation of intervention effectiveness. Moreover, school climate assessments for Black girls may facilitate the development of evidence-based interventions for Black girls - who are disproportionally disciplined and may be at risk of experiencing a negative school climate. This study investigated the structural validity and reliability of scores from a school climate measurement tool. The study examined measurement invariance of the Student Connection Survey, with a specific focus on Black girls’ scores. Results indicated the Student Connection Survey is represented by five-latent factors and is equivalent between Black and White middle school girls. Implications, strengths, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. / School Psychology

Teacher attrition is a widespread problem in the United States and is most severe in urban and rural schools. High rates of teacher attrition and discontent contribute to budget problems and decreased educational school quality. The purpose of this study is to examine how a variety of environmental factors and teacher background characteristics contribute to teacher attrition and discontent. The school system along with the relationship between teacher background and school organization will be considered. The core research questions guiding this study are: To what degree do school environmental factors and teacher background characteristics explain teachers' discontent and ultimate attrition? What is the relationship between teacher discontent and departure? Logistic regression was used to analyze data from the School and Staffing Survey and the Teacher Follow-up Survey collected by the National Center for Education Statistics to answer the research questions. Significant predictors that increased the odds of teacher discontent include: middle school setting, urban locale, rural locale, teacher perceptions of student problems, and teacher perception of community problems. Significant predictors that decreased the odds of teacher discontent include: school salary, highly qualified status, union membership, classroom control, and principal/colleague support. Predictors that increased the odds of teacher attrition include: certification type, school size, rural locale, teacher perceptions of student problems, and classroom control. Predictors that decreased the odds of teacher attrition include: teacher race and ethnicity, highly qualified status, and minority student enrollment. / Urban Education