School Climate

This entry focuses on school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) students. School climate can be defined as the social and physical conditions, values and [Page 987]attitudes, practices and programs, and policies of a school that influence student academic and psychosocial outcomes. School climates for LGBTQQ students are often characterized as negative because of the high level of bullying, harassment, and discrimination that students encounter because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. Additionally, across studies, the majority of LGBTQQ students report that they feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. This entry discusses the school-level contextual features (e.g., nondiscrimination policies) and school-based interpersonal relationships (e.g., teacher intervention in bias-based incidents) that ...