SCHOOL-LEVEL DIFFERENCES IN TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS

Teachers’ perceptions of school climate may differ based on the characteristics of their schools and the communities where they reside. Thus, we explored whether differences existed in teachers’ perceptions of school climate by certain school and community characteristics, including school level (middle school/high school), school type (public, private non-religious, private religious), school locale (urban, suburban, rural/ small town), region (Northeast, South, Midwest, West), and school socioeconomic status (SES, i.e., percentage of low-income students). School Level

There were no school level differences in teachers’ perceptions of the seriousness of bullying, name-calling, and harassment at their school.213 _{However, regarding biased remarks,}

teachers in middle school were somewhat less likely to hear students make sexist remarks compared to teachers in high school. For example, as shown in Table 2.1, just over a third of middle school students (32.5%) reported hearing sexist remarks often or very often, compared to just over a third (36.3%) of high school teachers.214

There were differences in their reports of how frequently bullying and harassment occurred. Specifically, middle school teachers were more likely to report bullying and harassment occurred often or very often based on appearance (39.9% vs. 23.9%), ability at school (23.2% vs. 12.6%), disability (12.0% vs.11.1%), socioeconomic status (19.8% vs. 11.5%), and citizenship status (7.5% vs. 5.2%) compared to teachers in high school (see Table 2.2).215

There were no differences between middle and high school teachers regarding perceptions of safety for LGBT and gender nonconforming students.216

School Type

With respect to school type, teachers in public schools reported more hostile school environments than those in other schools. Teachers in public schools (55.4%) were more likely to perceive name-calling, bullying, and harassment as serious compared to teachers in private, non-religious schools (51.0%), and teachers in private, religious schools (13.1%).217

With the exception of student remarks about ability, teachers in public schools were also more likely to hear biased remarks from students

Expression “That’s So Gay” or “You’re

So Gay”

Sexist

Remarks Homophobic Remarks RemarksRacist

Negative Remarks about Other Students’ Ability Gender Expression Negative Remarks about Transgender People Negative Religious Remarks School Level Middle School 43.2% 32.5% 21.1% 19.1% 26.3% 17.4% 5.2% 4.2% High School 40.5% 36.3% 22.9% 17.6% 19.6% 14.1% 5.1% 4.5% School Type Public 42.1% 36.8% 22.2% 19.5% 23.8% 16.7% 5.4% 4.6% Private Non-religious 36.0% 22.0% 14.0% 4.0% 26.0% 6.0% 2.0% 0.0% Private Religious 26.1% 11.8% 12.0% 4.3% 10.6% 4.3% 0.0% 3.2% School Locale Urban 41.4% 41.1% 25.1% 24.9% 23.0% 20.5% 6.7% 4.3% Suburban 44.3% 34.8% 20.3% 17.1% 26.6% 14.5% 5.3% 5.3% Small Town/Rural 34.1% 26.1% 17.7% 10.6% 17.7% 10.6% 2.3% 2.9% School SES Higher SES 38.3% 30.7% 19.6% 11.7% 21.7% 13.7% 5.5% 6.4% Lower SES 43.9% 43.0% 23.1% 15.8% 22.7% 19.2% 5.0% 3.0%

Table 2.1 Percentage of Teachers Reporting Hearing Biased Remarks from Students as “Often” or “Very Often” by School Characteristics

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compared to teachers in private, non-religious schools (see Table 2.1).218 _{For all types of bullying}

and harassment, teachers in public school were more likely to report that these events occurred more frequently than did teachers in private, religious schools (see Table 2.2).219 _However,

teachers in public schools (85.9%) were more likely to perceive LGB teens as being safe

compared to teachers in private, religious schools (78.0%) (see Figure 2.6).220

School Locale

We also found differences in teachers’ perception of school climate based on locale. In particular, teachers in schools in small/town rural areas were less likely to report hostile school climates. Teachers in small town/rural areas (44.5%) were less likely to perceive bullying, name-calling, and harassment as being serious, compared to

teachers from suburban schools (53.1%) (Figure 2.5).221 _{Compared to teachers in urban schools,}

teachers in small town/rural areas heard sexist remarks, racist remarks, and negative remarks about transgender people less often (Table 2.1).222 _{For example, as shown in Table 2.1,}

26.1% of teachers in small town/rural schools reported hearing sexist remarks often or very often, compared to 41.1% of teachers in urban schools.

Teachers in small town/rural schools were also less likely to report bullying and harassment based on religion or citizenship status than teachers in suburban schools (see Table 2.2).223

Perhaps the differences are a result of schools in small towns/rural areas potentially being more homogeneous and less diverse in terms of race/ ethnicity, religion, or nationality than schools

Appearance Ability at _School

How Masculine or Feminine they are They are or People Think They are LGB Race/ Ethnicity Disability Socio- economic Status Religion Citizenship Status School Level Middle School 39.9% 23.2% 21.1% 22.2% 13.2% 12.0% 19.8% 3.4% 7.5% High School 23.9% 12.6% 19.8% 21.7% 9.8% 11.1% 11.5% 2.5% 5.2% School Type Public 34.4% 17.8% 21.7% 22.2% 13.1% 11.5% 14.9% 3.0% 6.9% Private Non-religious 22.9% 29.8% 8.3% 21.3% 2.0% 12.2% 23.4% 0.0% 0.0% Private Religious 18.6% 3.1% 6.1% 6.4% 2.0% 1.0% 3.1% 0.0% 0.0% School Locale Urban 33.6% 17.0% 21.2% 19.4% 13.1% 8.3% 13.9% 2.7% 8.7% Suburban 31.3% 18.1% 17.5% 19.9% 12.0% 10.4% 16.7% 2.8% 5.4% Small Town/Rural 30.0% 13.6% 18.8% 19.9% 8.3% 11.7% 9.4% 1.9% 3.5% Region Northeast 26.3% 12.2% 21.3% 23.4% 6.9% 10.1% 14.1% 2.6% 6.9% South 28.6% 15.5% 17.2% 17.4% 11.9% 9.5% 12.7% 2.9% 5.0% Midwest 43.5% 25.2% 17.7% 18.8% 12.0% 12.6% 17.1% 2.9% 2.5% West 33.7% 16.9% 23.0% 24.2% 14.6% 10.5% 13.2% 1.0% 10.2% School SES Higher SES 28.9% 15.5% 18.8% 21.1% 9.6% 10.0% 14.4% 1.8% 7.4% Lower SES 37.7% 18.6% 23.1% 21.8% 15.1% 11.0% 13.9% 3.6% 6.3%

in suburban areas. There were no differences across locale for teachers’ perception of safety for LGBT and gender nonconforming students.224 Region

Overall, there were few differences based on region. There were no differences in teachers’ perceptions of seriousness of bullying,225 _{or in}

the frequency of hearing biased remarks.226

However, as shown in Table 2.2, there were some regional differences for bullying, name-calling, and harassment: teachers in the West reported a lower frequency of bullying, name-calling, and harassment due to appearance and ability as compared to teachers in the Midwest.227

There were also some regional differences in teachers’ perceptions of safety for LGBT and gender nonconforming students—teachers in the Northeast were more likely to perceive transgender teens as being safe in school compared to teachers in the South (see Figure 2.6).228

School SES

Our findings point to significant differences in teachers’ perception of school climate based on whether they were in lower income schools or not (i.e., based on the percentage of students reported to be eligible for free or reduced- priced lunch). Overall, teachers from lower SES

Private Religious Private Non-religious Public

School Type Region

Figure 2.6 Percentage of Teachers Reporting Safety of LGBT Students as “Somewhat Safe” or “Very Safe” by School Characteristics

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 85.9% 96.0% 86.7% 88.2% 82.9% 71.4% 92.0% 79.8% 72.4% 72.8% Northeast South Midwest West

Transgender Teen Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Teen

85.0% 66.6% 78.0% 70.4% 46.5% 58.7% 55.3% 53.1% 44.5% 55.4% 51.0% 13.1% Higher Lower Private Religious Private Non-religious Public Small Town/Rural Suburban Urban School Locale School Type School SES

Figure 2.5 Seriousness of Bullying, Name-Calling, or Harassment by School Characteristics (Percentage Of Teachers Reporting “Serious” Or “Very Serious”)

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schools229 _{were more likely to report more hostile}

school environments. Specifically, compared to teachers in higher SES schools, teachers from lower SES schools were more likely to:

• Perceive bullying and harassment at their school as a serious problem (Figure 2.5).230

• Report hearing all types of biased remarks from students, except negative remarks about religion and transgender people (Table 2.1),231

and

• Report all types of bullying and harassment as occurring more often, except for socioeconomic and citizenship status (Table 2.2).232

There were no differences in teachers’ perceptions of safety for LGBT or gender